Bonham, William Frank, 1927-

Wilson-Allen, Tawana

Charlotte, North Carolina

J. Murrey Atkins Library Special Collections, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

2006-11-16

1 audio file (1:09:25) : digital, MP3

Audio

spoken word

eng

William Frank Bonham was a 79-year-old man at the time of interview, which took place at the office of former Congressman Mel Watt in Charlotte, North Carolina. He was born in Charlotte, North Carolina in 1927. He was educated at Alexander Street School and Second Ward High School, and was employed in Pender’s grocery store, as a telegram messenger, and as a security guard for a law firm.

William Frank Bonham discusses his life growing up in segregated Charlotte and his significant contributions to the community, in particular his involvement in the local branch of the NAACP and his career as one of the first black telegram delivery men. He also describes his experience playing football at Second Ward High School, and explains the differences between the racially segregated sports facilities. Mr. Bonham recalls the racial discrimination that blacks encountered when they entered white-owned establishments and the downtown shops' resistance to desegregation, as well as the police brutality that blacks endured from Charlotte's white police force. Further, he describes how economic hardship and racial discrimination threatened the survival of African American businesses. Examples he discusses include efforts to drive black-owned cab companies out of business in the late 1930s and the disproportionate closing or seizure of black-owned businesses by local government as part of Charlotte's urban renewal program during the 1960s.

MP3 access copy created on ingest from WAV preservation master. Interview originally recorded on minidisc and digitized using a Digidesign 003 rack.

Bonham, William Frank 1927-
Alexander, Kelly M.

Telegraph--Employees
Police, Private
African American business enterprises
African Americans--Segregation
Police brutality
Race discrimination
Urban renewal--Social aspects

North Carolina--Charlotte

Interviews
Oral histories

1920-2010

Student project on the Charlotte African American community

Living Charlotte : the postwar development of a New South city

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Digitization made possible by funding from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by the State Library of North Carolina, a division of the Department of Cultural Resources.

audio/mpeg

OH-BO0473

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13093/uncc:239