Interview with John Hervey Wheeler, 1964

Interview Summary

John Hervey Wheeler (1908-1978) was born in Kittrell, North Carolina. Wheeler started working for the Mechanics and Farmers Bank in Durham, North Carolina in 1929 and became president in 1952. Wheeler practiced in the Circuit Court of Appeals in 1950 and began working within the United States Supreme Court System in 1955. He has been a member and served as director, trustee, and chairman of numerous institutions and organizations such as Morehouse College, the United Negro College Fund, the President's Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity, the NAACP Legal Staff for North Carolina, and the Southern Regional Council. Wheeler describes the development and establishment of African American-owned businesses and institutions. Wheeler discusses the growing respect for African American professionals such as doctors and lawyers, but notes all African Americans face racial discrimination and segregation within the workplace. Wheeler explains what integration in industry means to him, provides his viewpoint on preferential employment, and discusses the idea of having a "right time" for integration.

Interview Keyword

Charlotte (N.C.) Durham (N.C.) Real estate Freedman's Bank Integrated business Integration World War I Progressive Era Howard University Brown vs. Board of Education Segregated hospitals Tokenism Black doctors Housing authority City councils City managers Jackie Robinson Cultural cohesiveness Martin Luther King, Jr. Southern states Atlanta (Ga.) Mississippi Freedom Summer Reconstruction Era Who Speaks for the Negro? (Book)

Interview LC Subject

African Americans--Civil rights Race relations African American business enterprises African American businesspeople Discrimination in housing Loans Banks and banking Universities and colleges African American lawyers Discrimination Progressivism (United States politics) Black universities and colleges Law schools Discrimination in employment African American leadership Segregation African Americans--Societies, etc. Civil rights movements--United States African Americans--Social conditions Race, class, and social structure Race relations--United States Voter registration--Mississippi

Interview Rights

All rights to the interviews, including but not restricted to legal title, copyrights and literary property rights, have been transferred to the University of Kentucky Libraries.

Interview Usage

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