Interviewee: Dr. Charles Cherry

Interviewer: Andy Reid

Place of Interview: Elizabeth City, NC

Date and Time: 4/02/14, 11:00am

Dr. Charles Cherry is a professor at Elizabeth City State University and the founding dean of the university’s department of School of Education & Psychology. A 1963 graduate of Elizabeth City State University, Dr. Cherry has over fifty years of experience within education. Dr. Cherry has served as a public school administrator, superintendent, and a public school principal all before returning to Elizabeth City State University in 1997 to teach education. He has been a faculty member of the university for seventeen years and still continues to make great contributions to the career of education.

As a college student, Dr. Cherry was an active member in the Civil Rights Movement. Being a student at a historically black college during segregation, Dr. Cherry was able to witness first-hand activism by African-Americans during the movement. He was a participant in the Civil Rights sit-in movement that swept across North Carolina during the fight for equality. Dr. Cherry was also a participant in the African-American expressionism movement on the campus of Elizabeth City State University that grew out of the nationwide Civil Rights Movement. This allowed Dr. Cherry and other students on campus to relieve stress after they were told to order and eat their food in the back of a local restaurant in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. His involvement in Civil Rights activities prepared him for the world he would enter after his college graduation.

Post-Civil Rights Movement, Dr. Cherry has remained active in the fight for equality for all those who may face discrimination. He is an active member of NAACP which is a prominent organization that continues to promote the advancement of colored people around the world. Also, Dr. Cherry is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity Inc., in which he valuably represents and promotes the organization with dedication and leadership. Dr. Cherry is highly active in community enhancement. He uses his position as an educator to enlighten the youth in local communities on the importance of gaining an education. Also after the ending of the Civil Rights Movement, Dr. Cherry became advocate for the elderly. He continues to visit nursing homes and rest homes, where he provides motivational speeches to the elders. Post-Civil Rights Movement has only allowed Dr. Cherry his positive influence throughout different communities.

When it comes to the generation post-Civil Rights, Dr. Cherry states “I have a lot of respect for the young generation, but sometimes I feel that the younger generation is more materialistic than humanistic. I believe that my generation paved the way to make things better for future generations and those generations ahead of me did the same thing” (Reid and Cherry Interview). Dr. Cherry also holds the belief it’s not all up to the younger generation, but of everyone young and old to continue on the legacy that many people fought for. There are many people associated with the Civil Rights Movement and Dr. Cherry of Elizabeth State University is one of those people that contributed greatly to the cause of equality.

Transcript:

REID: Well I guess I will jump right in with the first question. What comes to mind when you hear the term Civil Rights?

CHERRY: Well from my perspective, it simply means equal rights for everyone. Regardless of race, creed, religion, age. My definition having come up in that era, would be that my concern not only by law….laws are made to be broken. So not only by the law, but people have to understand when someone is not treated equally.

REID: Thank You. The second question is, can you describe what it was like growing up during the Civil Rights Movement?

CHERRY: Yes when I grew up in Southeastern North Carolina. I have lived in the South all of my life. I did live in New Jersey when I was at school during the summers, but I grew up in Southeastern North Carolina and when I graduated from high school in 1959….. Brown vs Board of Education occurred in 1954 and that simply meant you could be separate, but you could be equal. In my day it was totally understood and somewhat accepted by the South that you just weren’t equal and things were not equal. We were completely separated, we went to separate schools, used separate buses, we used separate books. Many times used books used by the white schools. We were totally separated in society, if you went to a restaurant you could not sit down and there were black and white restrooms. We had to sit in the back of the bus and this was just the climate of the South at that time. Now, did we like it? No, but that was what we had to tolerate.

REID: Alright. Thanks for the answer. As far as the third question, what was the atmosphere like at ECSU during the Civil Rights?

CHERRY: Well when I came here as a freshman in 59, we were segregated completely. We knew having being born in the South and Elizabeth City is in the South. We knew where we stood, we knew where we weren’t supposed to go. We weren’t allowed to go sit at the counters. As a matter of fact there was an emphasis restaurant right on Southern Ave. known as the Southern Pig. That building has burned down within the last 10 years, I suppose. That was one of the places that we go frequent as students because when the cafeteria shutdown in the afternoon it was shut down to the next day. So naturally being students we would get hungry, so we would go down to the Southern Pig only to be told that we had to go in the backdoor. We could not even go in the front door to be serviced. So that was the atmosphere of the whole town.

REID: Alright as far as these questions are going, you seem to be touching on some of the questions I was going to ask you. So the next question is, being a student at ECSU did you ever face any racial tension?

