Interview with Harry E. Fields, June 17, 1999

Interview Summary

Fields, a lifetime educator in Owensboro, discusses growing up in segregated Danville, Kentucky. He recalls having to sit in the balcony of the local movie theater. He talks about his first years teaching in Owensboro and how he initially disliked the city. He eventually became principal of Western School after integration. Fields discusses how the integration of the schools was implemented. White teachers were asked to volunteer to teach at the black schools, while African American teachers were reassigned to white schools. A few black teachers were reassigned as librarians in the white schools and were required to take additional schooling.

Fields believed at the time that integration would mean that black students would have less opportunity to participate in extracurricular activities because they would feel less prepared and would not be welcomed by the white students. Black athletes, on the other hand, were welcomed onto the sports teams. He feels that black teachers, under segregation, were better nurturers for black children than white teachers.

Fields also discusses the civil rights movement and activists in Owensboro including Richard Brown, who ran for office and worked for voter registration, Rev. R.L. McFarland, H.E. Goodloe, Dr. Reginald C. and Hattie L. Neblett, and Monita Sleet. He believes that a major problem in Owensboro today is that there is not an established, active, and viable black community. African Americans leave the Owensboro area to attend college and often do not return because of the lack of local support and social life in the community.

Interview Keyword

Communities Black community Whites Schools Theaters

Interview LC Subject

Integration Owensboro (Ky.) Race relations Racism African Americans--Segregation

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