Oral History Interview with Leroy Magness, March 27, 1999. Interview K-0438. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007).
Audio Options
Listen Online with Text Transcript
Download Complete Audio File (MP3 format / ca. 149 MB, 01:21:45)
Transcript Only (34 p.)
HTML file
XML/TEI source file
Abstract
Leroy Magness spent most of his life in Lincolnton, NC, about thirty-five miles from Charlotte. A poet, and a man who "didn't want to be a troublemaker," Magness has an easy relationship with his past as an African American in a segregated southern town. He did not participate in the civil rights movement, nor approve of those that did, believing that good behavior was a better catalyst for change than activism. This determination to avoid conflict lies at the heart of this interview, and, it seems, at the heart of Magness's character. He will not place blame for segregation, and his principal memory of desegregation was some trouble between white and black students.
Learn More
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.
Finding aid to the Southern Oral History Program Collection
Database of all Southern Oral History Program Collection interviews
Funding from the Institute for Museum and Library Services supported the electronic publication of this title.