James Cuthbertson Jr. oral history interview, 2004 July 28

Description

James Cuthbertson recounts his experiences as one of the few African American students attending the University of North Carolina at Charlotte during the late 1960s to the early 1970s. As a member of the Black Student Union, he discusses how the students coordinated and worked together to increase their visibility on-campus, and how important it was to them that the wider community could see black students participating in all aspects of campus life. Mr. Cuthbertson also discusses the role Ben Chavis played as the catalyst for the black students' activism. Mr. Cuthbertson explains that while his personal philosophy on how to create social change differs from Chavis's, Mr. Chavis galvanized the younger black students' actions which created a more inclusive UNC Charlotte. Other topics discussed include race relations on campus, Greek life at UNC Charlotte and at Johnson C. Smith University, and his experience attending high school in Charlotte in the 1960s.