Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: The principal in the state, he had a lot of interest in the drama and he would bring plays to the state drama festival, which was held at Shaw. When I was a student at Shaw, I used to cut classes sometimes to go in and sneak in and see the plays at the drama festival. So I knew who Mr. Blake was. He was principal of West Shaw High School. But Heatherton hounded me until I wrote the letter of application to get Heatherton off my back, and he mailed the letter.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: Well, I never thought I'd hear anything more about that letter. I didn't expect to. At that time, I was going to summer school at the University of Michigan, working on my master's degree. So when I went to Michigan that summer, in one of my classes, there was a young man from Greensboro who taught down in Eastern North Carolina someplace. He was asking me if I knew if there were any vacancies at Jordan Sellars School in Burlington where I was teaching. So I told him no. I said, "There were no vacancies that I knew of." He taught English just like I did.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: In about the second or third week that I was in Ann Arbor, my mother forwarded me a letter from Mr. Blake, offering me a job as teacher. So I told this young man that I didn't know whether there would be a vacancy in Burlington or not because, you see, the 30 days that you had to resign if you were going had passed. So I had no idea I could get released. So we decided, he and I — He was an English teacher. He wanted the job, and he was an English teacher.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: I wanted released, and I was an English teacher. So he was going to write a letter to the superintendent, a letter of application for an English job. I, at the same time, was going to write a letter to the superintendent asking to be released. We did that, and it worked. That is how I came to Charlotte in September of 1944, and I've been here ever since. I taught at West Charlotte High School. I taught English.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: For the first time in my teaching career, which at that time was — Let me see. I was in Rutherfordton one year. I was in Wake Forest six years and in Burlington one year. That's what? That's eight years. First time in eight years that I did not have any extra duties. I taught English. I taught junior and senior English. But the second year I was there, Mr. Blake found out that I was interested in drama, and he assigned me to drama club.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: The third year I was there, I had the drama — No, I didn't have drama club then. I had student council. Somebody else had drama, and I had student council. But I worked at West Charlotte High School for 15 years. And I enjoyed my work. I really did. I enjoyed my work. Well, when I worked at West Charlotte, we were down here on a — I'm sorry. You're not from Charlotte, so you don't know what I'm talking about. Well, you remember the school that you passed on the way up to—
Rhonda Mawhood: Yes, ma'am.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: Well, that was where I taught. It's a middle school now. But that was West Charlotte High School then. Let's see. We had been there, I've forgotten how many years. Anyway, they built a new school that was up on the other side of where you were last night. I was still there. When we moved to the new school, I was still there teaching English. I taught English, and I was the advisor to the senior class.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: Well, after a few years, I just don't remember the dates. But in the meanwhile, this side of town was growing. This community began to grow. When I came to Charlotte, there was nothing here. This was just undeveloped land. But Dr. McCrorey who was, at that time, president of Johnson C. Smith, owned most of the property. He began to sell the lots, and people began to build. There were other places in the area where people began to build houses, and the younger people began to move into this area.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: Well, the elementary school was up on Beatties Ford Road. It's where you turned into Patton Avenue. The expressway that you came over was a place where there was a school. As the families began to increase, the school began to get very, very crowded. It got so crowded that they had to put the kids on double sessions. Well, after a couple of years, parents got tired of that. So they went to the board and told them they wanted another school in the area because they were tired of their kids being on double sessions.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: So the board told them that if they could find the land, they would build a school. So they found the land up off of Beatties Ford Road, and the school board built a school. Well, the superintendent called me to his office. "I wondered what on earth he wanted," I said, "because the superintendent called a teacher to his office." But I went down to see what he wanted. He told me that a delegation of parents whose children were to be assigned to that school wanted me to be the principal of it.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: Well, I just couldn't believe it. Now, I was a high school English teacher. I didn't know anything about elementary school, and I told him. He said, "Well, you're not being asked to teach first grade. You're being asked to be the principal. So, you think about it. I'm sure you have friends in the principalship who have been high school teachers. Find somebody who has had that experience and see what they say, and you think about it."
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: [indistinct 00:07:44], the school was just being built then. It was under construction. So I did. I did have some friends who were some college friends who were elementary principals and had been high school teachers. I got in touch with a few of them, and they encouraged me. But the person who really convinced me was the man whose name is on that list, Dr. Spencer Durante. He was here then, and he was principal of Second Ward High School, and he told—
Rhonda Mawhood: And married your childhood friend.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: Yes. They were college sweethearts. He told me essentially the same thing that Dr. Garinger had told me. He said, "The principalship is a leadership position, and your job as a principal is to see to it that there is a climate where teachers can teach and students can learn. You can learn everything you want about elementary school teaching by visiting classrooms." He was saying, "You have taught English, and you know what good teaching is. You know a good teacher when you see it."
