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Oral History Interview with Carl A. Mills, Jr., June 30, 1999. Interview K-0182. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007).
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Abstract
Carl A. Mills, Jr., became principal of Cary Elementary and Junior High School in 1953, and by the mid-1960s was serving as superintendent of the Cary district. When desegregation began, Mills was serving as principal of Cary High School, and he welcomed the one African American male who was the first to enter the all-white school. The process that followed was a smooth one, directed by local committees without much contribution from black families, which were few in the area. It is somewhat difficult to dissect the different stages of Mills' career, and how his school dealt with maintaining integration. But he does reveal what might be distrust of government inspectors when he describes their questions about what appeared to have been the resegregation of his school: by the time the inspectors arrived, black students had left the classroom to learn trades. Not long afterward, Mills left the education business for a career in town recreation.
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This interview is part of the Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007), a collection of over
4,000 interviews housed at the Southern Historical Collection.
Funding from the Institute for Museum and Library Services supported the electronic publication of this title.
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Last updated May 17, 2008