Seizinger, Betty, 1931-2004

Williams, Jill

Charlotte, North Carolina

J. Murrey Atkins Library Special Collections, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

1999-06-22

1 audio file (1:33:08) : digital, MP3

sound recording-nonmusical

spoken word

eng

Betty Seizinger was a 67-year-old woman at the time of interview, which took place in her home in Charlotte, North Carolina. She was born in Lima, Ohio on June 25, 1931. She was educated at Ohio State University, Wayne State University, University of Michigan, and University of North Carolina at Charlotte; and was employed as a history teacher.

Betty Seizinger discusses the history of West Charlotte High School and shares her experiences as a teacher there during the 1980s. Ms. Seizinger describes West Charlotte's challenges and successes in integrating staff and students during the 1970s. She talks about tensions that grew within the school during the 1980s and 1990s and a belief that while integration was a success, inequality between white and black students in the schools was still present. Ms. Seizinger states that black students and families were more inconvenienced and less considered than their white counterparts during implementation of integration across the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school system. Other points of contention include underrepresentation of black students in upper level classes and a shift towards increasingly white teacher leadership within West Charlotte during the 1980s. Despite these shortcomings, Ms. Seizinger characterizes West Charlotte High School as "the school that made desegregation work," praising the principals, staff, and parents who created a unique culture and made the school a role model on a national level. She also describes white flight from Charlotte's public schools into what she called "segregation academies" (private schools that were exempt from the new laws prohibiting segregation), the emergence of a neighborhood school movement that picked up pace with the rapid suburban growth of the city, and the implications of the proliferation of magnet schools within Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. The interview closes with a related discussion about Davidson College.

MP3 access copy created on ingest from WAV preservation master file. Interview originally recorded on analog audio cassette and digitized using Digidesign 003 rack.

History teachers

Seizinger, Betty, 1931-2004

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools
West Charlotte High School (Charlotte, N.C.)
Davidson College

School integration
School integration--Public opinion
Discrimination in education
De facto school segregation
Teachers
Magnet schools
Busing for school integration
Race relations

North Carolina--Charlotte
North Carolina--Charlotte--University Park

Interviews
Oral histories

1970-2000

Levine Museum of the New South

West Charlotte High School during integration

Living Charlotte : the postwar development of a New South city

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Digitization made possible by funding from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by the State Library of North Carolina, a division of the Department of Cultural Resources.

audio/mpeg

MU-SE0315