This is an oral history interview with Dr. Julia Ballenger. It was conducted on November 7, 2017. The interviewer is Anne Poulous.
In this interview, Dr. Julia Ballenger discusses her experiences growing up in East Texas, and what it was like when public school began to desegregate in 1967, which was her senior year in high school. Upon graduation from high school, she attended East Texas State University from 1967 to 1973. She earned a bachelor's and a master's degree from ETSU.
Julia Ballenger grew up in Tyler, Texas, and graduated from Jackson High School in 1967, which was segregated at the time. Though desegregation had begun in some schools, Ballenger recalls the "freedom to choose" plan, which gave the school the ability to delay desegregation, which it did. She recalls a strong sense of connection within the school, which felt more like extended family, and she believes the choice to delay desegregation preserved that feeling.
The process of desegregation started the next year, in 1968, after Ballenger graduated. She began attending East Texas State University (ETSU) where she was also a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha. Following her graduation from ETSU, she went on to earn her Ph.D. at the University of Texas. In 2001, she taught at Stephen F. Austin University in Nacogdoches, Texas, before moving to the Fort Worth area to teach at Wesleyan University. She eventually came back to A&M-Commerce, as a professor in the Department of Educational Leadership.