Brewton | The HistoryMakers

city

William Harvey

Dr. William R. Harvey is President of Hampton University and 100% owner of the Pepsi Cola Bottling Company of Houghton, Michigan. A native of Brewton, Alabama, he is a graduate of Southern Normal High School and Talladega College. He earned his doctorate in College Administration from Harvard University in 1972. Before coming to Hampton thirty-two years ago, he held administrative posts at Harvard, Fisk, and Tuskegee universities.

Since Dr. Harvey became President in 1978, student enrollment has increased from approximately 2,700 to approximately 6,300. Seventy-six new academic programs have been introduced including PhD’s in physics, pharmacy, nursing, atmospheric and planetary science, and physical therapy. During that time, he has built 18 new buildings. Dr. Harvey initiated a university-owned commercial development consisting of a shopping center and 246 two-bedroom apartments. The Project creates jobs, provides services, has increased the number of African-American entrepreneurs, and expanded the tax base in the City of Hampton.

His achievements have been recognized through inclusion in Personalities of the South, Who’s Who in the South and Southeast, Who’s Who in Black America, Who’s Who in Education, International Who’s Who of Intellectuals, Two Thousand Notable Americans, Who’s Who in Business and Finance, and Who’s Who in America.

Dr. Harvey is married to the former Norma Baker of Martinsville, Virginia, and they have three children—Kelly Renee, William Christopher, and Leslie Denise—and three grandchildren—Taylor, Gabrielle, and Lauren.

William R. Harvey was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on April 14, 2010.

Accession Number

A2010.031

Sex

Male

Interview Date

5/14/2010

Last Name

Harvey

Maker Category

EducationMakers

Marital Status

Married

Middle Name

Occupation

University President

Organizations

Schools

Southern Normal School

Talladega College

Virginia State University

Harvard Graduate School of Education

First Name

William

Birth City, State, Country

Brewton

HM ID

HAR31

Favorite Season

All Seasons

State

Alabama

THM DA Link

http://marc.thehistorymakers.org/thmdigital/A2010.031.htm

Web Clip 1

https://thmdaprodmedia.blob.core.windows.net/media/story/video/613579

Favorite Vacation Destination

Hilton Head, South Carolina

Favorite Quote

The Bottom Line.

Bio Photo

Speakers Bureau Region State

Virginia

Interview Description

A2010_031_EAD.pdf

A2010_031_EAC.pdf

Birth Date

1/29/1941

Birth Place Term

Brewton

Speakers Bureau Region City

Hampton

Country

USA

Favorite Food

Vegetables

Short Description

University president William Harvey (1941 - ) was a highly lauded educational administrator and served as the president of Hampton University for over three decades.

Employment

Hampton University

Fisk University

Tuskegee University

Favorite Color

Blue

Web Clip 2

https://thmdaprodmedia.blob.core.windows.net/media/story/video/613596

Timing Pairs

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DAStories

Tape: 1 Story: 1 - Slating of William Harvey's interview

Tape: 1 Story: 2 - William Harvey lists his favorites

Tape: 1 Story: 3 - William Harvey describes his mother's family background

Tape: 1 Story: 4 - William Harvey talks about his mother's education

Tape: 1 Story: 5 - William Harvey describes his father's family background

Tape: 1 Story: 6 - William Harvey remembers his father's civil rights activism

Tape: 1 Story: 7 - William Harvey talks about his father's career

Tape: 1 Story: 8 - William Harvey describes his likeness to his parents

Tape: 1 Story: 9 - William Harvey describes his earliest childhood memory

Tape: 2 Story: 1 - William Harvey talks about his uncle's barber shop in Brewton, Alabama

Tape: 2 Story: 2 - William Harvey remembers his family's defiance of southern segregation

Tape: 2 Story: 3 - William Harvey describes the Southern Normal School in Brewton, Alabama

Tape: 2 Story: 4 - William Harvey talks about the history of the Southern Normal School

Tape: 2 Story: 5 - William Harvey describes his experiences at the Southern Normal School

Tape: 2 Story: 6 - William Harvey talks about the discipline at the Southern Normal School

Tape: 2 Story: 7 - William Harvey recalls his start as a civil rights activist

Tape: 3 Story: 1 - William Harvey remembers his father's involvement in the Civil Rights Movement

Tape: 3 Story: 2 - William Harvey recalls his experiences at Talladega College in Talladega, Alabama

Tape: 3 Story: 3 - William Harvey remembers his civil rights activism at Talladega College, pt. 1

Tape: 3 Story: 4 - William Harvey remembers his civil rights activism at Talladega College, pt. 2

Tape: 3 Story: 5 - William Harvey recalls his decision to join the U.S. Army

Tape: 3 Story: 6 - William Harvey describes his experiences in the U.S. Army, pt. 1

Tape: 3 Story: 7 - William Harvey describes his experiences in the U.S. Army, pt. 2

