Thomisene Oliver Strickland (1947- ) graduated from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) in 1969, majoring in French. Strickland talks about growing up in the Lumberton, North Carolina, and attending segregated schools. She discusses coming to UNCG; academic, campus, and dorm life; fellow black students; and the founding of the Neo-Black Society. Strickland recalls receiving a scholarship from the Herbert Leman Foundation and working at the Weatherspoon Art Gallery so she could pay for her education. She relates with fond memories her involvement with the UNCG French Club and her French professors: Claude Chavigne, Christian Garaud, and John Philip Couch. Strickland discusses in great detail, the trip she and her classmate, Pat Emma, took to New York City and Expo 67 in Canada. She recounts stories of making new friends from all over the world while working at the United Nations as a tour guide, interacting with the Lumbee Native Americans of the Lumberton area, and teaching high school French.
