Howard Lee

Lee, who was elected mayor of Chapel Hill in 1969, 1971, and 1973 talks about education policy, politics in Chapel Hill. Overview of Chapel Hill and Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools in early 1960s; closing of Lincoln High School; disparate concerns of black and white communities during his 1969 mayoral campaign; expectations of black and white communities when he became mayor; public transportation and recreation in Chapel Hill in the 1960s; validity of Chapel Hill’s liberal image; trying to buy a house in white neighborhood in Chapel Hill; Mel Rashkis as realtor; being barred from Chapel Hill country club and other evidence that despite its image, the town was fairly conservative; choice to live in Chapel Hill despite job in Durham because children could go to desegregated schools; feeling comfortable in Chapel Hill despite death threats; research at Duke University about Durham schools and early education in the 1960s; student demonstrations about Lincoln at Chapel Hill High School in 1969 and how he “kept the lid on things” as mayor; educational inequality in Chapel Hill, then and now; Saturday academies held at First Baptist with James Peace, Dorothy Bloom, to prevent drop-outs; importance of black high schools to black communities; importance of athletics over education in the black community; education in the state senate in 1990s; merging of Goldsboro and Wayne County, and Durham and Durham County school systems; how desegregation falls onto black community; importance of choice in desegregation; reasons for bad schools across the state; reasons for the achievement gap; charter school being founded in his honor, the setbacks, and why he thinks it’s necessary; origin of charter schools in North Carolina; Discusses how NAACP, others, overvalue desegregation.

This interview is part of a project done from 1995-1997, aimed at understanding how North Carolinians have dealt with post-Great Depression changes. Overarching themes are the realignment in North Carolina party politics and the Republican reemergence, the evolution of African American political activity since the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the evolution of women's political activity since the 1960s, and the centrality of cultural and social politics in the state's political contests and debates. Howard N. Lee, a leading figure in African-American politics in North Carolina, was elected mayor of Chapel Hill in 1969 and served in various positions in state politics over the next thirty years, including Secretary of Natural and Economic Resources and as a senator. He discusses his background, his early political career, the evolution of African-American political activity since the 1960s, Democrat and Republican politics including their shifting foci over the years, and his opinions on the continuing issues of race and class in North Carolina society.

This interview is part of a project conducted from 1973-1975 by Jack Solomon Bass and Walter De Vries with political leaders, journalists, editors, party officials, political scientists, campaign directors, union officials, and civil rights leaders from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia, as part of a study of politics in the South, 1945-1974. The interview with Howard Lee includes the following topics: Black electoral progress in the South; trend toward coalition politics in the South and nation; types of effective political coalitions; personal entry into politics; campaign for mayor in 1969; intimidation attempts; reasons for running; early successes and failures as mayor; problems of Chapel Hill during first year of office and programs initiated; period of progress in the civil rights movement; significance of the Voting Rights Act of 1965; black progress broken down by the past three decades; changing racial views of white southerners; assessment of the North Carolina Democratic party; current developments within the party; assessment of the 1972 election in North Carolina; lack of attention to racial problems and progress in North Carolina; reasons for low black voter registration in North Carolina; failure of the state to develop much black leadership; assessment of the Sanford, Moore, Scott and Holshouser administrations; reasons for possible race for lieutenant governor in 1976; coalition necessary for Lee's election in 1976; black perception of Sam Ervin; effect of reapportionment in North Carolina; personal background; possible developing relationship of Blacks and the Republican party in the South; reasons for support of Terry Sanford in the 1972 North Carolina primary.