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: He said, "You won't have any problem of being an elementary school principal." Well, I took the job. I had to become certified. So I started in the summer going to University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. They were still—
Rhonda Mawhood: This would have been?
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: That was 1958.
Rhonda Mawhood: I see. Thank you.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: Schools were still segregated, but the university was just opening. Rosalia Durante and I went to the university that summer, and we were the first Black students to go to the summer school at the University of North Carolina.
Rhonda Mawhood: At Chapel Hill?
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: At Chapel Hill. We were the first. Of course, after that, there were many, many, many. But that first summer, we were the first. It was interesting. We had applied for housing. We learned from the literature they sent us that we could get a room that it was sort of a suite. It was a large room, and it had its own private bath. So we applied for that and got it. I never will forget the Sunday afternoon that we drove down there and we showed up at Kenan Hall.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: When we went in to check in, the person who was on duty, we identified ourselves and she checked us in. She said, "Well, let me tell you something." She said, "We will never integrate the schools as long as you choose not to assimilate with other people." She said, "I know why you asked for the room that you asked for, and you have it. But that's not the way that we are going to learn to live together."
Rhonda Mawhood: And how did you respond to that, Dr. Randolph?
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: Well, we didn't respond. We went to our room with our private bath. But we understood what she was trying to tell us. But we found that it wasn't so bad. We weren't using the bathrooms at the end of the hall. We had our own, and we enjoyed that. But in the classes, well, we were just like any other student. We did not have any unpleasant experiences that summer at Chapel Hill, never did. I went four summers. Mrs. Durante and her husband, and they'll tell you if you ever get a chance to interview them, if they let you, they went to Nigeria the next year.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: He went on a special mission for the State Department. They were developing a college there in Nigeria, and so they were there for four or five years. I visited them while they were over there. But anyway, it took me three summers and going on Saturdays to get my certificate, my credentials to be a principal, and I did. The next two summers that I went there, I had a single room but it didn't have a bathroom. I had to use the bathrooms at each end of the hall like everybody else did. It was no problem at all. I enjoyed that.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: I got my principal certification, and they had a little graduation ceremony that third year that I went. See, I not only went during the summer, I went every Saturday. So it didn't take me that long to get the certification. I remember Dr. Otts, who was the person who was in charge of the teacher education department. I had to go to his office for something.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: So he asked me if I realized that I was going to be the first Black student to receive that certification from the School of Education. I said, "No." I said, "How would I know that?" He said, "But you are." I said, "Well, I hope there will be others." He said, "Oh, yes." He said, "There are others studying there now." He said, "But I just thought you'd be interested to know that you were the first." So I was principal at University Park School, opened it, brand—new school.
Rhonda Mawhood: What was the name of the school? I'm sorry.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: University Park.
Rhonda Mawhood: Oh, I see.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: Right now, it's not an elementary school. It was closed as an elementary school about four or five years ago. It's a discipline school in part of it. And then it has some state department offices and some local offices there. But all those things are going to be moved and changed, and they are opening again in September as an elementary school. It's going to be one of the magnet schools. I'm just so glad because I just hated it so much when they closed it.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: But I was there for nine years, and I enjoyed it so much. I never did think that I would enjoy anything more than I enjoyed teaching. But I enjoyed those nine years, and I hated to leave. I really did. It's really the best job in education. You have children at the time of their lives when they are most eager to learn, and you have parents who are most cooperative. You have teachers who teach the child and not the book. I did enjoy it, and we just did a lot of interesting things at that school. But in the late '50s, let me see. It was not late '50s. It was '60 what? '58. I was there nine years. What would that be?
Rhonda Mawhood: 1967 that would be.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: '67, that's right. '67. The superintendent called me to the office again and told me that that was the year that — During that time, Lyndon Johnson was president, and there were Head Starts started and Title I funds for disadvantaged children. Our school system had applied for some of the Title I money. The state didn't have kindergarten at that time, and he wanted to use that money to develop some kindergarten programs. He told me he wanted me to be the coordinator.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: So I left my University Park Elementary School kicking and screaming because I surely did not want to leave it. But I went to Central Office, and I did that. I was in Central Office. I had that job for two or three years, and then another superintendent. I was in charge of school operations, administrative assistant for school operations. Then I had a charge of several schools in the school system. For instance, I had West Charlotte High School and all the schools whose children fed into West Charlotte High School.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: I had that job for about three years. And then under another superintendent, Dr. Robinson, I was promoted to the job I had when I retired, which was associate superintendent for program services. I had charge of student services and curriculum. I retired in 1982. I had been teaching since 1936 when I graduated from college. But I had been at West Charlotte since 1944. That's when I came here. But I had a total of 48 years, I think, in the teaching profession.
