Item Information
Title
Dr. Guion Griffis Johnson, former Professor of History at UNC, from on oral history conducted in 1974
Description
Dr. Guion Griffis Johnson, former Professor of History at UNC, discusses her experience teaching in 1943 from on oral history conducted in 1974. Performed by Julia Gibson.
Creator
PlayMaker’s Repertory Company in collaboration with the University Archives at Louis Round Wilson Library
Source
Interview with Guion Griffis Johnson by Howard T. Odum, 24 April 1974 G-0029-001, in the Southern Oral History Program Collection, Series G: Southern Women (04007G), Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. https://finding-aids.lib.unc.edu/04007G/
Date
2021
Language
English
Transcription
Dr. Guion Griffis Johnson, former Professor of History at UNC, from on oral history conducted in 1974.
[(restating an interviewer’s question) What did I object to when I first came to Chapel Hill?]
The resentment of the student body... to the presence of women on campus, and the faculty did so too. There were less than a hundred women... Most of them were graduate students in English, which was a very proper subject for women to study. You know, rather than sociology, or history. Although there were more women in history than in sociology. Although I overheard, I think it was Doctor Hamilton who was talking in the hall when I was passing by, who said “No women is competent to teach a class in history. No matter how qualified, no woman is competent to teach courses except on the public school level – elementary or high school. But in the university, no.” I didn’t teach until World War II. 1943. Teachers were desperately needed... I remember so well when I walked in to my first class in 1943, the men arose. They were all in the Navy and they were supposed to arise when a superior came in the room, so they promptly arose, and some of them whistled. And when I ascended the platform and motioned for them to be seated, I said “Thank you very much, gentlemen. I’ve never been so flattered in all my life. But from here on out, I will do the whistling.” And they cheered. I enjoyed the work, and I think the men did too.
[(restating an interviewer’s question) What did I object to when I first came to Chapel Hill?]
The resentment of the student body... to the presence of women on campus, and the faculty did so too. There were less than a hundred women... Most of them were graduate students in English, which was a very proper subject for women to study. You know, rather than sociology, or history. Although there were more women in history than in sociology. Although I overheard, I think it was Doctor Hamilton who was talking in the hall when I was passing by, who said “No women is competent to teach a class in history. No matter how qualified, no woman is competent to teach courses except on the public school level – elementary or high school. But in the university, no.” I didn’t teach until World War II. 1943. Teachers were desperately needed... I remember so well when I walked in to my first class in 1943, the men arose. They were all in the Navy and they were supposed to arise when a superior came in the room, so they promptly arose, and some of them whistled. And when I ascended the platform and motioned for them to be seated, I said “Thank you very much, gentlemen. I’ve never been so flattered in all my life. But from here on out, I will do the whistling.” And they cheered. I enjoyed the work, and I think the men did too.