CHERRY: Well you know….during my time here at Elizabeth City State Teachers College, it was a known fact that going downtown, socializing and those kind of things were taboo. We were somewhat not welcome to the downtown. Even if we went downtown shopping, we went in groups rather than individuals. I personally didn’t really feel any racial tension myself because I knew the climate, I knew the atmosphere. The only direct element of discrimination that I received was when I graduated in 63 and I came back to the university to get some finished credential work to get employment. I remember having driven off the way from Southeast North Carolina to Elizabeth City to stop by a restaurant and I can’t tell you the name of that restaurant, but it was on the outskirts of town. I do remember so vividly that I walked into the front door of the restaurant all the way up to the counter and I could feel eyes on me. I was well dressed and felt educated because Elizabeth City had given me great education. Only to get up to the front for the owner of the restaurant to say we don’t serve Niggers in here. Let me tell you I don’t wish that upon anyone. I have to admit there was a moment of hatred inside of me and that’s not a good feeling. So I can understand what those people who were sprayed upon and washed down with hoses how they felt.

REID: Ok. That was an interesting story. The next question is, did you take part in any activism and if so what events?

CHERRY: Yes we had sit-ins on campus during my era. There were people who had went downtown, but I did not go downtown and participate in those. We had write-ins, we had expressionisms and not tolerating at that time what we had gone through. My level of participation was at that level, I did not go downtown and sit at the counter.

REID: Moving on to the next question. How were you able to stay focus as a student during this period?

CHERRY: Well it’s just like anything else. That was another distraction and as a student I had learned as a child that when you set your aim on certain goals…so it just like anything else. You have to decide what extent you want to get involved. My involvement, my concentration, my focus was on graduating and becoming a productive citizen. Now, I like I said the Civil Rights Movement was different than joining a fraternity or getting involved in extracurricular activities because then you had an outside force interfering with an inside force and the two clash. So we did not know the real outcome of that. There are distractions as students, we just have to make a decision within ourselves as to how much we want to get involved and what extent do we want to make that our focus to do.

REID: That sounds great. Next question being, are there any parts of the Civil Rights Movement that you disagree with and if so why?

CHERRY: Well the concept itself, I don’t disagree with any of it. You have to understand that the sit-ins and the boycotts and those kinds of things were not initial strategies. We had made all kinds of pleas and did anything we possibly could to let society know that we were ready to move and become a part of society. It is very tough as a human being or one to be told no you can’t do a certain thing when you know it’s a public setting. Also that you know as a citizen you deserve that right just like anybody else. I do disagree with the ill-treatment of human beings because everyone is a human being and it took the South a long time to know that. My only concern is that I don’t want anyone to lose sight on who we are and where we are going. I don’t want the younger generation to get so comfortable that you lose sight on what life is about.

REID: Ok, Thank you. Next question is, what did the Civil Rights Movement do for you and your family at this time?

CHERRY: It really made me appreciate it and make me feel proud of who we are as a people. It hurts me sometimes to see what it is going on with young people. I think my generation has to keep instilling value to the next generation to continue the movement. We have to make people understand that we have more in common than we have differences.

REID: Alright. Do you believe that African-Americans ever fully received equality after Civil Rights?

CHERRY: Well I think we have come a long way, but full equality in my sense does not mean just to the extent of the law. Now part of that is respect for each other and like I said we have come a long way. I think we have to work harder on the changing of attitudes toward people and I think it starts with respect for yourself. For example, we really respected the young ladies and there were bad language. I saw all women on campus as my sisters so that’s only one example. So if we respect ourselves more and start branching out to respect others then they may see who they are and they will see who we are.

REID: Are you active in any organization post-Civil Rights era?

CHERRY: Yes, the NAACP, AARP, community work, my fraternity. I do volunteer work with the elderly, I have a mother who is 98, so I work very closely with them. Wherever I go I try to share with people a positive attitude and I try to instill that positive attitude in others.

REID: How should the Civil Rights Movement be remembered?

CHERRY: It should be remembered as a historical movement in American society. I mean the Civil Rights is nothing new, it has occurred all over the world. So we have to remember that Martin Luther King and everybody were forerunners. I believe that things happen for a reason at all times. People had been mistreated long enough so someone stepped up and said it’s time to move forward. So it was a needed movement and still is and we can’t forget that people are human beings and should be treated as such. I am so happy that I was part of that movement.

REID: And my last question is, what are your concluding thoughts on the generation now post-Civil Rights?

CHERRY: Well, I have a lot of respect for the young generation, but sometimes I feel that the younger generation is more materialistic than humanistic. I believe that my generation paved the way to make things better for future generations and those generations ahead of me did the same thing. It’s not all up to the younger generation, but of everyone young and old to continue on the legacy that many people fought for.

REID: Well, I really do appreciate your time Dr. Cherry. It was a great interview, I really learned a lot.

CHERRY: Thank you, I enjoyed talking to you.

 

Suggested Readings: 

ECSU Archives, “1963 ECSU Yearbook”

Brown, Leslie. Upholding Black Durham: Gender, Class, and Black Community Development in the Jim Crow. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press, 2008.

Gasman, Marybeth. Higher Education for African Americans before the Civil Rights Era, 1900-    1964. New Brunswick, Transaction Publishers, 2012.

Payne, Charles. Time Longer Than Rope: A   century of African American Activism, 1850-1890.    New York: New York University Press, 2003.

Theoharis, Jeanne F. Freedom North: Black Freedom Struggles Outside the South, 1940-1980.     New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.