Tom Dent interviews Carol R. King in Albany, Georgia. King talks about being frustrated with the problems in Albany, and about her husband Chevene Bowers [C.B.] King who died three years prior to the interview. The met in Cleveland, where King is from and where C.B. was attending law school at Case Western Reserve University. She talks about moving to Albany in 1953, and the differences in the level of the discussion on the subject of race between her northern family and C.B.'s southern family. They discuss the book You Can't Build a Chimney from the Top by Joseph W. Holley. King had never met Holley. She talks about a community effort to oust a former president of Albany State University over his affiliation with the NAACP. They discuss the racism of the local power structure. King talks about the work she has been able to accomplish supporting the Black community as a limited purpose Head Start director. She discusses the problem of Black officials misusing public money, which has also hit the Head Start organization. She realizes her use of funds is under scrutiny, and she talks about safeguards she has put in place to guard the finances of her division. She talks about her involvement in Leadership Albany. She was one of about eight Black participants in her class of thirty-five. She initially declined due to the death of her husband, but was invited back next year. There were few Black members of the Leadership Albany board. She describes participation on the group as putting her on "another kind of list," though she admits that perhaps she is being cynical. She describes her middle class upbringing in Cleveland and the shift in culture she experienced when she moved to Albany, where she taught poor children and learned where the poverty was in the community. As a part of Leadership Albany, which is mostly made up of middle class Whites, she feels she has a unique vantage point on the economics of the community. Her fourth daughter was recently married, and she had a tough time deciding who to invite. She talks about how she made the choices of who to invite. She called out the members of Leadership Albany for their lack of support for diversity when they did not take advantage of the opportunity to meet with German intellectuals who were in town to attend the wedding. She discusses her support of Andrew Young in his first gubernatorial race. Dent says he had tried to talk him out of the race. They discuss Young's political career, and the importance of believing he could win. King talks about C.B. King's run for governor of Georgia. He was the first Black man to run for governor since Reconstruction. Young ran for Congress after he had already committed himself to raising funds for C.B.'s gubernatorial campaign. C.B. had to pay the funds back himself, and felt bitter about it.