Tape: 3 Story: 8 - William Harvey remembers the influence of Edgar Toppin, pt. 1

Tape: 4 Story: 1 - William Harvey remembers the influence of Edgar Toppin, pt. 2

Tape: 4 Story: 2 - William Harvey describes his master's thesis

Tape: 4 Story: 3 - William Harvey remembers the Harvard University Graduate School of Education

Tape: 4 Story: 4 - William Harvey recalls his decision to work at historically black colleges

Tape: 4 Story: 5 - William Harvey remembers restructuring the governance of Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee

Tape: 4 Story: 6 - William Harvey describes his philosophy of higher education administration

Tape: 4 Story: 7 - William Harvey talks about the importance of standards in higher education

Tape: 4 Story: 8 - William Harvey describes the policy review process at Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia

Tape: 4 Story: 9 - William Harvey describes the commitment to service at Hampton University

Tape: 5 Story: 1 - William Harvey talks about his fundraising strategies as the president of Hampton University

Tape: 5 Story: 2 - William Harvey describes his hopes and concerns for the African American community

Tape: 5 Story: 3 - William Harvey recalls President Barack Obama's commencement address at Hampton University

Tape: 5 Story: 4 - William Harvey reflects upon his life

Tape: 5 Story: 5 - Reverend Dr. William Harvey reflects upon his legacy

Tape: 5 Story: 6 - William Harvey talks about his family

Tape: 5 Story: 7 - William Harvey describes how he would like to be remembered

DASession

1$1

DATape

2$4

DAStory

6$8

DATitle

William Harvey talks about the discipline at the Southern Normal School

William Harvey describes the policy review process at Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia

Transcript

I know there's difference today between the discipline model in the black colleges [HBCUs] and certainly in a boarding high school. Was there, was there like a very strict, was the discipline very, very strict there at, at?$$The discipline was very strict. There were, there were standards, there were rules there were regulations. And the staff the teacher and others made sure that we adhered to them. I think that, you know, all of us are products of our training and our experience. One of the things that I do now here at Hampton [Hampton University, Hampton, Virginia] is to try to maintain standards. In a world where a lot of standards are going by the wayside, some people don't like it, some people do. But, for an example here at Hampton we don't allow fellas to wear du rags, we don't allow them to wear the undershirt, the wife beater shirts. We don't allow them to walk around with the pants hanging below the butts, you know. Some people said when you correct them, well that's my heritage, no, it's not your heritage and we just don't allow it. And we don't mind you going somewhere else, if you're gonna be here, you can't do that. Well, that's the kind of school that Southern Normal School [Brewton, Alabama] was. It had standards, it had rules, it had rules of conduct. And one of the things that it did was to reinforce my own family values. My mother [Claudis Parker Harvey] and father [W.D.C. Harvey] really preached to us about discipline, about honesty and integrity, respect for other, respect for oneself and responsible action. They always used to say that, everybody makes mistakes, everybody makes mistakes, but what we got to do is to, if we make a mistake own up to it. Correct it and move forward. And I think that, that has helped me as well. So, based on my upbringing at home and the schooling at Southern Normal, not only the intellectual aspect but the fact that it, it had standards. And I think that, that's a good thing.$As you approach it now, do, do you--does--do the school administrators here periodically review I guess policy in terms of you know, changing times and?$$We do it all the time. We have two meetings a, a week with the full administration, full cabinet. That's Tuesday afternoon and Friday mornings and our, our bylaws and charter gives the administrative council the authority to, to make policy as, and that's internal to the university. And we do that all the time. Because everybody that sits around that table is over something here at Hampton University [Hampton, Virginia]. And we've made, we've made policy changes, we've, we've done a lot of things. I also meet once a month with the student leaders. And we made a lot of changes by getting the input from the student leaders. Once a month I meet with the faculty. I'm the chairman of the faculty. They will have an opportunity to not only hear what I've got to say but to ask me any question when I finish my opening remarks I always say without a doubt, "Are there any questions of anything that I have said or questions that I have not said?" So, we don't have a, a, a faculty senate or a representative body that represents the faculty. Every faculty member can come in the faculty meeting, and ask the chairman a question. The same is true when we have the town hall meetings with the students. And then with the student leaders, we meet with them once a month. And there are a lot of things that we have done, even some of the, the buildings that we have built. We've gotten input as to what we wanted. When we built the new student center, the students said that they wanted an indoor track, they wanted a offices for, for all of them in one place rather than being scattered around the campus, they wanted a ball room, they wanted a food court, they wanted a theatre. They've got all of those things. We incorporated what they wanted, which goes back to my philosophy of shared authority. People that have to live with decisions ought to have input into the decision making process. Again it doesn't mean that their will shall prevail, but they input in to the decision making process. That has worked well. Now, I am sure that there are those that might think that Hampton is too strict because as I said earlier we don't allow du rags on campus. We don't allow the wife beater shirts. We don't allow people to walk around with the pants below the butt. And, and there may be those who say that because of those rules that they ought to have a right to walk around showing their underwear. We don't think so. And if there are those who think that, we tell them not to do it, and if they really want to do it, there are a lot of other institutions that they can go to where they can do that. But, they can't do it here at Hampton.