Rhonda Mawhood: A long time. Seen a lot.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: But I enjoyed every bit of it. I enjoyed it. I was talking about being surprised when I was asked to be a principal. I was certainly surprised when I was brought to Central Office. Now there was one Black person at the Central Office when I went there, and he was the person who was in charge of federal programs. I worked with the federal funding for kindergartens, and I worked under him. He was my boss.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: Now, he was the first person who had the title of assistant superintendent. Let me see. I was in that. Let me see. I think I brought a copy of my resumé over here for you. If you're interested in those years, they are in that. But I was really surprised when I was made an assistant superintendent and then an associate superintendent. Dear me. It was never anything that I ever even aspired to, and certainly never thought that any Black people would be hired for jobs like that. But that was just the beginning. Just the beginning.
Rhonda Mawhood: Dr. Randolph, when you were called to be the principal of University Park School, was your mother still living at that time, ma'am?
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: Yeah.
Rhonda Mawhood: And what was her reaction?
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: Well, she loved it. You didn't ask me about my marriage.
Rhonda Mawhood: I wanted to get to that.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: Yeah. But yes, I was married, and my mother had come to live with us at that time. We wanted her to come live with us when we first got married, but she didn't want to. She didn't want to leave Raleigh. That was her home, and she had all of her involvements. Not only did she have her church involvement, she still sang in the choir. She taught Sunday school. She belonged to the lodges. She belonged to the Household of Ruth and the Eastern Star. She just had all of her involvement.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: But my husband told her. He said, "When you get ready to come and when you're tired of living by yourself, you just pick up the telephone and we will come and get you." She did call. We knew that she wasn't coming because she wanted to. See, the neighborhood was changing, and we believed that something frightened her. Now, she never said so. But we believed that that was why she came, because the neighborhood was just changing. It wasn't like when we grew up in it.
Rhonda Mawhood: What were the changes? [indistinct 00:21:14]—
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: Well, different kinds of people living there, people who — I remember, and that was after she had come with us, that a friend of mine who lived near there was asking me if Mama told us about the break—ins that have occurred in the neighborhood, and I said, "No." I said, "She wouldn't tell us that." I said, "But I'm glad you told me because," I said, "we thought that something had happened."
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: Now, I don't think she ever had a break—in. I think she would have told us that. But I think that she became uneasy about living there in the neighborhood.
Rhonda Mawhood: So if I could ask you about your marriage now?
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: All right.
Rhonda Mawhood: When was it that you married him?
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: When did I marry? I married on June the 10th, 1950. 1950. I married at the First Baptist Church in Raleigh, the church where I grew up, where I played for the Sunday school and the church and where I went to WIC Circle and all those other good things. Well, I met my husband on a blind date. I was introduced to him by a friend of mine who taught with me in Wake Forest. I was here in Charlotte teaching, but she and I kept up a correspondence.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: She called me on the telephone one day and told me. She said, "I've got a man I want you to meet." I go, "Really?" "Uh—huh. Yeah, I want you to meet him." She told me, "His name is John Randolph." She said, "He lives in Rochester, New York, and he is a widow. He's been a widow now for, oh, about three years." She said, "I think he wants to get married again, and it's time you got married." Because I had had boyfriends and dates growing up and all like that, but I had never got to the marrying point.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: Now, here I'm in a Charlotte, and he is in Rochester, New York. So I said, "Well, how are we going to get together?" She said, "Well, he's willing to come to Charlotte." So I thought about it and I said, "Well, so what? It'll be an interesting experience." So I told her yes, to tell him to — I gave her my address and telephone number and all. So he wrote me, told me he'd like very much to come to Charlotte and meet me. So I wrote him back and told him okay, and he came.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: At that time, there was a hotel. The Alexander Hotel was the only Black hotel in Charlotte. You've heard about the Alexander Hotel. Well, That's where he stayed, at the Alexander Hotel. Of course, I stayed where I was up here on Beatties Ford Road where I was rooming. He would come, and the lady who I was living with liked him very much. He was very, very personable. I have to get his picture and show him to you.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: He stayed. Gosh, I think he stayed a week. We would have dinner. After school, he'd come pick me up and take me to the hotel. And then sometimes my landlady would insist that he stay and have dinner with us. But everybody he met, all my friends that he met, liked him. Well, he was at least 10 years older than I, but he was a widow. He had no children. He lived in Rochester, New York, [indistinct 00:25:05].
