Cheek, Yvonne

Description

Yvonne Cheek (1945 - ) graduated in 1967 from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) with a degree in music education. She also holds a Master's from UNCG and a PhD from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan.Cheek talks about growing up in Kittrel, North Carolina; starting piano lessons at age six; teaching piano at age thirteen; and playing the piano and organ for local churches when she was in the fifth grade. She recalls being very involved with her local 4-H Club; becoming the first black 4-H member to attend the 4-H Camp in Washington, DC; being offered a college scholarship by 4-H if she would not attend the segregated 4-H Congress in Chicago, Illinois. Cheek discusses her shock when she transitioned from her all-black high school, Henderson Institute, to the all-white Woman's College of the University of North Carolina (now UNCG) in the fall of 1963. She also talks about the pros and cons of having all ten black freshmen students assigned to Coit Residence Hall, being the only black student in all of her classes, and having three campus jobs to augment her scholarship. Cheek remembers music professors Richard Cox and Barbara Bair; the lack of social activities for black students at the school; being the first black student teacher at the university's Curry School; being the first black Residence Hall Assistant (RA) while she attended graduate school at UNCG; and becoming an advisor for the Neo-Black Society, which was organized by her...

Record Contributed By

University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Record Harvested From

North Carolina Digital Heritage Center