Read more about William Harvey

W. Frank Fountain

Born in Brewton, Alabama, on July 17, 1944, W. Frank Fountain, Jr., was the eldest of Willie Frank and Janie Fountain’s seven children. The Fountain family ran a small farm in Tunnel Springs, Alabama, where Fountain learned the value of “working hard and working smart;” he brought those skills with him to Hampton University, where he earned his B.A. degree in history and political science in 1966.

From 1966 to 1968, Fountain served as a Peace Corps volunteer in West Bengal, India, where he employed the lessons he had learned on his family’s farm to aid in the improvement of agricultural techniques. In India Fountain also worked with craftspeople to extend their base of customers through innovative marketing strategies.

In 1973, Fountain received his M.B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business and accepted the position of Investment Analyst at Chrysler Corporation. Over the next twenty years, Fountain rose through the ranks, working in the Corporate Controller’s Office, the Treasurer’s Office, and the Government Affairs Office in Washington, D.C.

In 1995, Fountain was appointed vice president for government affairs, and in 1998 he became the senior vice president for government affairs for DaimlerChrysler. In this capacity, Fountain was able to combine his academic training with his business experience while he maintained communication between DaimlerChrsyler and government officials. Fountain’s position also enabled him to exercise his commitment to community service, due to his responsibilities for community relations and educational programs, and his service as president of the DaimlerChrysler Corporation Fund.

Fountain further demonstrated his commitment to service through his activities as chairman of the board for the Corporate Council on Africa, Hampton University, and the Detroit Public Schools Board of Education. Fountain served as vice chairman of the board for the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies; the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce; Citizens Research Council of Michigan; and New Detroit, Inc. Fountain was also a board member of Africare; the Wharton School of Business; the Museum of African American History; and the Hudson-Webber Foundation. For his contributions to society, Fountain was awarded an honorary doctorate of public service from Central Michigan University.

Accession Number

A2005.030

Sex

Male

Interview Date

1/31/2005 |and| 5/24/2005

1/31/2005

5/24/2005

Last Name

Fountain

Maker Category

BusinessMakers

Middle Name

Frank

Occupation

Corporate Executive

Organizations

Hampton University (Va.)

City Year Detroit

Africare Inc.

Detroit Public Schools Board of Education

Detroit Chamber of Commerce

Schools

Spencer Bibbs Elementary School

Rosenwald Junior High School

J F Shields High School

Hampton University

Antioch Church School

Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

First Name

Birth City, State, Country

Brewton

HM ID

FOU02

Favorite Season

Spring

State

Alabama

THM DA Link

http://marc.thehistorymakers.org/thmdigital/A2005.030.htm

Web Clip 1

https://thmdaprodmedia.blob.core.windows.net/media/story/video/265849

Favorite Vacation Destination

Caribbean

Bio Photo

Speakers Bureau Region State

Michigan

Interview Description

A2005_030_EAD.pdf

A2005_030_EAC.pdf

Birth Date

7/17/1944

Birth Place Term

Brewton

Speakers Bureau Region City

Detroit

Country

USA

Favorite Food

Fried Chicken

Short Description

Corporate executive W. Frank Fountain (1944 - ) was the senior vice president for government affairs for DaimlerChrysler.

Employment

Chrysler Corporation

DaimlerChrysler Corporation Fund

Peace Corps

Favorite Color

Blue

Web Clip 2

https://thmdaprodmedia.blob.core.windows.net/media/story/video/265821

Timing Pairs

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DAStories

Tape: 1 Story: 1 - Slating for W. Frank Fountain's interview, session 1

Tape: 1 Story: 2 - W. Frank Fountain lists his favorites

Tape: 1 Story: 3 - W. Frank Fountain describes his father's hometown

Tape: 1 Story: 4 - W. Frank Fountain describes his paternal ancestry

Tape: 1 Story: 5 - W. Frank Fountain describes his father's personality, pt. 1

Tape: 1 Story: 6 - W. Frank Fountain describes his father's personality, pt. 2

Tape: 1 Story: 7 - W. Frank Fountain talks about his father's family history of farming

Tape: 1 Story: 8 - W. Frank Fountain describes his maternal family background

Tape: 1 Story: 9 - W. Frank Fountain talks about his parents' meeting and his family's move to Tunnel Springs, Alabama

Tape: 1 Story: 10 - W. Frank Fountain lists his siblings

Tape: 1 Story: 11 - W. Frank Fountain remembers the woman who cared for him during his childhood

Tape: 2 Story: 1 - W. Frank Fountain talks about his neighbor's impact on his education

Tape: 2 Story: 2 - W. Frank Fountain recalls his early school experiences

Tape: 2 Story: 3 - W. Frank Fountain talks about his relationship with his neighbor and childhood caregiver

