Regional Oral History Office University of California The Bancroft Library Berkeley, California Norvel Smith A LIFE IN EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY SERVICE Interviews conducted by Nadine Wilmot in 2002 and 2003 Copyright © 2004 by The Regents of the University of California Since 1954 the Regional Oral History Office has been interviewing leading participants in or well-placed witnesses to major events in the development of Northern California, the West, and the nation. Oral History is a method of collecting historical information through tape-recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well-informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. The tape recording is transcribed, lightly edited for continuity and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewee. The corrected manuscript is indexed, bound with photographs and illustrative materials, and placed in The Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley, and in other research collections for scholarly use. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account, offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is reflective, partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ********************************* All uses of this manuscript are covered by a legal agreement between The Regents of the University of California and Norvel Smith, dated July 29, 2002. The manuscript is thereby made available for research purposes. All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to The Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley. No part of the manuscript may be quoted for publication without the written permission of the Director of The Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley. Requests for permission to quote for publication should be addressed to the Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft Library, Mail Code 6000, University of California, Berkeley, 94720-6000, and should include identification of the specific passages to be quoted, anticipated use of the passages, and identification of the user. It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Norvel Smith, “A Life in Education and Public Service,” an interview conducted by Nadine Wilmot in 2002 and 2003, Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 2004. Copy No. _______ Norvel and Mary Smith TABLE OF CONTENTS—Norvel Smith Interview History i Biographical Information iii Interview 1: July 29, 2002 [Minidisc 1] Early life and upbringing 1 Education 2 Military service in Italy 3 Graduate school at University of Pennsylvania 8 Looking for work 16 Meeting wife Mary in Texas and making a decision to move to California 16 Overview of career 18 Interview 2: July 31, 2002 [Minidisc2] Ninety-second Division and impact of military service on his and others’ lives 27 Summer employment in New Hampshire 29 Driving across country 30 Initial impressions of California 31 Graduate school at UC Berkeley’s School of Education 32 Dissertation topic 34 Work with Alameda County School Department 36 Involvement with Men of Tomorrow, 1958 38 Oakland politics in the 1960s 40 War on Poverty and OEO 44 Involvement with Self Advancement through Education Program at San Quentin and Bob Wells Defense Committee 50 Back to OEO 52 Port of Oakland and economic development 53 Presidency of Merritt College 56 Interview 3: August 5, 2002 [Minidsic 3] Merritt College moves from West Oakland to Oakland Hills 63 Black Studies program at Merritt College 73 Back to OEO 77 Vice Chancellorship at UC Berkeley 80 Interview 4: August 8, 2002 [Minidsic 4] Eichler home and buying a house in the Bay Area 91 UC Berkeley in the 1950s 93 Strategy and structural changes while at UC Berkeley as vice chancellor 94 African American faculty and staff at UC Berkeley in the 1970s 97 Alain Locke Society 98 Becoming familiar with the lay of the land at Berkeley as vice chancellor 100 Access and diversity on campus 101 Port of Oakland 104 First Enterprise Bank 112 Serving on the board of trustees for University High School and Head Royce School 115 Oakland Museum Association board 120 Serving on the board of the Rosenberg Foundation 122 What these experiences have meant to him 125 Interview 5: August 29, 2002 [Minidisc 6] What these experiences have meant to him, cont. 129 Serving on the Alta Bates Hospital Board of Trustees 130 Involvement with Oakland Ensemble Theater 131 Black studies at Merritt College 134 Commentary on ethnic studies versus black studies at UC Berkeley 134 Back to Merritt and black studies 136 Role of wife Mary in career 137 Brown versus Board of Education in 1954 139 Bakke versus University of California 139 Ward Connerly 140 Influential people in his life and those he feels he’s influenced 140 Interview 6: March 17, 2003 [Minidisc 7] Oakland Five Defense Committee 145 Carlton Goodlett as his mentor 147 Black United Fund 147 Affirmative action at UC Berkeley 149 Black Alumni Club 