Oral history interview with Gloria Register Jeter, December 23, 2000

Gloria Register Jeter, who attended segregated and integrated public schools in Chapel Hill, recalls the damage visited on the black community by integration. Integration was a "mess," she argues, pointing out that when black and white schools merged, black traditions often did not survive the process. Student protests managed to restore some of Lincoln High School's traditions to the new Chapel Hill High School, but according to Jeter, the legacies of institutionalized racism are permanent. This interview reveals some of the frustration black students felt during the integration process and their efforts to fix enduring inequalities in day-to-day academic life. Jeter tells the story of black students involved in a constant struggle for respect and recognition.