Tape: 2 Story: 4 - W. Frank Fountain talks about returning to Pensacola, Florida over the years

Tape: 2 Story: 5 - W. Frank Fountain describes the sights, smells and sounds of his childhood

Tape: 2 Story: 6 - W. Frank Fountain describes his chores and interests growing up

Tape: 2 Story: 7 - W. Frank Fountain describes his transition to life in Tunnel Springs, Alabama

Tape: 2 Story: 8 - W. Frank Fountain describes the house he lived in as a teenager in Tunnel Springs, Alabama

Tape: 4 Story: 1 - Slating of W. Frank Fountain's interview, session 2

Tape: 4 Story: 2 - W. Frank Fountain talks about the schools he attended growing up

Tape: 4 Story: 3 - W. Frank Fountain recalls his school and family responsibilities while growing up

Tape: 4 Story: 4 - W. Frank Fountain describes the social dynamics at Monroe County Training School in Beatrice, Alabama

Tape: 4 Story: 5 - W. Frank Fountain talks about his dating life at Monroe County Training School in Beatrice, Alabama

Tape: 4 Story: 6 - W. Frank Fountain talks about applying and being accepted to Hampton Institute in Hampton, Virginia

Tape: 4 Story: 7 - W. Frank Fountain talks about experiencing classism as a young man

Tape: 4 Story: 8 - W. Frank Fountain reflects on his motivations for overcoming adversity

Tape: 4 Story: 9 - W. Frank Fountain explains his motivation for pursuing a college education

Tape: 4 Story: 10 - W. Frank Fountain shares his initial impressions of Hampton Institute in Hampton, Virginia

Tape: 5 Story: 1 - W. Frank Fountain describes the atmosphere at Hampton Institute in Hampton, Virginia during the Civil Rights Movement

Tape: 5 Story: 2 - W. Frank Fountain talks about his social and academic experience at Hampton Institute in Hampton, Virginia

Tape: 5 Story: 3 - W. Frank Fountain remembers student teaching during his senior year of college

Tape: 5 Story: 4 - W. Frank Fountain talks about his motivation to become a Foreign Service officer

Tape: 5 Story: 5 - W. Frank Fountain describes the books that sparked his desire to become a Foreign Service officer

Tape: 5 Story: 6 - W. Frank Fountain describes his experience in the Fidi Amici social club, pt. 1

Tape: 5 Story: 7 - W. Frank Fountain remembers his experience in the Fidi Amici social club, pt. 2

Tape: 5 Story: 8 - W. Frank Fountain talks about the conservative administration at Hampton Institute in Hampton, Virginia

Tape: 6 Story: 1 - W. Frank Fountain reflects on his years at Hampton Institute in Hampton, Virginia

Tape: 6 Story: 2 - W. Frank Fountain shares his thoughts about historically black colleges and universities

Tape: 6 Story: 3 - W. Frank Fountain talks about joining the Peace Corps

Tape: 6 Story: 4 - W. Frank Fountain explains why he hoped to be assigned to Thailand with the Peace Corps

Tape: 6 Story: 5 - W. Frank Fountain remembers his time in India with the Peace Corps

Tape: 6 Story: 6 - W. Frank Fountain describes his work with the Peace Corps in India

Tape: 6 Story: 7 - W. Frank Fountain compares growing up on a farm with his Peace Corps work in India

Tape: 6 Story: 8 - W. Frank Fountain recounts his achievements with the Peace Corps in India

Tape: 7 Story: 1 - W. Frank Fountain describes his impressions of India's government and society

Tape: 7 Story: 2 - W. Frank Fountain explains why he turned down a job with USAID

Tape: 7 Story: 3 - W. Frank Fountain describes his transition into business

Tape: 7 Story: 4 - W. Frank Fountain remembers his initial experiences in business

Tape: 7 Story: 5 - W. Frank Fountain explains his decision to attend Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Tape: 7 Story: 6 - W. Frank Fountain describes his experiences at Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Tape: 7 Story: 7 - W. Frank Fountain explains his interest in working with Chrysler Corporation

Tape: 7 Story: 8 - W. Frank Fountain reflects on the trajectory of African Americans in business

Tape: 8 Story: 1 - W. Frank Fountain speaks about notable black alumnae from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Tape: 8 Story: 2 - W. Frank Fountain talks about African Americans entering the business world

Tape: 8 Story: 3 - W. Frank Fountain shares his thoughts on how African American business leaders can gain economic power

Tape: 8 Story: 4 - W. Frank Fountain reflects on his black empowerment efforts within the business world

Tape: 8 Story: 5 - W. Frank Fountain remembers forming his middle-management executive mentorship group

Tape: 8 Story: 6 - W. Frank Fountain talks about his middle-management executive mentorship group

Tape: 8 Story: 7 - W. Frank Fountain describes the composition of his middle-management executive mentorship group

Tape: 8 Story: 8 - W. Frank Fountain explains how he succeeded in business without a traditional mentor

