Dr. Norman Francis was born in March 1931 in Lafayette, Louisiana. It was a poor country town just coming out of the Great Depression [Annotator's Note: Great Depression; a global economic depression that lasted through the 1930s]. His father and mother did not graduate from high school. The town was completely segregated. His father was born about eight years after Plessy vs. Ferguson [Annotator's Note: 163 U.S. 537 (1896); Supreme Court decision that resulted in the doctrine known as "separate but equal", ruling that segregation was legal, 18 May 1896]. It was a deeply religious city and family. His parents kept their children grounded and focused. This all had a great impact on him. He was taught the religion of all men being equal, but when he went out that was not the case. He never thought they were poor or less than equal. He did know the world would challenge him every step of the way. It took great faith to believe you were a human being as good as everybody else. World War 2 was an amazing, unfortunate, disastrous calamity. A great migration of African-Americans went out of his city to find work related to the war and never came back. Francis had come through the Depression. That prepared him for hard times. The war added to the family's problems. Rationing began. Living in a segregated town, dealing with rationing, and trying to get educated was not easy. He took it in stride as a youngster. His faith kept him sane. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks Francis if he remembers hearing about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941.] He remembers the very hour. His aunt told him the news. There were no televisions, but they got the Pittsburgh Courier newspaper [Annotator's Note: weekly newspaper published in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from 1907 to 1966]. He saw footage of the news at the movie houses. Soldiers came through his town. They came to his high school on the way to the Alexandria army barracks [Annotator's Note: Francis is either referring to Camp Livingston, now part of Kisatchie National Forest in Rapides Parish and Grant Parish, Louisiana; or Camp Claiborne in Rapides Parish, Louisiana]. The kids bought them candy bars and cigarettes. It dawned on him that this was a vision of men being prepared to give their lives for their country. It left a mark on him. These were Black [Annotator's Note: African-American] soldiers going into a segregated Army. It did not dawn on him how crazy it was that they going to fight for a country they were not free in.

Dr. Norman Francis did not follow the war closely. He devoted his time to school and sports. His parents had said to develop themselves fully. He never thought he was poor. His father rode a bicycle to work. He then became a barber and did not have a car until around 1950 or 1952 when he was 52 years old. Buses did not come to the city until Francis was a senior in high school. Blacks [Annotator's Note: African-Americans] worked the menial jobs and railroad cars were segregated. He did not see African-Americans in high positions. He always had to be better than his White [Annotator's Note: Caucasian] counterparts. He had heroes in the sports. In his neighborhood, they would listen to Joe Louis [Annotator's Note: Joseph Louis Barrow, professional boxer] boxing matches on the radio. Francis followed Jackie Robinson [Annotator's Note: Army Second Lieutenant Jack Roosevelt Robinson; first African-American man to play in Major League Baseball] since he was in high school. He admired that there were people like him that were doing great things with their talents and he could do great things with his. He had faith that someday that would be important. It was not about being lucky, it was about being prepared. He did not even dream his father could send him to college. He thought about going into the Army but then got a scholarship to Xavier [Annotator's Note: Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans, Louisiana].

Before graduating from high school, Dr. Norman Francis did very little in terms of working in the war effort. He was dedicated to being educated. In 1943 and 1944, he shined shoes of Naval aviators downtown. A lot of men in his neighborhood, including his closest friend, went to war. His friend was in the Army and was stationed in France. He spoke the language and did fine serving there. Many of the men returned. Some went to college, but most got jobs. Lafayette [Annotator's Note: Lafayette, Louisiana] was growing and becoming an oil capital. The men could now drive trucks. They raised families. They mourned the men who did not come back. Francis saw more of the war when he entered Xavier [Annotator's Note: Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans, Louisiana] in 1948. The first wave of veterans were coming back. Francis saw men who had seen the world who were coming to school. He saw a new kind of world from their stories and from their seriousness. He had new heroes in flesh and blood. They had not lost faith in their country although they had a right to. They were going to change the world they lived in. There is a line from a song from them that asks, "how are you going to keep them down on the farm once they have seen Berlin?" They used the G.I. Bill. They were heroes and mentors. They did not talk that much about the war. The opportunity to see what might be possible was important. The world is much more complex now. This generation has a greater appreciation of what they are going to face all over the world. Some will succeed no matter what; some will not succeed no matter what. The middle group is who needs teachers who are sensitive and compassionate who teach them to learn. Good teachers are the most important professionals.

