Lillie Dial, 2004 April 19

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Identifier: BB-DI0002

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Lillie Dial oral history interview, 2004 April 19

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Scope and Contents

Lillie Dial describes her educational experiences, including attending Pineville Colored High School in Pineville, North Carolina beginning in 1937 and attending Barber-Scotia College. Pineville Colored High School, a Rosenwald School, was new when she began attending and was only one of a few high schools available for African American students at the time in the Charlotte region. She recalls how before the opening of Pineville Colored High School, many African American students in Pineville dropped out after primary school, unless if they could afford private boarding school or could find someone to stay with in Charlotte to attend Second Ward High School. Ms. Dial recounts specifics about attending school, including having to use secondhand textbooks passed on from the white schools, student bus drivers, and which primary schools were feeder schools for Pineville Colored High School. She also discusses how her high school education did not fully prepare her for college and what it was like teaching elementary school before and after school integration.

Dates

Creation: 2004 April 19

Conditions Governing Access

16 of the 23 interviews that comprise the Era Before Brown v. Board of Education oral history project have been digitized and are available in the digital repository. Original audiovisual materials are closed to patron use.

Biographical Note

Lillie Dial was a 79-year-old woman at the time of interview. She was born in Huntersville, North Carolina in 1925. She was educated at Pineville Colored High School and Barber-Scotia College and was employed as a teacher.