Tape: 8 Story: 9 - W. Frank Fountain shares his thoughts about advancing in a business career

Tape: 9 Story: 1 - W. Frank Fountain remembers the economic downturn of 1974

Tape: 9 Story: 2 - W. Frank Fountain recalls surviving the economic slump at the Chrysler Corporation

Tape: 9 Story: 3 - W. Frank Fountain talks about working on a business plan assessment for Chrysler Corporation

Tape: 9 Story: 4 - W. Frank Fountain remembers the lead-up to the Chrysler Corporation's 1979 government bailout, pt. 1

Tape: 9 Story: 5 - W. Frank Fountain remembers the lead-up to the Chrysler Corporation's 1979 government bailout, pt. 2

Tape: 9 Story: 6 - W. Frank Fountain talks about the significance of the Chrysler Corporation bailout in 1979

Tape: 9 Story: 7 - W. Frank Fountain talks about the first minivans developed by the Chrysler Corporation

Tape: 9 Story: 8 - W. Frank Fountain explains the timeline for producing a new line of cars

Tape: 9 Story: 9 - W. Frank Fountain talks about the Chrysler Corporation in the 1980s and early 1990s

Tape: 10 Story: 1 - W. Frank Fountain recalls his appointment to the Washington government affairs office of DaimlerChrysler

Tape: 10 Story: 2 - W. Frank Fountain describes his tenure as executive director of government affairs at DaimlerChrysler

Tape: 10 Story: 3 - W. Frank Fountain explains how he was elected vice president of government affairs for DaimlerChrysler

Tape: 10 Story: 4 - W. Frank Fountain talks about his philanthropic responsibilities as vice president for government affairs of DaimlerChrysler

Tape: 10 Story: 5 - W. Frank Fountain reflects on his achievements as senior vice president for government affairs with DaimlerChrysler

Tape: 10 Story: 6 - W. Frank Fountain talks about successfully surviving the Daimler-Chrysler merger

Tape: 10 Story: 7 - W. Frank Fountain talks about serving as chair on the board of Corporate Council on Africa

Tape: 10 Story: 8 - W. Frank Fountain talks about his philanthropic work with the Detroit Public Schools system

Tape: 10 Story: 9 - W. Frank Fountain shares his vision for economic empowerment of the black community

Tape: 11 Story: 1 - W. Frank Fountain talks about the Executive Leadership Council, pt.1

Tape: 11 Story: 2 - W. Frank Fountain talks about the Executive Leadership Council, pt. 2

Tape: 11 Story: 3 - W. Frank Fountain reflects upon his legacy

Tape: 11 Story: 4 - W. Frank Fountain describes how he would like to be remembered

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W. Frank Fountain describes his tenure as executive director of government affairs at DaimlerChrysler

W. Frank Fountain recounts his achievements with the Peace Corps in India

Transcript

But this was totally different in many ways because (simultaneous)--$$(Simultaneous) Oh, totally.$$Totally.$$Yeah, this is about lobbying; it's about public policy; it's government relations. It's completely different than what I left, what I was doing.$$But it was (simultaneous)--$$(Simultaneous) Completely in a sense that we had done in my, in my finance days, I had gotten involved in conducting public policy analysis, understanding what [Lee] Iacocca's issues were, and how he wanted to promote those issues. My group, I had a group called competitive analysis at one time, was a part of my responsibility. And we knew how to package what Lee was looking for better than the people in Washington [D.C.], and even though they had consultants and things like that. But we knew the, we could mold and shape the data in a way that, that Lee says well, this is what I've been looking for. And so I had some sense of what public policy analysis was all about and had supported the, with analysis and its--provided analytical support to the Washington [government affairs] office on certain issues. And so it wasn't completely foreign from that--(unclear)--but, but the, the, the art of lobbying and government relations were always new stuff for me.$$So how--did you find that you were good at it? 'Cause I mean that, I mean--$$Well, I, I, my strengths was understanding, were understanding what was important to Detroit [Michigan], understanding what was important back here, and my knowledge of back here versus my colleagues in the Washington office at the time. And so--and my ability to organize, and analyze, and package, and present and all of those things. So, using all of that helped me add value from day one, to some extent, even though I didn't--I, I knew where the White House [Washington, D.C.] was and had some idea where the [Capitol] Hill [Washington, D.C.] was, but I didn't know how to get inside. But that was only part of the job [executive director of government affairs], and we had people who understood the lobbying beat and could do that. I didn't necessarily have to do that at my level.$But I was operating in a different culture. This is my first job out, after college [Hampton Institute; Hampton University, Hampton, Virginia], and I was trying to get things done, whether it was negotiating with the Indian government for fertilizer or dealing with the bureaucratic maze. I was a young black kid who was, or strange-looking kid that, that was trying to tell the elders what to do with their livelihood. And so I, as a volunteer following the program, I probably was the most successful volunteer of the sixty-six [Peace Corps volunteers]. There was one other volunteer who succeeded in convincing farmers to grow rice according to the plan, but none, no one came near the yields that I got. I got the yields that we were supposed to get. And I did that I guess by establishing the relationship with the farmers in a way that, for whatever reason, they listened to me and, and, and agreed to risk growing this crop. They didn't really like the, the, the crop because it, they used thatch. The taller the thatch, the stem, they used that for thatching roofs. So the short stuff was not (laughter) saying much there. And the culture said that they like fine rice; you know, that's the, that's what they serve at weddings. Me, I, I convinced them that they should sell the rice to the government because they had to sell a certain percentage of their per, per, produced to the government. They couldn't sell it all on the black market, which is, which is outside of government-controlled pricing. The gov- government theoretically controlled the pricing of all of the rice and food stuff. But I said sell them that. It's heavy. You get the same price for heavy, thick rice as you get for fine rice. Or, it turned out that the, the tribal people, who worked the fields liked it because they thought it stayed with them longer, so you use it to feed them, but grow some of my rice (laughter). And so they did, and they were quite proud of the yield that they'd got. 'Cause I actually got out in the, in the field, and, and I could plow a bullock just as well as I could plow a, a horse, once you get the, the sounds, once you get the--you can tell 'em to go right, and left, and slow, and start, and all that stuff, and the turn, but there weren't many volunteers who could do that or would do that. So, I, as a result of that, was one of two volunteers selected to stay behind after the group headed off on the train to New Delhi [Delhi, India] and then back to the U.S. at the end of the two years to select sites for the volunteers coming in, the, the succeeding group. And my friend and I, we put together a plan that said that we claimed we could produ- reduce the attrition by half. This government spent ten thousand dollars training volunteers. So we thought, you know, what a waste if the volunteers don't serve the full term. So we could cut that in half if you sent us to train volunteers in the training program, and come back to India with them for three months, and we could--and the Peace Corps bought it, at least they bought for a time. And I did the training in California. And while we were in training, they first said well, we'll only let one of you guys go back. So we went to a bar and flipped a coin, and I lost. And then a week or so later, they came back and says "Well, we're gonna cut the whole thing out."

