Girvaud Justice oral history interview 3, 2006 August 25

Girvaud Justice was one of four African American students who attended all-white schools in Charlotte in 1957 as a challenge to the city's slow response to desegregate schools, which had been mandated by the Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. In this third of four interviews, Mrs. Justice discusses changes in the Belmont neighborhood where she had lived for forty years. She describes the recent effects of gentrification in the neighborhood and the hardships experienced by many long-time homeowners. Mrs. Justice expresses her disappointment in local government, especially in regard to the running of the Belmont Community Center, the Belmont Community Development Corporation, and what she describes as misleading guidance from the city planning department. She relates her personal experience as the president of the Belmont Neighborhood Strategy Force and her concerns over the impact of Habitat for Humanity in Optimist Park and Belmont. Mrs. Justice also recalls her late father, Edward Roberts, and his work with Norfolk Southern Railway and the Charlotte Country Club, where he was the green keeper for many years. Continuing her discussion of education from her second interview, she describes her high school education at the integrated Charlotte Catholic School.