Robert Still Interview, History 150 Spring 2016, Conducted by Spencer Still, Racial Sentiments after the Integration of Public Schools, March 12th, 2016.
- My Oral History Interview was conducted in person with a follow up interview conducted over the phone, using a Digital Audio Recorder, without any additional microphones. Due to a mistake of my own doing I had to conduct a follow up interview to have my interviewee’s consent on record; due to this I had to edit this consent into the beginning of my interview. Prior to conducting the initial interview I made sure to provide a quiet environment by removing any potential background noise, and then setting up the microphone in a manner that the interviewee and the interviewer could be heard. I also allowed my interviewee to read the questions I was to ask to get a frame of mind of what his answers may be.
- My interviewee was my father, Robert Still, he has lived his entire life, in the small town of Danville, Virginia which resides on the North Carolina border. He grew up in the city of Danville, and spent his entire academic career in the Danville City public school system during the same time frame in which integration was enforced, where he graduated from George Washington High School. My father then began working as a carpenter and has since taken a position as a warehouse manager for Commonwealth Home Health Care.
- The city of Danville, Virginia has a history of racial tension. Danville was the last capital of the Confederacy during the Civil War; Jefferson Davis fled to Danville after his fleeing from Richmond, and used the city to house the confederate military. Prior to Davis’ fleeing to Danville, the city showed no scars or damage from the Civil War, and served as the leading producer of tobacco in the Piedmont region. However, after the Civil War, the political landscape of Danville was centered on the conservative Democratic Party, which enforced segregation and several polling taxes, to prevent the African American population from voting. This history of hatred serves as the foundation for the eventual conflict between the City’s public school system and the implantation of integration, after the Supreme Court case, Brown V Board of Education. The Danville City School system fought against the integration of African American students from, 1954 until 1970 in which the school system both protested and closed down schools in order to fight the eventual integration of the public school system.
SS: Before we begin the interview process I need your verbal consent on record that way it isn’t infringing on your rights.
Mr. Still: Okay that will be fine.
SS: My name is Spencer Still, I’m interviewing my father, Robert Still for my Oral History project. I am interviewing him on the subject of race relations and the integration period of Danville City schools. I have a series of 10 questions all on the subject of race and race relations. My first of these ten questions, is during your time in the Danville City School System, can you describe the demographics of said school system after the implementation of same race busing, integration and things of that nature?
Mr. Still: Well when I started school, pretty much you went to the school closest to you, and I lived in a predominantly white district. So when I started school it was about a 10% black to 90% white ratio. So it wasn’t that big of an adjustment for me because we were in a predominantly white neighborhood so I didn’t see any impact (…)
SS: Okay so my second question is, the Danville City School System was one of the last school systems in Virginia to integrate African American students into the student body, what factors do you think caused this delay to happen?
Mr. Still: Well Danville is an agriculturally based town, we have a lot of knitting mills, cotton mills and tobacco, stuff like that; so I think maybe everyone was wanting to not go for the change to the school system, just scared of change, and just hold on to the old ways, and how things were being done. (…)
SS: Okay, my third question is, can you describe the impact of the inner city school bus system on your time in Danville city school system? Did this (…) evoke a negative connotation, or did it not change relations at all? How would you describe the impact of inner city buses on your relations with these individuals?
Mr. Still: Well the bussing from the city schools, from one district to another, the biggest change I saw had white kids bussing from the white district to the black district and black kids being bussed from the black district to the white, trying to get a more even ratio between the student bodies; and I think the kids went into it (…) they were having to be bussed with (…) a lot of mystery into what they were going into. So that was a big change because you had kids you didn’t know from different areas of the town and different backgrounds, and stuff. So that was the biggest change I saw was when we started to bus the kids from one side of town to the other.
SS: Okay, overall can you describe the sentiments on the subject of race during this time in school? Was it majority negative? Was it positive? How would you view the subject of race during your time in school?
Mr. Still: I think with such a big adjustment, from going from so many of a different race coming into your school system, it was a big adjustment. And you knew there were racial tensions, because we were coming off just basically separation, in the south especially, you know with white only restaurants. It was some negative influence for race in the school system, and it was an adjustment period for all involved but it wasn’t all negative.
SS: Do you remember the reaction to the announcement that Danville City Schools were to be integrated? Was it what people would call a, “white flight” out of the city? Or was it kind of like life as usual? How would you describe the reaction to this announcement of integration of Danville City Schools?
Mr. Still: Honestly, at the time I was probably too young to remember. If there was any negative reaction I don’t remember what it was, because the first integration probably didn’t affect a lot of people because you still went to the closest school near you. So you only had a few individuals going to a school that they wouldn’t normally go to. So I don’t think it was that big of a deal, that I can remember in Danville.
SS: During your time in the Danville city school system, did you ever recall any discussion of closing city schools? In regards to the integration of African American students, was there any discussion of closing schools? Or was it just life as normal (…)?
Mr. Still: I don’t remember any talk of closing schools because of the integration. They might have closed some schools because you didn’t need two schools, because everybody was going to one high school, well then you didn’t need two high schools. I think they did close down the black high school or made that a junior high school. I’m just trying to remember, I was just really young when all of this first started. But I don’t remember any talk of closing the school system down.
SS: What was your reaction to having to share the same school space as the African American student body? How was your reaction to having to interact with these individuals you hadn’t interacted with before? How do you feel this affected your time in school?
Mr. Still: Honestly, like I said, from the start of school it wasn’t that big of a deal; but once they started the bussing, it was definitely a social and cultural eye opener. You did have to adjust, a lot of it was negative and some of it was positive, for them and for us. Like I said because it was because it was two different cultures kind of coming together at one time, and so you did have to adjust some of it was negative and some of it was positive and you just had to learn that you just have to get along with people and develop social skills and how to adapt with each other.
SS: Can you recall any incidents of violence involving white or black students in your time in the Danville City School system? Any racial fueled white and black violence?
Mr. Still: None that I can really remember, as far as my time in the Danville City school system, other than you would have disagreements and violence between just people, just as you would in any school system, I’m sure. Nothing that was really racially motivated. Like I said it was just a big adjustment with each other.
SS: How would you describe the sentiments of race after the integration of African American students into Danville City Schools? Did things develop more positively? Did they develop more negatively? How did the integration of African American students, and inner city bussing affect the sentiment of race in the area?
Mr. Still: I would think that maybe it had a positive effect on our community, as far as Danville as a whole. You had to realize that people were just people, you had to base a person on who they were and not the color of their skin. You learned how to interact with sports, with football and baseball and stuff like that, everyone learned to get along. We all, you know, had to get lunch together and you just learned to adapt to one another.
SS: (…) And my final question is, how would you describe the demographic of Danville City School System after the implementation of integration and inner city bussing?
Mr. Still: Probably the change from my end, from where I started it was probably a 10 to 20 percent ratio and then after the bussing it was probably more of a 60-40 ratio of kids; and so then that made it more evenly balanced as far as the amount of kids from, I guess, each race, the blacks and the whites.
SS: Thank you for your responses, I believe all of your responses were honest, and thank you for your time.
Mr. Still: You’re welcome, I was glad to help out, hopefully I said something that will help out with your report.
5. In conclusion I believe my interview went well. I was able to gain a first hand perspective of both the issues of integration and race, during the time after the Civil Rights Movement. However, if provided the opportunity to conduct this interview a second time, I would provide more detailed questions and have superior equipment to improve the quality of my interview.