Skip to main content

Ellison Clary oral history interview, 2012 May 25

View
@ University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Description

In this interview, Mr. Ellison Clary, Charlotte native and graduate of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, tells of his experience growing up in Charlotte in the 1950s, attending Charlotte College and UNC Charlotte during the pivotal years of 1963 to 1968, and interacting with Bonnie Cone. He describes his neighborhood and his high school days at Harding and Garinger high schools, recollects his start in the newspaper business, and explains his first impressions of Bonnie Cone and Charlotte College's new campus off Highway 49. He recalls his involvement as columnist and editor of the university's student paper and as class representative in student government. He describes several memorable professors, such as Jamgotch, Wade, Brenner, Winningham, Rieke, Randazzo, Ellis, Robbins, Morrill, and Witherspoon; African-American students, such as Betty Potts, Ben Chavis, and Ron Caldwell; and other influential students, such as Frank Jones, Larry Keith, Gene Johnson, and Joe Price. He reflects on the Civil Rights movement and his understanding of it from Dorothy Counts' arrival at his high school (Harding High School), to Stokely Carmichael's visit to UNC Charlotte, to his interviewing Reginald Hawkins for a class. Mr. Clary also comments on the Vietnam War and the sentiment concerning both the war and civil rights issues among young Southerners. Other topics include student response to Charlotte College's inclusion in the UNC System and to Dean Colvard's appointment as Chancellor instead of Bonnie Cone, the rivalry between UNC Chapel Hill and UNC Charlotte, the original student union (now Cone University...
Type:
Sound
Format:
Spoken Word1 Audio File (1:58:54) : Digital, Mp3 Audio/Mpeg
Contributors:
Wright, Christina (interviewer)
Rights:
This material is protected by copyright. Copyright is held by the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
View Original At:

Record Contributed By

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Record Harvested From

North Carolina Digital Heritage Center