Tracey, Charlotte, November 24, 1982
Scope and Contents
The Avery Institute of Afro-American History and Culture Oral History Project contains 44 oral history interviews arranged in three series based on the corresponding project or scope of the oral histories. The majority of the oral histories were conducted or coordinated by Avery Institute of Afro-American History and Culture members with the exception of Phase 2 of the Avery Normal Institute Oral History Project which was conducted by the Avery Research Center. Within each series, the oral histories are arranged alphabetically by last name. Greater details about the contents of each oral history can be found at the file level abstract of each interview. Each oral history, when available, includes a transcript and any supporting documentation like questions, notes, tape logs, and interview release forms. Transcripts do not currently exist for every interview and work to create them is ongoing.
Series I: Avery Normal Institute Oral History Project, 1980-1996 contains oral histories with former students, teachers, principals, and community members of the Avery Normal Institute discussing their attendance at the school including classes, teachers, extracurricular activities as well as perceptions of the school in the larger African American Charleston community and perceived reasons for why the school was closed. 12 of these oral histories are accessible on the Lowcountry Digital Library including the interviews with Ruby Cornwell, Julia Craft DeCosta, Marcellus Forrest, Dr. Joseph Hoffman, Felder Hutchinson, Anna D. Kelly, Louise Mouzon, Peter Poinsette, and both interviews with J. Michael Graves and Eugene C. Hunt.
Series II: Laing School oral histories, 1981 contains two oral histories with former students of the Laing School in which they discuss their time attending the school, their lives after graduation, and their impressions of the Avery Normal Institute.
Series III: Avery Institute of Afro-American History and Culture oral histories, 1983-1995 contains seven oral histories with members of the Avery Institute of Afro-American History and Culture discussing the founding of the organization and its grassroots efforts to acquire and preserve the Avery Normal Institute school buildings. There are also oral histories in this series with former students of the Avery Normal Institute and Immaculate Conception discussing their attendance at both institutions.
Dates
- Creation: November 24, 1982
Creator
- From the Collection: Avery Institute of Afro-American History and Culture (Organization)
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: .834 linear feet (2 Hollinger boxes, 79 audiocassettes, and 27.7 gigabytes (audio and transcripts))
Language of Materials
From the Collection: English
Abstract
In this interview, Charlotte Tracy discusses her life growing up in Springfield, Massachusetts, and her subsequent move to Charleston, South Carolina to work at Avery Normal Institute. She recalls her girlhood in Illinois, where her father served as a minister and she attended public school among a largely white community. She details the self-imposed segregation within the school among the different ethnic groups, and the problems she faced growing up as one of the few Black children in a white community. Tracy mentions her earliest memories of segregation, her observations of being different, and how cognizant she was of these differences as a little girl. Due to her parents’ own attendance at Fisk University, she also attended, and recalls her amazement and delight at attending school within an all-Black school and her living arrangements with the daughter of W.E.B. DuBois.
Upon graduation from Fisk, Tracy accepted a job through the American Missionary Association at Avery Normal Institute in Charleston, SC in 1923, where she faced a very different and elite culture than she was unaccustomed to. She extensively details the elitism within Avery and the Black community, as well as differences in "colorism” and how students perceived themselves based upon their parents’ affectations, giving numerous examples. She speaks about her class requirements, including visiting students, and the differences between students from different economic backgrounds. Tracy details the involvement of Dr. Cox at Avery, including his leadership skills and his push to educate the students in a social as well as academic context. Much resentment, she claims, existed within the Black community towards Avery on account of its elite status, while the white community seemed neutral. However, she notes that, with the advent of desegregation, the white community’s attitude towards Avery began to change, and details the initial exodus of whites from the area and the subsequent changes that followed.
The oral history is conducted by Dr. Edmund Drago.
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