Read more about W. Frank Fountain

Manford Byrd, Jr.

Educator Manford Byrd, Jr. was born on May 29, 1928 in Brewton, Alabama. He studied mathematics at Iowa Central College and graduated in 1949. He then pursued graduate work, earning his M.A. from Atlanta University in 1954 and his Ph.D. from Northwestern University in 1978.

Byrd began his career in education teaching in Quincy, Illinois from 1949-1954.
From 1954-1967, he worked for the Chicago Public School system as a teacher, assistant principal, elementary and high school principal and assistant to the General Superintendent of the Chicago Public Schools. In 1968, he was appointed Deputy Superintendent of Chicago Public Schools. In this role, he oversaw the day-to-day operations of the school system. He was later appointed Deputy Superintendent for Instruction and Deputy Superintendent for Pupil Services and System-Wide Reorganization. In 1985, he was appointed General Superintendent of Schools, a position he would hold until he retired in 1990. Since retiring, Byrd works in private practice, as an educational consultant.

Byrd has sat on the boards of directors of the Chicago State University Foundation, Joint Negro Appeal, the Mid-America Chapter of the American Red Cross, the Council of the Great City Schools, the Chicago NAACP and the United Church Board for World Ministries. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of Central College, Pella Iowa and the Adler Planetarium, Chicago. All together, he is a member of over 70 professional organizations.

Byrd has been the recipient of over 100 awards and commendations for excellence in teaching and academic administration, including honorary doctoral degrees from Central College, Hope College and the National College of Education. He and his wife, Cheribelle, have three sons.

Accession Number

A2002.076

Sex

Male

Interview Date

7/1/2002

Last Name

Byrd

Maker Category

EducationMakers

Marital Status

Married

Occupation

Elementary School Principal

School Superintendent

High School Principal

Organizations

Speakers Bureau

Yes

First Name

Manford

Birth City, State, Country

Brewton

HM ID

BYR01

Favorite Season

Fall

State

Alabama

THM DA Link

http://marc.thehistorymakers.org/thmdigital/A2002.076.htm

Web Clip 1

https://thmdaprodmedia.blob.core.windows.net/media/story/video/61607

Favorite Quote

That's The Way It Is.

Bio Photo

Speakers Bureau Region State

Illinois

Interview Description

A2002_076_EAD.pdf

A2002_076_EAC.pdf

Birth Date

5/29/1928

Birth Place Term

Brewton

Speakers Bureau Region City

Chicago

Country

USA

Favorite Food

Grits

Short Description

Elementary school principal, school superintendent, and high school principal Manford Byrd, Jr. (1928 - ) has worked for the Chicago Public Schools as a teacher and administrator, and served in several deputy superintendent positions before he was appointed general superintendent of schools.

