Cynthia Roddey, 2004 May 17

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Identifier: BB-RO0009

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Cynthia Roddey oral history interview, 2004 May 17

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Scope and Contents

Dr. Cynthia Roddey describes her education in Rock Hill, South Carolina and Charlotte, North Carolina and her experiences as a teacher after graduation. She attended segregated schools during the 1950s, including Biddleville Elementary and Immanuel Lutheran College for high school. She describes attending college at Johnson C. Smith University and Winthrop University from 1964-1967, where she was one of the first African American graduate students to attend. She also recalls participating in sit-ins during the Civil Rights Movement in Charlotte. Dr. Roddey describes her experiences teaching in both segregated and integrated schools in the Charlotte area, and compares the education of her youth with high schools that she taught in around the time of interview. She shares her opinion that African Americans gained access to new opportunities through integration, but they lost some of their rich heritage and traditions in education at the same time.

Dates

Creation: 2004 May 17

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

Cynthia Roddey was born in Rock Hill, South Carolina. She graduated from Johnson C. Smith University and Winthrop University and was employed as a school teacher and administrator, college librarian, and as an owner of a beauty salon and a religious education consulting firm.