Title: Oral History Interview with Nate Davis, February 6, 2001. Interview K-0538.
Identifier: K-0538
Interviewer: Gilgor, Bob
Interviewee: Davis, Nate
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.)    Orange County Training School (Chapel Hill, N.C.)    Davis, Nate    
Extent: 01:24:15
Abstract:  Nate Davis discusses being among the first African American students to integrate public schools in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He describes a happy childhood, though one circumscribed by segregation, and an experience in integrated schools so unpleasant that he was truant for months on end. Segregation made Davis and his peers particularly dependent on black community institutions to maintain healthy social and emotional lives. One of these institutions was the Hargraves Community Center, where Davis spent, and apparently still spends, a great deal of time. This interview offers a look at the discomfort that many African Americans felt when they entered an integrated environment.