Employment

Chicago Public Schools

Favorite Color

Blue

Web Clip 2

https://thmdaprodmedia.blob.core.windows.net/media/story/video/61624

Timing Pairs

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DAStories

Tape: 1 Story: 1 - Slating of Manford Byrd's interview

Tape: 1 Story: 2 - Manford Byrd lists his favorites

Tape: 1 Story: 3 - Manford Byrd describes his parents, Evelyn and Manford Byrd, Sr.

Tape: 1 Story: 4 - Manford Byrd talks about his maternal family background

Tape: 1 Story: 5 - Manford Byrd describes his segregated community in Brewton, Alabama

Tape: 1 Story: 6 - Manford Byrd describes himself as a child

Tape: 1 Story: 7 - Manford Byrd talks about his influential teachers in school

Tape: 1 Story: 8 - Manford Byrd talks about attending Iowa Central College in Pella, Iowa from 1946 to 1949

Tape: 1 Story: 9 - Manford Byrd describes his experience as the only black man in Pella, Iowa while attending Iowa Central College

Tape: 2 Story: 1 - Manford Byrd describes experiencing discrimination in Pella, Iowa while at Iowa Central College

Tape: 2 Story: 2 - Manford Byrd talks about his teaching job in Quincy, Illinois after graduating from Iowa Central College in 1949

Tape: 2 Story: 3 - Manford Byrd describes Quincy, Illinois, where he worked for the public school system from 1949 to 1954

Tape: 2 Story: 4 - Manford Byrd talks about teaching in Quincy, Illinois

Tape: 2 Story: 5 - Manford Byrd describes moving to Chicago, Illinois to teach in 1954

Tape: 2 Story: 6 - Manford Byrd talks about issues that affected black students in Chicago, Illinois in the 1950s and 1960s

Tape: 2 Story: 7 - Manford Byrd describes becoming one of the few black assistant principals in Chicago, Illinois public schools in the 1950s

Tape: 2 Story: 8 - Manford Byrd talks about meeting his wife, Cheri Byrd

Tape: 3 Story: 1 - Manford Byrd talks about obtaining his Master's Degree from Atlanta University in Georgia in 1954

Tape: 3 Story: 2 - Manford Byrd describes being appointed Deputy Superintendent of the Chicago, Illinois Public School system in 1968

Tape: 3 Story: 3 - Manford Byrd describes the controversy around appointing the interim Chicago, Illinois Public School Superintendent in 1979

Tape: 3 Story: 4 - Manford Byrd talks about the Chicago, Illinois Public School teacher's strike in 1987

Tape: 3 Story: 5 - Manford Byrd talks about the controversy surrounding the appointment of HistoryMaker Ruth Love as the Chicago, Illinois Public School system Superintendent in 1981

Tape: 3 Story: 6 - Manford Byrd describes the response of the black community to HistoryMaker Ruth Love's appointment as Chicago, Illinois Public School system Superintendent in 1981

Tape: 4 Story: 1 - Manford Byrd talks about his role as an administrator in the Chicago Public School system during HistoryMaker Ruth Love's tenure as Superintendent from 1981 to 1985

Tape: 4 Story: 2 - Manford Byrd talks about Jospeh Hannon's appointment to Chicago, Illinois Public School Superintendent in 1975

Tape: 4 Story: 3 - Manford Byrd describes becoming the Superintendent of Chicago Public Schools system in 1985

Tape: 4 Story: 4 - Manford Byrd talks about the reaction in the black community to HistoryMaker Ruth Love's appointment to Chicago Public School Superintendent

Tape: 4 Story: 5 - Manford Byrd talks about the challenges he faced as Chicago Public School Superintendent from the years of 1985 to 1990

Tape: 4 Story: 6 - Manford Byrd talks about his community recognition as the Chicago Public School Superintendent

Tape: 5 Story: 1 - Manford Byrd talks about his three sons becoming engineers

Tape: 5 Story: 2 - Manford Byrd describes his philosophy of education

Tape: 5 Story: 3 - Manford Byrd talks about improvements needed for the public school system

Tape: 5 Story: 4 - Manford Byrd talks about the need for parental support of students

Tape: 5 Story: 5 - Manford Byrd talks about the independent education movement, the charter school system, and the voucher system in Chicago, Illinois

Tape: 5 Story: 6 - Manford Byrd talks about how the public school system can serve the black community

Tape: 5 Story: 7 - Manford Byrd describes what he thinks his legacy will be

Tape: 5 Story: 8 - Manford Byrd reflects on his career as an educator

Tape: 5 Story: 9 - Manford Byrd narrates his photographs, pt. 1

Tape: 6 Story: 1 - Manford Byrd narrates his photographs, pt. 2

Tape: 6 Story: 2 - Manford Byrd narrates his photographs, pt. 3

DASession

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Manford Byrd talks about his teaching job in Quincy, Illinois after graduating from Iowa Central College in 1949

Manford Byrd talks about the challenges he faced as Chicago Public School Superintendent from the years of 1985 to 1990

