Leroy Magness spent most of his life in Lincolnton, North Carolina, about thirty-five miles from Charlotte. A poet, and a man who "didn't want to be a troublemaker," Magness has an easy relationship with his past as an African American in a segregated southern town. He did not participate in the civil rights movement, nor approve of those that did, believing that good behavior was a better catalyst for change than activism. This determination to avoid conflict lies at the heart of this interview, and, it seems, at the heart of Magness's character. He will not place blame for segregation, and his principal memory of desegregation was some trouble between white and black students.

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Title from menu page (viewed on Dec. 2, 2008).

Interview participants: Leroy Magness, interviewee; Michelle Markey, interviewer.

Duration: 01:21:45.

This electronic edition is part of the UNC-Chapel Hill digital library, Documenting the American South. It is a part of the collection Oral histories of the American South.

Text encoded by Jennifer Joyner. Sound recordings digitized by Aaron Smithers.

Forms part of Oral histories of the American South collection.