Oral history interview with Hobart Jarrett by Eugene Pfaff

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In this transcript of an oral history interview conducted circa 1980 by Eugene Pfaff with Hobart Jarrett, Jarrett primarily describes the efforts to desegregate the Woolworth's lunch counter and Meyer's Tea Room in Greensboro in the early 1960s. He describes his personal background, his role as chairman of the Greensboro Citizens Asssociation and the group's activities, and details of negotiations with white merchants such as Mose Kiser of Guilford Dairy and Clarence Harris of Woolworth's. Other major topics include the role of specific members of the black community, especially Dr. W.L.T. Miller, George Simkins, Vance Chavis, and various ministers, as well as the role of women at Bennett College and Women's College (now UNCG).

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Title: Oral history interview with Hobart Jarrett by Eugene Pfaff
Who's responsible?: Jarrett, Hobart Sydney (Interviewee)
Pfaff, Eugene E., Jr., 1948- (Interviewer)
Original creation or publication date: 1980
Place: Greensboro (N.C.)
Decade: 1980-1989
Type of item: text
Original format: interviews
Subject headings: Bennett College (Greensboro, N.C.)
Greensboro (N.C.) -- Race relations
Greensboro (N.C.) -- History -- 20th century
University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Topics: North Carolina
African-American History
Schools and Colleges
Business
Civic Groups
Additional tags: UNCG
Business desegregation
Greensboro civic organizations
Bennett College
Copyright information: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
IN COPYRIGHT. This item is subject to copyright. Contact the contributing institution for permission to reuse.
Contributing Institution: Greensboro Public Library
Collection: Greensboro Public Library Oral History Program
Civil Rights Greensboro
Funding source: Digitzation funded by a grant from the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro.
Contributor's identifier: GPL_OH0001.060
Gateway identifier: gpl:7358
Item note: Dr. Hobart Sidney Jarrett was born in 1915 in Arlington, Texas, and grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He received a scholarship to Wiley College in Marshall, Texas, where he was a member of debate team depicted in the 2007 film The Great Debaters.Following his graduation from Wiley in 1936 with a degree in English, he attended Syracuse University, where he earned a masterâ€™s degree in English. Jarrett also received a Rockefeller Award to study at Harvard University, and later returned to Syracuse to complete a doctor of philosophy degree in humanities.Jarrettâ€™s teaching experience began at Langston University in Oklahoma in 1937, where he served as instructor, associate professor and later chair of Modern Languages Department and dean of personnel. In 1949, he moved to Greensboro, NC, to serve as professor and chair of Humanities Division at Bennett College. During his tenure at Bennett, Jarrett was a member and later president of the Greensboro Citizens Association, a group that served as liaison between students and community members active in the civil rights movement and white merchants in Greensboro. He left Bennett in 1961 to take a position in the Department of English at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York (CUNY), where he served until retirement in 1986.Jarrett was active in Alpha Phi Alpha for more than 70 years and author of The History of Sigma Pi Phi. He was also the recipient of presidential medals from three American presidents and an active member of the Comus Club of Brooklyn, 100 Black Men of New York City, and Alpha Sigma Boule. Hobart Jarrett died on May 8, 2005.
OCLC number: 884368078

Oral history interview with Hobart Jarrett by Eugene Pfaff

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