Race & Equity

StoryCorps Charlotte

The StoryCorps Mobile Tour stopped in Charlotte in April and May 2024. These are some of the stories people shared. StoryCorps is a national nonprofit that records, preserves and shares the stories of everyday people. Since 2003, they have recorded over 80,000 interviews, amassing the largest collection of human voices in their archive at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.

A civic leader shares memories of Charlotte's segregated schools

WFAE | By Nick de la Canal

Published August 11, 2024 at 7:35 AM EDT

Arthur Griffin attended segregated schools growing up in Charlotte, including Alexander Street Elementary School and later, Second Ward High School (pictured).

Sept. 4, 1957, was the first day that schools in Charlotte were desegregated. Before that, generations of Black and white students attended separate schools that varied greatly in funding and curriculum.

Mecklenburg County Commissioner Arthur Griffin was one of those students who grew up in Charlotte attending segregated schools in the 1950s. He sat down at StoryCorps to share his memories of what it was like.

Griffin was interviewed in this segment by Krystel Green of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library.

The StoryCorps Mobile Tour is made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.