Carland, John M. interview

• Main Author: Carland, John M.
• Other Authors: Spitzberg, Irving Joseph, Jr., 1942-2023
• Format: Moving Image (Video)
• Language: English
• Published: Butler Center for Arkansas Studies. Central Arkansas Library System 2010
• Subjects: Hall High School (Little Rock; Ark.); Education; Boys; Segregation in education; High schools; T. J. Raney High School (Little Rock; Central High School (Little Rock; Ark.) > Riots & demonstrations > 1950-1960; Spitzberg
• Online Access: http://cdm15728.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15728coll5/id/2549

Describes how the Central High Crisis and the subsequent closing of the schools affected him as a student. He attended Central High School before the closing and when the schools closed he attended high school at T. J. Rainey High School. Spitzberg: John Carland, identify yourself and tell us where you went to elementary school, junior high school, and high school. Carland: I went to elementary school in two places Pine Haven Elementary in Bauxite, Arkansas, Lee School Elementary in Little Rock where my father also attended as a child, Pulaski Ice Junior High School, and then like so many of our classmates went to three places in high school. I went to Central in the 10th grade. to T.J. Rainey in the 11th grade and Hall in the 12th grade. Spitzberg: Yes, well the archaeologists who will unearth this sometime in the next hundred years explain T.J. Rainey High School. Carland: T.J. Rainey High School was essentially a segregationist academy. It was set up, at first it was the local legal people on the segregationist side tried to set it up to give it some sort of legal semblance and access to public funds. That failed. And it ended up just being a private school. And all of those who had not been smart enough to go to one of the county schools or out of state suddenly realized, or at least I did, that I had no place to go with this. So I went. Spitzberg: Now, in terms of your recollection of your family's views about what was happening when the crisis hit, and also your personal views, talk a little bit about.what your family's position was, what was going on, and what you remember you thought about what was going on. Carland: Okay. Let me, because I'm a historian, let me put this in the sort of context that I've developed over the years as I've thought of these things. And it occurred to me, and this is not original with me, but it's the truth for me, is that we all grew up in a race-structured society. That race-structured society assigned certain roles to.African-American, certain roles to white in a sort of ...