Transcript

The other one that had an influence on my career as I told you when I changed from becoming an engineer because engineers weren't working and started toward teaching, I did my practice teaching at the local high school with one of the best math teachers in the, in the county and I did an excellent job, and she gave me A and I got superior markings and great potential as a teacher. Our placement office communicated with superintendents of schools and placed many of their students and in the fall of my senior year my colleagues were being interviewed for jobs. Nobody interviewed me. No superintendent interviewed me for a teaching job. But, I wasn't the only one who noticed that. The dean of the college noticed it. I hadn't spoken to anybody about it, but just before Christmas the dean met me on campus and said, "What are you gonna do for Christmas?" I said, "Well I'm going home." He said, "Enjoy it, but when you come back come in to see me. I wanna talk to you." Well that was disturbing to me because I was in my senior year and everybody was expecting me to graduate come June and here it is this stern dean wanting to talk to me. It can only mean that something has cropped up in my, in my record that's causing a problem was my thinking. But when I went in to see him, he said we have noticed that nobody has interviewed you and we're sorry about that, but we think that's the way it's gonna be too. He said, "Now because of that we reached out in some other directions. I have a, I have a son-in-law who's an administrator in a school system in Illinois down on the Mississippi River called Quincy, Illinois." He said, "There are black people there and so on and he said they'll be looking for teachers and so I have alerted the placement office that if you agreed that they would forward your credentials to the Quincy [Illinois] public school system for review." I said, "Well thank you, thank you very much." They sent the credentials, they invited me an interview, I went down, and I got the job. And I subsequently found out once I joined the school system that the recommendations and my record was so strong one of the interviewers told me later, he said, "The job was yours to lose. We had made our decision about you prior to your coming. You had to lose this job," and proudly I didn't, but that was my beginning in, in Quincy [Illinois]. I stayed there five years before coming up to Chicago [Illinois].$Right. So, what were the, the, your challenges. The black community achieved success. You were like one of the goals of the black community to get you in office-$$Right.$$--and how you, how did you feel, you know, finally coming into office and what were the challenges facing you?$$Well, the same basic challenges that would face anyone of trying to come up with an educational plan, trying to get funding to keep the system going and so on. I thought we did some things. As a matter fact if you go back during the term of, of my service, we probably came as close to the national norms in achievement on the Iowa Test than we have in the last twenty-five or thirty years, so we, we were able to do some things, but--as a matter of fact, it was, it was almost, it was an uphill battle. In the press I felt it almost immediately. The feeling is, oh yeah you're making some progress, but when are you going be at national normal? We want to know, we're inpatient. And so, now that you're finally there, you wanted it, and they say this often, yes it's tough, yes it's almost impossible, but he wanted this. He wanted it and now he's got it and now let him deliver. So, that was a lot of that, but I thought we did some things, I thought we, we planned. When I came into the system, into the superintendency, there was a lot of difficulty, a lot of dissatisfaction with the reading program, math program. We revamped all that. We'd started a staff development procedures. We started doing some rehabbing of buildings using the public building commission, so we did some things. Matter of fact, we got out on what was thought to be a role, we just rolled along, but those labor problems, the strikes, this, this hurt us and we didn't have the clout in Springfield [Illinois], didn't have the political clout to raise the monies to give us the support. And I told you what [Alderman John] D'Arco [Sr.] said to me, he looked around-$$He's an alderman in--(unclear)--(simultaneous)-$$He was from the [Chicago, Illinois] 1st ward. I think there was a, there was a--maybe I got the wrong name. It was a senator who ran into some difficulties himself.$$--(Simultaneous)--yeah, I always associate him with [Alderman] Fred Roti and [Alderman] John D'Arco.$$Yeah, and that's right, that's the group down in that 1st ward. So, [Alderman John] D'Arco said to me, he was a very nice senator, he said, "Yeah Manford, we looked around and we saw that the, the union president was black, superintendent was black, the mayo of the city was black, and we said let the blacks settle it. Well, the blacks couldn't settle it without the support of some other people in Springfield [Illinois], and we came up short of the money." But, there was such a ranker in the community that it was tough to, to overcome and unfortunately later after that horrendous strike the mayor expired and didn't stay around, but some of the things he hadn't planned. We did have a big meeting after that strike where there was a plan made to get a, a contingent from the business community, a contingent of parents, and a contingent of school board members and administrators and work together on a plan, a school plan, a new plan for the future, and the mayor promised that whatever came out of that summit, that agreeable summit, he would take as his educational platform and fight to get it supported in Springfield. Well, we died before that summit's work was completed, but the summit did go through. [HM] Eugene Sawyer followed the mayor and did work on some things, but, but had some other issues facing him and we just didn't get rolling all, everything that came out of that summit. And then there was a change in mayors and each of the mayors wanted to put their stamp on whatever it was so, when my contract expired they extended it by a year and in the meantime the new mayor came in and, and so I wound up serving as a, as a consultant to the board the final three or four months of, of that add on year.

Read more about Manford Byrd, Jr.

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