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Description
This is an interview related to the integration of Alvin Community College (ACC), which was called Alvin Junior College (AJC) from its founding in 1948 until 1976. The interview is with Sharmeal Archie, Mary L. Smith, and Lynette Mason and takes place on February 10, 2025. The interviewers are Dr. Shane Hand and Professor John Brundrett.
Publication Date
2-2025
Publisher
Alvin Community College
City
Alvin
Keywords
oral history, Alvin history, integration, Alvin public schools
Disciplines
Oral History | Other History
Recommended Citation
Hand, Shane and Brundrett, John, "The Archie Family Interview" (2025). Oral Histories. 1.
https://archives.alvincollege.edu/oral-histories/1
Comments
Abstract: This interview is with two sisters, Mary L. Smith and Lynette Mason, and their niece, Sharmeal Archie, who discuss integration, racism, and growing up in the small black community of Alvin, TX. Most of the interview is with Smith, who is the oldest of the three. Smith was born in 1956, and she integrated Alvin ISD in the third grade and graduated from Alvin High School in 1975. She took a few classes at Alvin Junior College before marrying and then taking a full-time position as a contractor with NASA. Mason was born in 1961, and Archie was born in !981. Mason was born and raised in Alvin, graduated from Alvin High School, and she graduated from Alvin Community College's (ACC) nursing program in 1985 before deciding against a career in nursing. Mason worked at Alvin High School before accepting a job at Alvin Community College, which she has held for the last thirty years. Archie was also raised in Alvin, and is now raising a new generation of Archies in Alvin, TX. She graduated from Alvin High School and Alvin High School and then transferred to the University of Houston-Clear Lake where she earned her bachelor's degree, and today works at ACC as the Director of Dual Enrollment.
Subjects/Topics: Introduction; Family Background, Siblings, Parents, Hayesville, and Alvin; The N-Word Sign, Dickinson School, Integrating Alvin ISD, Smith's Third-Grade Teacher, Recess, the N-Word, Talent Show, White People Resisting Integration; After Integration, From High School to AJC, Family, Job at NASA, Writing a Book; The Help; Classes at AJC, Studying Nursing at ACC, White Co-Workers at ACC; First Black Babies Born in Alvin; Invitation to Work at ACC; Greater New Hope Baptist Church; Perry Lewis, Clothes Designer; Other Students Who Integrated ACC, Mary Louise, Mary Hill, Mary Holt, Brenda Morgan, Sarah Caldwell, Mary Louise, Sandra Jones; Archie's Children, Two Scholarships; Smith, NASA, Trip to Virginia; A Book in Progress; Juneteenth; Racism During Halloween.