Elaine Lynch oral history interview, 2004 April 27

Elaine Lynch discusses her home and family life while growing up in Charlotte, North Carolina during the 1940s and 1950s. She recounts attending York Road High School and other segregated schools; interactions with white children; spending summers in Fayetteville, North Carolina; social gatherings during high school; segregation in her neighborhood and on city buses; and her introduction and continued activism in civil rights. Other topics discussed include reconnecting with her estranged father as an adult, then ending the relationship; the roots of the Civil Right Movement in black churches; and her impression of people's attitudes towards segregation in Charlotte. While Ms. Lynch generally views integration favorably, she also shares her belief that integration has also negatively impacted the self-esteem and pride of African American youth to a degree.