Oral history interview with Linner Ward Griffin, 2014
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Linner Ward Griffin (1942-2015 ) attended Woman's College of the University of North Carolina, now The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and graduated in 1964 with a major in history. Griffin has a Master's in Social Work from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a doctorate from the University of Houston in Houston, Texas. In July 2013, she retired from East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina as associate provost for academic affairs. Griffin remembers being raised by her maternal grandparents in segregated Charlotte, North Carolina; the social changes that occurred in Charlotte during the 1950s; and the influence her high school teacher, Julian Pyles, had on her life by preparing her for college. She recalls her friends from Charlotte and fellow college students: Clara Withers (Class of 1962), Elizabeth Withers (Class of 1963), and Diane Oliver (Class of 1964); being housed with other black students in Coit Residence Hall; and being disappointed by the lack of integration on campus. Griffin discusses her adjustment to academic life, the influence of faculty members: Professors Laura Anderton, Richard Bardolph, and Jordan Kurland as well as administrators: Chancellors James Ferguson and Otis Singletary, and Deans Mereb Mossman and Katherine Taylor. She gives her thoughts about dining hall food, dorm rules and regulations, the campus tradition of Rat Day, and her social life revolving around events at nearby North Carolina A&T State University. Griffin concludes the interview by talking about how attending the all-female Woman's College influenced her life and made her feel comfortable with herself.