Clarke, Mary Lou, 1932-2006

Desmarais, Melinda

Charlotte, North Carolina

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

2001-05-11

1 audio file (1:09:20) : digital, MP3 + 1 transcript (28 pages : PDF)

sound recording-nonmusical

spoken word

eng

Mary Lou Clarke was a 65-year-old woman at the time of interview, which took place in her home in Charlotte, North Carolina. She was born in Chesterfield County, South Carolina, on July 7, 1932. She was educated at Winchester High School (Union County, North Carolina) and Central Piedmont Community College (Charlotte); and was employed as a secretary, medical assistant, and real estate agent.

Mary Clarke, Charlotte-Mecklenburg NAACP president (1986-1990), describes her experiences working for the NAACP from the 1950s to the 1990s, with attention given to her early role as a fundraiser and her later work as chapter president. Ms. Clarke explains the role the NAACP played in the evolution of Charlotte's race relations, from the civil rights movement and school desegregation in the 1960s and 1970s to community/police tensions and the role of racism in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) in the 1980s. She recounts the racial violence groups like the KKK used in an attempt to silence the NAACP, including personal threats made against her and the bombings of the homes of several African American leaders in the area. Also discussed is the central role women played in the Charlotte chapter, how the NAACP worked with local white government leaders, and her experience as part of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Community Relations Committee. Ms. Clarke describes her motivations for making health care and health education her top priority during her presidency, and in particular, the work she did on combating substance abuse and raising AIDS-awareness in the community.

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

Volume is a little loud.

Medical assistants
Secretaries

Clarke, Mary Lou, 1932-2006

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Community Relations Committee
Ku Klux Klan (1915- )

Segregation
Civil rights movements
Race relations
Boycotts
Health promotion
AIDS activists
Medical assistants
Nurses' aides

North Carolina--Charlotte
North Carolina--Charlotte--Cherry

Interviews
Oral histories

1940-2000

Civil rights and desegregation in Charlotte

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-CL0032