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: Well, after he went back, we still corresponded and everything, and he wanted to meet my family. So I always went home to Raleigh for Christmas and for Thanksgiving, to all holidays. So I had told Mama about him. My father had died, by the way, by that time. In fact, my father died the year that I was a senior in high school. Mama had remarried by the time I met John. So she said, "Well, why don't you invite him to come and visit at Christmastime."
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: She said, "We can get him a room at the hotel." The Sir Walter Hotel was the Black hotel in Raleigh. So that happened. I told him that my family would like very much to meet him. He came down, and he stayed for the Christmas holidays. My mama told me. I'll never forget. She said, "You don't have sense enough to marry that man." She said, "You don't have sense enough to marry him." Well, I took my time. I didn't rush. It was a long distance courtship.
Rhonda Mawhood: How long did you court over a long distance, Dr. Randolph?
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: Well, not very long. Not very long. Let's see. We married in 1950. Let's see. It must have been '48, probably '48. I had a church wedding in First Baptist Church and—
Rhonda Mawhood: I'm sorry. Please go on.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: Well, he wanted me to come to Rochester, and I didn't know whether I wanted to go to Rochester or not. But when we married, after we spent a honeymoon in New York City, that's where we went. We married in the summertime. You see, we married in June. I did not resign my job because I didn't know what was going to be available up in Rochester, New York. Well, I found out that there was not anything available in school systems in Rochester.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: There was one Black schoolteacher in the Rochester, New York, school system. One. But I had library science credentials. I didn't tell you that. When I was working at Wake Forest, I took some library science courses over at North Carolina Central, and I had library credentials. So I said, "Well, if they don't have any teaching jobs, maybe I could get a job in the library." So I went to the main library and talked to the director, and he had a job open.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: But he asked me some questions and wanted to know why I wanted to leave Charlotte. I said, "Well, I'm married to a man who lives here, and he wants me to come here to live." I said, "I'm used to working." I said, "I'm not going to come unless I can find a job." So he gave me an application and told me to fill it out, and I filled it out. There was one item on there where I had to give something about my employment history.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: One question I had to answer was what my salary was at my last job. Well, that was the straw that broke the camel's back, as my mother used to say. When he saw that, he called me and he told me that he could not offer me the job. I asked him why. He said, "You make more money than I make." I will never forget that. I will never forget that. So I told my husband. I said, "John." I said, "I am going back to my job. I am going back to my job."
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: I was still teaching then. So we started out with a long—distance marriage. I would go to Rochester in the summer, and I would go to Rochester at Christmastime, but I'd come back to my job. Well, John got tired of the long—distance marriage, and he told me to help him make some contacts and get a job here. He said he didn't mind moving to Charlotte, and that's what happened.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: He got a job. He was manager of one of the housing projects. He had charge of all the maintenance in all of the houses in this housing project, Double Oaks Housing Project. So he came down to Charlotte, and we lived in an apartment first over in Double Oaks. That was the apartment complex where he was working.
Rhonda Mawhood: Double Oaks?
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: Uh—huh. During that time, we saved the money, and we built this house. We moved into this house In 1958. That was the year that I got the principalship and the year that Mama came to live with us. But she came to live with us before we moved into the house. House was under construction. But she came to live with us. In fact, I never will forget. She made that telephone call.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: John said, "Well, [indistinct 00:31:40]. You want me to come down and get you?" So she said, "No, I'll come on the bus." I never will forget. We met her at the bus station. She stayed with us until — In fact, he died before she did. He died in '58. He died—
Rhonda Mawhood: 1958?
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: He died there. What was the year that Kennedy died? Wasn't that in the '50s? '60s.
Rhonda Mawhood: '60,
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: '63.
Rhonda Mawhood: '63, JFK.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: '63, yes. He died the week after John F. Kennedy died, and she died in '67.
Rhonda Mawhood: Just a point about your long—distance marriage, how long did that go on for, about how long?
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: That didn't go on two years.
Rhonda Mawhood: I wouldn't think so.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: No. No. I think I spent two summers and two Christmases in Rochester. It was too cold up there [indistinct 00:32:34].
