Community approach to better human relations

Item description

This is a transcript of a speech on desegregation given by Dr. Gordon W. Lovejoy to the Greensboro Community Council, on December 21, 1954. Lovejoy was a visiting sociology professor at Guilford College and taught classes at Greensboro College at the time of this presentation. In his speech, Lovejoy argues that people receive moral guidance from religion, the legal system, and economics. He goes on to say that their motivations are changing in the face of desegregation, and that the South is in a period of transition. His recommendations for the Greensboro community are: a community self-survey; teaching of human relations in schools; training and support of human relations in PTAs; training of police in human relations; broadening the composition of the ministerial alliance; intensifying of youth programs; desegregation of community facilities; and an increase in the number of facilities where interracial meetings can be held. He says that it is necessary for the council to make a statement in support of improved human relations and to form a human relations committee. The transcript was produced and printed by the Community Council and includes Lovejoy's introduction by Guilford College professor Robert Dinkel, as well as the question and answer session moderated by Community Council president B. Tartt Bell. Topics covered include: possible desegregation rulings in the Supreme Court, desegregation in private schools, and the fear of interracial marriage preventing school desegregation.