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Description

Mary Lou and James "Jim" Babb recount their family's experiences attending West Charlotte High School during the height of school busing for integration in Charlotte, North Carolina during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Topics discussed include their daughter Julie's experience in the open school program; their son Jimmy's experience on West Charlotte's first soccer team; and how the PTA brought white and black parents together. They also discuss their frustration with the ongoing lawsuit against the Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools' busing program, which they see as trying to undo twenty-five years of hard work and will lead to the resegregation of the school system.

Details

Title
Mary Lou and Jim Babb oral history interview, 1999 July 14
Creator
Babb, Mary Lou, 1948- interviewee
Contributor
Williams, Jill, interviewer
Babb, James G., 1932- contributor
Date (Text)
1999-07-14
Place of Creation
Charlotte, North Carolina
Publisher
J. Murrey Atkins Library Special Collections and University Archives, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Extent
1 audio file (0:46:23) : digital, MP3
Biographical/Historical Note
Mary Lou Babb and Jim Babb were interviewed at their home in Charlotte, North Carolina. Mary Lou Babb was a 51-year-old woman at the time of interview and was born in Charlotte in 1948. She was educated at Central High School and the Women’s College at the University of North Carolina; and served as the chair of the board of trustees and interim director of the Mint Museum of Art, and as president of the YWCA Central Carolinas board of directors.James G. “Jim” Babb, Jr. was a 67-year-old man at the time of interview. He was born in New York City, New York in 1932 and was educated at Central High School, Charlotte College, and Belmont Abbey College. He was employed in several positions at WBTV and WBT Radio in Charlotte and served as president and CEO of Jefferson Pilot Communications in Greensboro, North Carolina, president of Outlet Communications in Providence, Rhode Island, executive vice president of Bahakel Communications in Charlotte, and president of Babb Communications.
Other Identifiers
Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13093/uncc:5174
System Control No.
MU-BA0310
Subject (Person)
Babb, Mary Lou, 1948-
Babb, James G., 1932-
Subject (Corporate)
West Charlotte High School (Charlotte, N.C.)
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools
Subject (Topic)
Open plan schools
School integration
Busing for school integration
Race relations
Public schools
Students
Parents' and teachers' associations
Geographic Coverage
North Carolina--Charlotte
North Carolina--Charlotte--Myers Park
Subject (Occupation)
Homemakers
Executives
Volunteers
Television broadcasting--Employees
Subject (Date)
1970-2000
Type
Audio
Format
spoken word
Interviews
Oral histories
Language
English
Usage Statement
This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). (http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/)
Copyright Holder
Use of this resource is governed by the terms of the Creative Commons "Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike" license.
Record Appears in
Oral History Collections > Levine Museum of the New South > West Charlotte High School During Integration
Internet Mime Type
audio/mpeg
Location of Original
J. Murrey Atkins Library Special Collections and University Archives, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Reproduction Note
MP3 access copy created on ingest from WAV preservation master. Interview originally recorded on minidisc and digitized using a Digidesign 003 rack.
2019-02-01

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