Rhonda Mawhood: Did you have any children, Dr. Randolph?
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: No. No children. He had no children from his first. I told you he was a widower.
Rhonda Mawhood: Yes.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: But he had no children, and we had no children in our marriage.
Rhonda Mawhood: So, you're Dr. Randolph. When—
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: No. Now, that is an honorary degree. I have two honorary degrees, and I do not like to be called Doctor, but people insist on doing that. No, I got my master's at the University of Michigan and my administrative credentials at the University of North Carolina. But the doctors that I have are honorary, the first from Shaw University, my alma mater, and then the other one that I got just the year before last at University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
Rhonda Mawhood: Quite an honor. I'm sure you deserve it.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: Well, when you look at that vitae, you'll see why I got it.
Rhonda Mawhood: I look forward to that. I'm trying to think of what I might have left out asking you about. When you were a principal, did conflicts come up between teachers or different administrators? I guess the question would be how did you handle any conflict that might have arisen as the principal at the elementary school?
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: Well, one thing about it, my style was not to be a boss. My faculty and I were a team, and our job was to teach children, to give them the best education possible. We were a team, and we worked together to make our school the best school in Charlotte. There's only one thing that I remember, one problem that I ever had with a teacher. That was not a very serious problem, although it was serious.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: He was a young man, and he was late for school one day. He was supposed to be at school at 8:00, say. 9:00 came. He wasn't there, and he had not called. He was rooming with a principal who had, at one time, taught with me. I called her at her school, and I said, "Evelyn." I said, "John Hunter hasn't come to work." I said, "Is he sick or is something wrong?" She said, "No, he's not sick." She said, "He was still there. He hadn't left when I left for work. So if he's not at school, he must be home asleep."
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: Well, that's where he was, home asleep. So I said, "Well, thanks a lot." I didn't call him. I didn't call him at all, but I did get a substitute. He came. I guess he got there about 10:00. I was so tickled. The secretary came in and told me and said, "Ms. Randolph, Mr. Hunter is here." So I said, "Really?" I went out into the office there, and I said, "Well, good morning, Mr. Hunter. How are you? You decided to come to school. I was really beginning to think you was sick."
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: I said, "I called your landlady and she told me you weren't sick, that you were there." "Well, Ms. Randolph, I am just so embarrassed. I'm just sorry. I overslept. I overslept. I just didn't wake up. I just woke up about a half hour ago." So I said, "Well, it seems to me that you need an alarm clock." "Well, yes, ma'am. I guess I do." He turned around like he was going. I said, "Well, now, Mr. Hunter, you don't need to go to your class." "I don't?"
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: I said, "No." I said, "There's a substitute there teaching." "Well, Ms. Randolph —" I said, "Now, look, don't Ms. Randolph me." I said, "You come to school at 10:00, and you're supposed to be here at 8:00. You expect to teach today?" I said, "No, dear." I said, "There's someone covering your class, and she will be paid out of your salary." So I said, "Now, what you need to do is go back home," I said, "because I would suggest that you go to the drugstore or someplace and buy an alarm clock before you go back home."
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: But I said, "That's what you need to do." I said, "But I think that you need to finish your nap." Well, I'll have you know that John Hunter never, never was late again, and he is a principal now in Durham. He has relatives here, and I see him sometimes. Whenever he sees me, he'll come up and give me a hug and say, "You're the person who taught me how to be a principal." I said, "No, I didn't. I just taught you how to get up on time."
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: So we had a family relationship. I wish I had known you were coming. I had a picture of our first faculty at University Park School, but I gave it to Pat. If you ever go back up to the library and see her, tell her you would like to see the picture of University Park School that I left up there. But when the superintendent in charge of elementary education had something innovative he wanted to try, he would come to us.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: We would talk about it and see if anybody wanted to try it. If somebody did, they tried it. We had a wonderful PTA, so many of the parents. There were parents that I had taught at West Charlotte High School, and they were very, very cooperative. So we had a good school. We had a good school. Good teacher/parent relationships, teacher/student relationships.
Rhonda Mawhood: Was it mostly the mothers of the students who were involved with the school or were the fathers involved?
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: Fathers were involved, too. Yeah.
Rhonda Mawhood: I have one more question to ask you sort of about work. You were single for several years while you were working. Were there a lot of other single teachers? Since you didn't have families of your own, did you do things together ever? Did you socialize?
