Oral history interview with Stella Nickerson, January 20, 2001

Nickerson provides a relatively complete picture of her young life during the integration process. She describes a closely knit, harmonious black community in which she grew up without fear--a community that wove together elements of work, school, and religion. Integration transformed tightly disciplined black schools into more unruly places without ties to their communities. This interview is more useful as a source of information on the small goings-on of everyday life than it is as a source of broad evaluative statements about the integration of public education.