Oral History Interview with Joanne Peerman, February 24, 2001. Interview K-0557. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007).
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Abstract
Joanne Peerman, a member of one of the first integrated classes at Chapel Hill High School and daughter of "bigger than life" Coach Peerman, grew up in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and attended both segregated and integrated schools. This interview reveals some of the complex dynamics involved in civil rights protest—conflicts within families and concerns about retaliation, the influence of the media, and young people's passionate but not always focused efforts at protest. To Peerman and her fellow junior high and high school students, civil rights protest was not just about achieving certain goals, like diversifying the cheerleading team. It was also an opportunity to test their relationship with teachers and administrators, to assert themselves physically and intellectually, and to simply have fun. This interview also offers a portrait of one of Lincoln High School's iconic figures, Coach Peerman.
Excerpts
Self-reliant black community under segregation
Racism penetrates idyllic childhood
Black professionals serve as role models
Peerman enforces discipline at Lincoln High
Junior high sit-ins
Young protesters seek change in school
Gulf between black students and white teachers
Black students work to integrate student activities
Gulf between black students and white teachers
School-centered black community
Tensions between black students and white teachers
Generational approaches to protest
Chapel Hill's liberal reputation
Lincoln High's significance to the black community
Black students seek to integrate student activities
Tensions between black students and white teachers
Remembering Coach Peerman
The rich experience of an all-black school
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Database of all Southern Oral History Program Collection interviews
Subjects
Chapel Hill (N.C.)--Race relations
School integration--North Carolina--Chapel Hill
African Americans--North Carolina--Chapel Hill
Lincoln High School (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
Segregation in education--North Carolina--Chapel Hill
Civil rights demonstrations--North Carolina--Chapel Hill
Peerman, Joanne
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