Potts, Muriel Logan, January 17, 2003
Scope and Contents
The Avery Research Center Averyite oral histories collection contains 23 oral history interviews arranged in six series according to the decade that the interviews were conducted. A majority of the oral histories were conducted by Avery Research Center employees, but there are also a handful of oral histories that were done independently of the Avery Research Center and later donated that are included in this collection. Within each series, the oral histories are arranged alphabetically by last name. Greater detail about the contents of each oral history can be found at the file level abstract of each oral history interview. Each oral history, when available, includes a transcript and any supporting documentation like questions, notes, and interview release forms. Transcripts do not currently exist for every interview and work to create them is ongoing.
The contents of the oral histories vary greatly with the Avery Normal Institute and its impact on the interviewees' lives often being mentioned, but not always the focus. Other topics covered in the oral histories include participation in the Civil Rights Movement, careers in the military and public education, the history of Sullivan's Island, Charleston neighborhoods, social customs, and activism.
Series I: Oral History Interviews, 1976
Series II: Oral History Interviews, 1986-1987
Series III: Oral History Interviews, 1996-1997
Series IV: Oral History Interviews, 2000-2009
Series V: Oral History Interviews, 2015
Series VI: Oral History Interviews, Undated
Dates
- Creation: January 17, 2003
Access Restrictions
There are no restrictions to this collection; however, a cassette player is required to listen to the audiocassette tapes. A cassette player will be made available to researchers in our reading room.
Full Extent
From the Collection: .209 linear feet (1 half Hollinger box, 23 audiocassettes, 1 videocassette, and 2.62 gigabytes (audio and transcripts))
Language of Materials
From the Collection: English
Abstract
The interview emphasizes Muriel Potts’ recollections of the Avery Normal Institute, with a special focus on the educational and teaching-training components of the school. Potts talks at length about Avery providing summer school for teachers as a result of a pay equalization lawsuit which she was a part of in 1943. The summer school teacher training program provided Black teachers with college credit and the skills to pass the National Teaching Examinations, used as benchmarks for pay equalization. Potts talks about boarding teachers from across the state at her house, and extending the program into the surrounding areas. She discusses the positive relationship Avery had with South Carolina State University, Benedict College, Allen University, and Voorhees College, and the relationship with the American Missionary Association and its administrators Fred Brownlee and Ruth Morton. She also discusses the role of her husband, John Potts, the last principal of Avery, the merger with Burke High School and the closing of the school in 1954 and touches on what they did in the intervening years, including teaching in Johns’ Island and accepting a post administering Voorhees College. She discusses the quality education provided by Avery and the breakdown of the education system in late 1960s and early 1970s due to a lack of teacher-training. Finally, she discusses colorism (what she calls “class, caste, and color”) in Charleston and the South, Black-white relations, her and her husband’s family genealogy and ancestry, and her adopted, dark-skinned daughter, Alma Young.
The oral history is conducted by Sherman Pyatt and Leila Potts-Campbell.
Repository Details
Part of the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture Repository
125 Bull Street
Charleston South Carolina 29424 United States
843-953-7608
averyresearchcenter@cofc.edu