Interview with Norman L. Passmore, Sr., August 17, 1978

Interview Summary

Vice-president of his senior class, Mr. Passmore was the only African American student at North Theodore Roosevelt High School in East Chicago. He graduated from Kentucky State University where he received an athletic scholarship, and from the University of Iowa, where he obtained a master of arts degree. In 1939 he accepted a teaching job at Dunbar High School where he served as football coach and assistant basketball coach for 15 years. Mr. Passmore enumerates the teaching conditions at Dunbar before and after integration including salaries, facilities and student to teacher ratio. He discusses the effect of the merger of the city and county schools and integration upon his career, and the treatment received by himself and other African American teachers and students at Henry Clay High School. Mr. Passmore reminisces about the outstanding African American teachers he encountered at Dunbar and Henry Clay.

Interview Keyword

Schools African Americans in Lexington Athletes Indiana Kentucky Lexington, Kentucky Athletics Race relations Students Teachers

Interview LC Subject

East Chicago (Ind.) Education African Americans--Education--Kentucky--Lexington African Americans--Segregation Fayette County (Ky.) African Americans--Religion African Americans. Passmore, Norman L., Sr. Passmore, Norman L., Sr.--Interviews Civil rights movement School integration--Kentucky Lexington (Ky.)

Interview Rights

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Interview Usage

Interviews may be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries.