Poor materials and conditions at segregated school
Florence describes the well-used books and unreliable heating at segregated Northside Elementary.
Citing this Excerpt
Oral History Interview with Sheila Florence, January 20, 2001. Interview K-0544. 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
- BOB GILGOR:
-
Did you use new books or used books at Northside?
- SHEILA FLORENCE:
-
Used books. We always had used books.
- BOB GILGOR:
-
Where did they come from?
- SHEILA FLORENCE:
-
Came from the white schools.
- BOB GILGOR:
-
They were, how they?
- SHEILA FLORENCE:
-
When we got our books, the teacher would put "good, bad, or
poor condition." A lot of them was like, bare and poor
conditions.
- BOB GILGOR:
-
So they were in bad condition?
- SHEILA FLORENCE:
-
It depends what grade you were in, and how much the other people had
used the books. I had forgot about that.
- BOB GILGOR:
-
Were there pages missing?
- SHEILA FLORENCE:
-
Sometimes, and then you'd have to try to find another book with all the
pages. But thinking back, I had forgot about that we had used used
books.
- BOB GILGOR:
-
Are there any other things that you remember about Northside?
- SHEILA FLORENCE:
-
Um, I do remember we had the heating. Sometimes we'd be sitting in there
with our coats on cause we'd be cold and the heat was radiator, radiator
heat, I remember that.
- BOB GILGOR:
-
Sometimes it wouldn't work?
- SHEILA FLORENCE:
-
Sometimes it would break down. Or, when it's cold cold, it didn't get
warm enough, you'd have to keep your coat on.