Oral Histories

Oral history interview with Dr. Linda Mayes

Dr. Linda Mayes

Eleanor Dean
Chloe Strysick

Dr. Linda Mayes is a pediatric psychologist and professor at the Yale School of Medicine. She was in the first class of women that matriculated at the University of the South, and she went on to attend medical school at Vanderbilt University after she graduated. A native of Franklin County, Dr. Mayes provides insight into the ways in which white students did, or did not, think about desegregation, and how she looks back on those years now as an adult. Dr. Mayes' family was also involved in the local movie theaters, and she describes those segregated social spaces in these interviews.

There are audio issues in the first interview involving persistent echoes on the interviewer's end, while from 8:25 to 9:58 the audio is garbled. In the second interview, there is a brief interruption on the narrator's end from 2:10 to 2:20.

Interview #1: July 15, 2025
Interview #2: July 18, 2025

Desegregation of Franklin County, Tennessee, schools.

Winchester, Franklin County, Tennessee.

Oral history