Local school desegregation lawsuits required the political activism of Chapel Hill citizens
Pollitt provided legal services for two Chapel Hill black children attempting to integrate the public schools. Although UNC officials turned a blind eye to his civil rights activism, some local Chapel Hill whites threatened Pollitt. He realized that courts had limited practical application of desegregation law. It was only through local political activism that real racial justice could be leveled.
Citing this Excerpt
Oral History Interview with Daniel H. Pollitt, February 22, 2001. Interview K-0215. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) in the Southern Oral History Program Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Full Text of the Excerpt
- DANIEL H. POLLITT:
-
I just got right into the thick of it. And then we filed a suit on behalf
of the two kids who had been denied under the Pearsal Plan, and I was in
charge of fund raising or something or other. And we met at the Rat for
a luncheon/ fund raiser. And then I met Floyd
McKissock, who was in Durham. And he and I and Bob Seymour,
who's a minister of the Baptist Church, Binkley, became a
team. And we would go to black churches, and Bob Seymour would give a
prayer, and then I would tell about Brown against the school board, and
what the law is, and whatever happens between. And Floyd McKissock would
solicit clients to bring suits. And that was then illegal;
[Laughter]
you can't solicit lawsuits, you know. But the
Supreme Court later held that it was okay to do what we'd
been doing.
- DAVID POTORTI:
-
And were you successful?
- DANIEL H. POLLITT:
-
Well, not really, because we'd get people, and then
they'd Xerox it, and then they'd say it has to be
in original handwritten, or we had the Mootness case, that they applied
to go to the sixth grade, but now two years had gone by and
it's now the eighth grade, but they'd asked to go
to the sixth grade, so you'd have to start all over again.
There were all sorts of things, and nothing happened, and then we
decided to elect a school board more to our liking, and this was done at
the Community Church, mostly. And Doctor Peters in our church was
elected to be the chair of our school board, and we had a majority, so
they started to integrate. So that was the school board thing. And it
was the first grade, or the first three grades, or something. And then
you had to get a black teacher in the white school
[Laughter]
and that was another struggle, and so on. And then when they
closed Lincoln, and moved it to what was then the new high school, they
lost all their trophies. And that really made a difference to
the—Lincoln High School was this hub of the black community,
and closing it down created a big gap. And then losing the
trophies—they didn't believe they'd
been lost.
[Laughter]
They thought somebody had destroyed them or something. So there
was a bad thing at the high school, and there were troubles at the high
school.
- DAVID POTORTI:
-
Tell me about, just sort of in general, if you could tell me about the
activities that you were describing. Was there ever
any friction between you and the University in terms of your activities
with integration, with these church groups, whatever. Were you ever
called to the carpet for any of them?
- DANIEL H. POLLITT:
-
No, never. I didn't publicize anything I was doing, but I
didn't hide it, I couldn't hide it very well. And
Dean Brandis had asked me to prepare this paper, and then it was
printed, and I was the president of the
[Laughter]
whatever it was to integrate the schools. So Bill Aycock was the
Chancellor, and I replaced him—it created a vacancy when he
was made the Chancellor, which I filled. And Bill Friday was the
president, and they were both in the community church, so I saw them
every Sunday. And, you know, they were very friendly. I think Bill
recalls it, Ida, his wife does. But for five or six months, we were at
the same small little Navy ammunition depot outside of Norfolk, and he
was the adjunct to the commanding officer, and I was on the marine
guard. So I knew Bill
[Laughter]
from the service; nobody ever told me to back off or anything. I
got some ugly letters.
- DAVID POTORTI:
-
From the community, or from people at the University?
- DANIEL H. POLLITT:
-
"We're going to blow up your house tonight,"
"Go back to where to came from"—Arkansas?
[Laughter]
Threatening letters.
- DAVID POTORTI:
-
So these were obviously all anonymous.
- DANIEL H. POLLITT:
-
They were all anonymous. But they were obscene, threatening.
- DAVID POTORTI:
-
How did you react to those?
- DANIEL H. POLLITT:
-
Well, I saw Charlie Jones, and I said, "Charlie,
somebody's going to blow up my house this week." I
said, "You get letters like this?" He said,
"All the time." I said, "What do you
do?" He said, "I have a big wicker basket I keep them
in." I was worried a time or two. But I didn't move
my family out or anything. And I didn't get a gun. I figured,
we'll see.
- DAVID POTORTI:
-
And it sounds like they didn't blow up your house.
- DANIEL H. POLLITT:
-
They didn't blow up the house or anything. So that was the
school integration, and it took legislative action and electing a school
board to do it, we couldn't do it in the courts. We failed on
those efforts. And the same was true I think throughout most of the
state. [Phone ringing]