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Excerpt from Oral History Interview with Raney Norwood, January 9, 2001. Interview K-0556. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) See Entire Interview >>

Taboo against interracial romance

In this brief excerpt, Norwood describes that interracial romances were conducted in secret. Black and white students did not mingle often in the new Chapel Hill High School, but the librarian forced white and black students to sit together. Norwood and his friends tried to avoid going to the library.

Citing this Excerpt

Oral History Interview with Raney Norwood, January 9, 2001. Interview K-0556. 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

BG: Were there any other differences between Lincoln and Chapel Hill High School that you remember? RN: Um, dating. I don’t know why I want to throw this in, but when blacks and whites started dating, it was a well-kept secret. You know, because, on the black side, if we saw a black dating a white, he was an Uncle Tom and all that. And the white ( ). It was going on but it was under the table and stuff. At the beginning at Chapel Hill, white students and blacks did not mingle too well together. Other than that it was pretty much the same. Well, you know, we go back to the lunchroom and stuff. There was separation in the lunchroom, with black heads on what side and white heads on the other. In the hallway, blacks on one side, and whites. I forgot to mention that the librarian at Chapel Hill High School, Miss Peacock, she was another that didn’t believe in separation. When you came into the library, she wouldn’t let blacks sit on one side and whites on the other. She made you mix. We used to try to skip going to the library because we wanted to sit where we wanted to sit.