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: Yes. I don't have a picture. Pat has that, too. Yeah, Pat has that picture. There was a club that I still belong to. Some of us have gone on to our reward. The name of it was Les Savants. We called ourselves Les Savants, the Wise ones. It was a club of teachers, and it was a social club. We called it a chat—and—chew club. Well, we have added members, new people who have come to town.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: If somebody comes to town and joins the Church or comes to teach and somebody in the club will meet them and say. "We have a young woman who is new in town, just joined our church, has come to teach." And said, "I think that she would fit in with our club." Well, you'd first invite them as a visitor. If everybody liked the person, we would invite them to join.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: Of course, I belong to my sorority, and I've been very active in my sorority on the local, regional, and national level. I'm still active in the alumni chapter here. I've been president of it. I've been South Atlantic Regional Director. I've been national parliamentarian of Alpha Kappa Alpha. I belong to The Links. In fact, that's where I was today, last meeting of the year. That's a group of professional women—
Rhonda Mawhood: [indistinct 00:41:39]—
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: — who do community work. I'm not a good bridge player. I belong to one bridge club, and that's a club when — We have one good bridge player in it, and she teaches the rest of us. We do more visiting and socializing than we do playing bridge. But we meet once a month.
Rhonda Mawhood: Is that all women as well?
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: All women. Yeah. Yeah. I belong to First Baptist Church. You didn't come down to Oaklawn Avenue?
Rhonda Mawhood: I saw First Baptist last night—
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: Did you?
Rhonda Mawhood: — because we received an invitation to go there tomorrow morning.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: Oh, you're going to be in my church tomorrow?
Rhonda Mawhood: Yes.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: Well, all right. I'll look for you. I'll look for you.
Rhonda Mawhood: I'll be happy to.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: Yes. Well, that's where I belong. I joined that church. Of course, it was not that building. When I came first came to Charlotte, I transferred my membership from First Baptist Raleigh to First Baptist Charlotte. I have belonged to that church ever since I had been here.
Rhonda Mawhood: It's a lovely building now.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: It is. Harvey Gantt was the architect of that building.
Rhonda Mawhood: I suppose that's your car outside that has the Gantt for US Senate bumper sticker?
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: That is my car.
Rhonda Mawhood: Yeah. I'll bet you worked on his campaign.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: Yes, I did. Yes, I did. Well, let me tell you some more about my family.
Rhonda Mawhood: Yes, ma'am, please.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: I told you there were six of us, and there are three of us who are living. There were three boys and three girls. We lost the first member of our family when she was 14. She was still in high school. She died of pneumonia. I went to Shaw. My brother, who was the second in the family, went to Shaw. After he finished high school — See, my father had died. I told you he died when I was a senior in high school. She couldn't send us to college.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: Of course, I was valedictorian of my class, and I got a scholarship for my first year in college. But that was The Roosevelt years. There were jobs available, and money available in college. But my brother went to join another Roosevelt program, the CCC, Civilian Conservation Camp, a program that provided jobs for young men who wanted the jobs. But after he came back from the CCC, he went to Shaw and got his degree.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: My third brother joined the Army, and he made a career of the Army. My sister went to Shaw. My sister, she was a old flirty girl. She really didn't want to go to college, but Mama made her go. But when she finished high school, she went to — Let me see. Did she go up to Baltimore first? No, she went to college. She didn't want to go. My mama made her go. But when she finished college, that's when she went to Baltimore, and she worked for Social Security. She stayed there.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: Now, my youngest brother, he was the youngest of the family. All the rest of us were out working when he finished high school. So he was the only one who did not go to Shaw. He went to Morehouse in Atlanta. I paid his way. I had come to Charlotte then, and I paid his tuition. We all helped each other. I was the first one out of school. I would send my mother a portion of my salary every month. When my brother worked in CCC, he did the same thing. So we always helped each other.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: So when he went to college, I helped him. When he came out of CCC and went to Shaw, I helped him, of course. I completely paid the expenses of my youngest brother and my sister to college. We always do that. We always helped each other. We're a very close family. Now, the other two brothers who are deceased, they've just died, both of them, in the past 10 years. Now, my brother who went to Shaw became a teacher, and he taught in Prince George's County, Maryland.
Dr. Elizabeth Randolph: My sister worked for Social Security, but then she got tired of Social Security and decided that she wanted to teach. So she went back to school and got her master's, and she taught in Annapolis, Maryland. She's retired now. My youngest brother who went to Morehouse and he graduated from Morehouse, he graduated in chemistry and he worked for the—