Francesina Jackson
"We grew up learning to speak to everybody or every Black person you saw and it was kind of funny because when you go outside of your area, you still have that tendency!"
- Fran Jackson
Fran Jackson - On her childhood, education, and school integration
“I still feel that many predominantly white institutions are somewhat insensitive, particularly to African-American students…and I think the last institutions which will make changes are the major white institutions because they are benefitting from the privilege of being white institutions.”
- Fran Jackson
Fran Jackson was raised in Chapel Hill during segregation and the process of integration. She talks about her experience growing up in Black schools vs. integrated schools and what she remembers about the political and cultural climate around her at that time. She also discusses her current thoughts and feelings towards predominantly white institutions, particularly schools. Ms. Jackson reflects on her experiences and how they’ve driven her to become a teacher and influenced how she raised her children. She ends the interview talking about the opportunity she has of taking her students to Africa and the impact it’s had on both her and them.
This interview is part of a project conducted by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill graduate and undergraduate students in a 2001 oral history course. Topics include Chapel Hill's efforts to end racial segregation in the public schools; the process of creating integrated institutions; and the ways in which the memory of those experiences shapes schools to this day. Interviewees include former teachers, students, and administrators from Lincoln High School, the historically black school that closed when the desegregation plan was implemented, and Chapel Hill High School, which was integrated in 1962.
Francesina Jackson - On integrating Chapel Hill High School and challenges faced by Black students
“I think today, nationwide, particularly when you look at the education system, there is a growing interest in separate but equal, with an emphasis on equal.”
- Francesina Jackson
Francesina Jackson, Chapel Hill resident and retired teacher, discusses her experience integrating to Chapel Hill High School from Lincoln High School in the 1960’s. She reflects on the discrimination she and other students, as well as African-American teachers, faced. Francesina also discusses various protests centering around the lack of Black history taught in schools, as well as racially insensitive teachers and unfair demotions. Considering the present day, Francesina notes that African-American students still face many of the same issues. She hopes that moving forward educators will be more sensitive to the needs of their students, regardless of ethnicity or gender.
This interview is part of an oral history project called Southern Communities: Listening for a Change: Mighty Tigers--Oral HIstories of Chapel Hill's Lincoln High School. The interviewes were conducted from 2000-2001, by Bob Gilgor, with former teachers, staff, and students from Chapel Hill, N.C.'s Lincoln High School, the historically black secondary school that closed in 1962 when a school desegregation plan was implemented. Interviewees discuss African American life and race relations in Chapel Hill, as well as education, discipline, extracurricular activities, and high school social life before and after integration.
