These oral histories document the history of desegregation, integration, and racial-change in Wicomico County during the 1950's, 60's, and 70's through interviews with students and educators who remember this time period. Subjects range from administrative development of racially-progressive programs in schools, the construction of new schools such as Parkside High School, to the experiences of African-American teachers in the Wicomico County school system during segregation and integration. Compiled transcripts, questions, notes, and time logs are attached.

The Wicomico Board of Education released plans for desegregation to begin in September, 1962, on a geographical assignment basis to desegregate schools on a three or four year basis beginning with Salisbury and moving outwards. In 1962, integration began with five elementary schools: Beaver Run, Pemberton, North Salisbury, East Salisbury, and Pinehurst. The following year, 1963, five more schools were integrated: Prince Street Elementary, Delmar Elementary, Hebron Elementary, Wicomico Junior High, and James M. Bennet Junior High. By September, 1964, all nineteen white public elemantary and high schools in Wicomico County, grades 1-12, were integrated. The African-American schools such as Cooper Mill Elementary and Salisbury High School were disbanded and their students integrated into the previously white-only schools as per their geographical assignments. Staff and faculty experienced integration on a similar time scale, beginning in 1964 with increasing amounts of integration as the years progressed. 

By 1967, desegregation was deemed complete by the Wicomico County Board of Education.

NCOH-0004_00001: This interview was conducted by Aly Lloyd with Norman Conway on October 31, 2017. Norman Conway was an educator and administrator in Wicomico County during the period of integration in the mid-1960's. He soeaks of the transition felt by students and faculty alike of all races, the changes that have occured in the school system during and since integration, and his later work as a member and President of the Salisbury City Council and a member of the Maryland House of Delegates. 

NCOH-0004_00002: This interview was conducted by Creston Long with Anthony Sarbanes on November 7, 2017. Anthony "Tony" Sarbanes was an educator and administrator in Wicomico County from 1961 until he retired in 1989. He was a teacher for four years before becoming an administrator in 1965 right before integration in 1966, and he speaks of the various challenges assiciated with that timultuous time. He also speaks of his actions that helped establish Parkside High School in Salisbury. 

NCOH-0004_00003: This interview was conducted by Letia Cooper with Allen C. Brown on July 17, 2019. Allen Brown began teaching, and later administration, in 1968 right after integration had taken effect in Wicomico and Salisbury. He speaks of his experience as an administrator in the early 70's with the freshly-integrated schools and the community surrounding those schools during his career. He remained as a principal at Bennett Middle School until his retirement in 2008, where he later became a member of the Wicomico Board of Education where he remains as of 2019.

NCOH-0004_00004: This interview was conducted by Andrea Vincent with Nevette Wesley Muir on July 17, 2019. Nevette Muir was an educator and administrator in Wicomico county from 1972 until his retirement. His career ocurred all over Wicomico from Hebron to Fruitland, experiencing the aftermath of integration less than a decade prior. He speaks of his various experiences related to the many schools he taught and administered at.

NCOH-0004_00005: This interview was conducted by Tim Larimore and Harry Suber with William "Butch" Waller on July 17, 2019. Butch Waller was a renowned physical education teacher at Wicomico High School from 1966 until his retirement. He speaks of his experience as a physical education teacher in the midst of integration, his enthusiasm for sports in education regardless of race, and challenges he encountered as a coach after integration.

NCOH-0004_00006: This interview was conducted by Kristene Sieloff with Anne Suthowski on July 17, 2019. Anne Suthowski was an educator in Laurel, Delaware, from 1962 to 1995 and is now a member of the Wicomico Board of Education. She speaks of her time as a teacher during integration in the mid-1960's, with a detailed description of how that worked from her perspective, and gives a very thorough description of her movements to get elected to the Board of Education and her actions since then.   

NCOH-0004_00007: This interview was conducted by Creston Long with Mary Gladys Jones on July 2, 2019. Mary Gladys Jones is a renowned community member in Fruitland, MD, and a retired educator in Wicomico country. She describes her move into education in the early 1940's and 50's and her experience as one of the first African-American teachers to be assigned to a previously all-white school in Salisbury, MD. She chronicles her experience as an educator in Wicomico county and as a founding member of the Fruitland Community Center after her retirement in 1981. 

NCOH-0004_00008: This interview was conducted by Creston Long with Daniel Savoy on September 30, 2019. Daniel Savoy was an educator and administrator in Wicomico County. He describes growing up on a sharecropper farm, then moving towards his desire to become an educator. He attended Maryland State College (UMES) in the 1960's during a time of racial tension in Princess Anne, MD, and describes his experiences of being an African-American student at that time. He later became a teacher in Wicomico County, culminating in his being the vice-principal and principal of James M. Bennet High until 1997 when he retired. 

Archive.org Links:

1. https://archive.org/details/ncoh000400001
2. https://archive.org/details/ncoh000400002
3. https://archive.org/details/ncoh0004000031
4. https://archive.org/details/ncoh000400004
5. https://archive.org/details/ncoh000400005
6. https://archive.org/details/ncoh000400007
7. https://archive.org/details/ncoh000400008

Oral history interviews are arranged by date of the interviews conducted and files are given unique identifiers. Administrative files are arranged alphabetically by interviewee surnames.