153 Important administrators and faculty in affirmative action 155 APPENDIX 157 Interview with Norvel Smith by Robert Self 159 INDEX 179 i INTERVIEW HISTORY—Norvel Smith Dr. Norvel Smith's professional life took him through several seminal chapters in the City of Oakland's history, and unfolded against the changing cultural and ideological landscape of politics in the East Bay and California during the fities, sixties, and seventies. Graduating from Berkeley with an EdD in 1956, he was the first African American Vice Chancellor in the UC System, serving as Vice Chancellor-Student Affairs from 1973-1982. He was President of Merritt Community College for five years, from 1968-1973. From 1963 to 1968, he entered the area of community development, as Director of the Oakland’s Department of Human Resources and Deputy Director of the Western Region Office of Economic Opportunity. His community involvements, outside of his professional path, touched many major educational, philanthropic, and cultural institutions in the Bay Area. Dr. Smith was one of a group of professional African American men, most of whom met politically in the East Bay Democratic Club (and included Lionel Wilson, Allen Broussard, Evelio Grillo, Don McCullum and Clinton White, among others) who were important actors in African American politics, the civil rights and black power movements, and East Bay politics more generally in the decades after World War II.While their politics were contested from the left as well as from the right, it is impossible to overlook their central importance in the larger political life of Oakland, Berkeley, and the Bay Area generally. Dr. Smith is a leading light within this group.1 All six interviews took place at Dr. Smith’s home in the Oakland hills over the summer and fall months of 2002. There are seven interviews total, including an interview conducted by Robert O. Self in 1999 as part of his dissertation research. This interview is appended to this one, as it goes more in depth into East Bay politics in the 1950s and 1960s and represents a valuable resource for historians. Thanks to Donna Murch, who contributed to my research for this oral history with regard to Dr. Smith’s Merritt College presidency. This interview was recorded on minidisc, transcribed, and reviewed by Dr. Smith. The interview was lightly edited for accuracy of dates and names and readability. The interview was not videotaped. Dr. Norvel Smith was interviewed as part of the African American Faculty and Senior Staff Oral History Project series. This series of interviews explores the experiences of African American faculty and senior staff at UC Berkeley as part of the broader history of the University of California and its commitment to access and diversity. This series is grounded in the premise that higher education is one of the primary strategies for gaining social equality—access to employment and income—for historically disadvantaged communities. Moreover, the University, comprised of its students and faculty and administration, with all of its intellectual and financial resources operates as a critical touchstone in processes of systemic social change. Therefore the university functions not simply as an educational institution, but also as a significant site of past and future potential for imagining and crafting opportunity for ethnic and racial groups formerly excluded from higher education. This project recognizes that the University of California, as California’s premier public educational institution, plays a significant role in the socio-economic mobility of all of California’s residents. The story that we hope will emerge from this project is a story of California—its people and one of its most important public institutions. This interview was conducted under the auspices of the Regional Oral History Office. The Regional Oral History Office was established in 1954 to augment through recorded oral memoirs the Library’s materials on the history of California and the West. Copies of all interviews are available for research use in the Bancroft Library and in the UCLA Department of Special Collections. The office is under the direction of Richard Cándida Smith, Director and the administrative direction of Charles B. Faulhaber, James D. Hart Director of the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. Nadine Wilmot, Editor/Interviewer Regional Oral History Office Berkeley, California October, 2004 1.Robert O. Self, e-mail exchange, August 1, 2002 ii 1 INTERVIEW 1: JULY 29, 2002 Wilmot: It is July 29, and this is interview number one with Norvel Smith. So, hello. Smith: It’s Norvel, incidentally. [with emphasis on first syllable.] Wilmot: Okay, Norvel. We usually start at the beginning. I wonder if you can tell me when you were born and where you were born. Smith: Born August 31, 1924—I’m a good Virgo—in Lynchburg, Virginia, where my mother came from, and where she returned from Philadelphia to have me.