JULIUS C. SMITH
BEVERLY C. MOORE
M = NEILL SMITH
JULIUS C. SMITH, m
BYNUM M.HUNTER
BRAXTON SCHELL
STEPHEN P. MILL1KIN
JOHN J. DORTCH
RICHMOND G. BERNHARDT, JR.
CHARLES E. MELVIN, JR.
DAVID M.CLARK
RICHARD J.TUGGLE
HERBERT O. DAVIS
ALICE WATKINS COREY
JAMES G. EXUM, JR.
JACK W. FLOYD
Smith, Moore,Smith, Schell & Hunter
Attorneys and Counsellors at Law
SUITE 700 JEFFERSON STANDARD BUILDING
Greensboro, N. C.
March 5, 1963
TELEPHONE 273-8265
DRAWER G
Chancellor Otis Singletary
Women's College, UNC
Greensboro, North Carolina
Dear Sir:
When members of a racial minority in a community like Greensboro protest by boycott or mass demonstrations for better opportunities
in employment, the objections most frequently made are:
(1) It would have been better to negotiate employment privately with responsible employers rather than publicly air
such grievances in an atmosphere of tension and pressure;
(2) Prospective employees among the minority shoulcLc!fijgaon-_
strate^theirjjuajifications for holding better employment
before agitatingforlt; and
(3) Certain types of employment are not yet available for the
minority regardless of qualifications be^iuseother employees,
presently engaged, are not accustomed to the idea and would
protest and quit; therefore, until the other employees become
accustomed to the idea, management's hands are tied.
The last two of these objections are worthy of serious study by
your faculty and students, and by methods of study involving statistics
on preparation, qualifications and migration, and personal confrontation
with representatives of each race. Such study ought to be on as regular
and continuous a basis as any other aspect of contemporary life in your
curriculum. Certainly no other aspect is as likely to call for wise
action on the part of your students in the forseeable future.
Some Negro leadership in Greensboro has expressed the view
that every white person is conscious of Negro employment aspirations,
qualifications and limitations, and consciously refuses to consider
working alongside of and with Negroes however well qualified or capable
of learning on the job in the manner that most white employees learn on
the job.
[Letter from McNeill Smith to Chancellor Otis Singletary regarding disparate employment practices in Greensboro]
Date
1963-03-05
Creator
Smith, John McNeill, Jr.
Subject headings
Segregation in education--United States;Race relations
Topics
General perspectives on race relations
Place
Greensboro (N.C.)
Description
In this two-page letter, prominent Greensboro attorney McNeill Smith describes the arguments opponents of employment desegregation could argue. He suggests the possibility of students at Greensboro colleges studying employment disparity by race in the city.
Type
text
Original format
correspondence
Original dimensions
9.0" x 11.5"
Original publisher
[Place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified]
Language
en
Contributing institution
Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, UNCG University Libraries
NO COPYRIGHT - UNITED STATES. This item has been determined to be free of copyright restrictions in the United States. The user is responsible for determining actual copyright status for any reuse of the material.
Object ID
UA002.007.1380
Digital publisher
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, University Libraries, PO Box 26170, Greensboro NC 27402-6170, 336.334.5305 -- http://library.uncg.edu/
JULIUS C. SMITH
BEVERLY C. MOORE
M = NEILL SMITH
JULIUS C. SMITH, m
BYNUM M.HUNTER
BRAXTON SCHELL
STEPHEN P. MILL1KIN
JOHN J. DORTCH
RICHMOND G. BERNHARDT, JR.
CHARLES E. MELVIN, JR.
DAVID M.CLARK
RICHARD J.TUGGLE
HERBERT O. DAVIS
ALICE WATKINS COREY
JAMES G. EXUM, JR.
JACK W. FLOYD
Smith, Moore,Smith, Schell & Hunter
Attorneys and Counsellors at Law
SUITE 700 JEFFERSON STANDARD BUILDING
Greensboro, N. C.
March 5, 1963
TELEPHONE 273-8265
DRAWER G
Chancellor Otis Singletary
Women's College, UNC
Greensboro, North Carolina
Dear Sir:
When members of a racial minority in a community like Greensboro protest by boycott or mass demonstrations for better opportunities
in employment, the objections most frequently made are:
(1) It would have been better to negotiate employment privately with responsible employers rather than publicly air
such grievances in an atmosphere of tension and pressure;
(2) Prospective employees among the minority shoulcLc!fijgaon-_
strate^theirjjuajifications for holding better employment
before agitatingforlt; and
(3) Certain types of employment are not yet available for the
minority regardless of qualifications be^iuseother employees,
presently engaged, are not accustomed to the idea and would
protest and quit; therefore, until the other employees become
accustomed to the idea, management's hands are tied.
The last two of these objections are worthy of serious study by
your faculty and students, and by methods of study involving statistics
on preparation, qualifications and migration, and personal confrontation
with representatives of each race. Such study ought to be on as regular
and continuous a basis as any other aspect of contemporary life in your
curriculum. Certainly no other aspect is as likely to call for wise
action on the part of your students in the forseeable future.
Some Negro leadership in Greensboro has expressed the view
that every white person is conscious of Negro employment aspirations,
qualifications and limitations, and consciously refuses to consider
working alongside of and with Negroes however well qualified or capable
of learning on the job in the manner that most white employees learn on
the job.