Dr. Norman Francis had a great interest in interacting with World War 2 veterans returning from the war and going to school. Francis had teachers in school before college, who believed he could learn. Francis was named President of Xavier [Annotator's Note: Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans, Louisiana] in 1968. Everything they did had to be excellent. The curriculum was the same as the other Catholic colleges in the country. Francis had been a double-major. Blacks [Annotator's Note: African-Americans] were told to get a minor in teaching then. His major was math. He took philosophy, theology, and law. He was one of the first admitted to Loyola Law School [Annotator's Note: Loyola University New Orleans College of Law. The interviewer asks Francis what it felt like to be the first Black student at Loyola.] Right before he graduated from Xavier, a group of both Black and White [Annotator's Note: Caucasian] students was formed to start pushing integration of the schools. The majority of his teachers were White, but color did not matter to him. It was a reaffirmation of his humanity. He was comfortable and those were the best days of his life. He never felt inferior. One man, Richard Gumbel [Annotator's Note: The Honorable Richard Dunbar Gumbel; World War 2 veteran and judge], father of Bryant [Annotator's Note: Bryant Charles Gumbel; American television journalist] and Greg Gumbel [Annotator's Note: Greg Gumbel; American television sportscaster], had been turned down the year before, but got in later. His classmates were amazed by how Francis had been educated at an all-Black school. His best friends today are still his classmates from that time, including Moon Landrieu [Annotator's Note: Mauraice Edwin "Moon" Landrieu; American politician]. Those people became the Young Turks [Annotator's Note: nickname for young person eager for radical change to the established order; based on a revolutionary part in the Ottoman Empire, 1908] of what happened in New Orleans [Annotator's Note: racially]. Moon took the spears in the back [Annotator's Note: slang for suffering politically] for integrating City Hall. Those bonds exist today. Francis graduated law school because of World War 2 and what he learned about learning and serving to those in need.

Dr. Norman Francis was drafted into the Army after graduating from law school [Annotator's Note: in 1956]. He graduated on a Saturday, got married the next Monday, and was drafted a month later. He did not accept a commission. He was a Private with a law degree and he knows he was a model for the men, both Black [Annotator's Note: African-American] and White [Annotator's Note: Caucasian]. The services were integrated by then and his medical battalion had Black and White soldiers. He served his country and did not ask for special privileges. He did KP [Annotator's Note: kitchen patrol or kitchen police], guard duty, and did not think he was above it. After a year, he was asked to serve in the headquarters company and be a lawyer. The soldiers were comfortable with the change. His experience with returning servicemen in college prepared him for this. This helped him later in his life as an administrator at a university. He saw himself in the students he helped, and they appreciated that.

Dr. Norman Francis left the Army after two years. The men he was with were drafted after college. They were in from 1955 to 1957. The Civil Rights Movement [Annotator's Note: the name for the struggle for social justice, mainly during the 1950s and 1960s for African-Americans to gain equal rights under the law in the United States] began in 1956 when Rosa Parks [Annotator's Note: Rosa Louise McCauley Parks] sat on the bus and Martin Luther King [Annotator's Note: The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; American civil rights leader] was drafted to become a young leader. King got his charter in New Orleans [Annotator's Note: New Orleans, Louisiana] and went to work in the movement. Francis came out of the Army and did outside counsel with Collins, Douglas, and Ely [Annotator's Note: law firm]. They were hired by the Congress of Racial Equality or CORE [Annotator's Note: African-American civil rights organization, founded in 1942]. Integration of the school in Little Rock [Annotator's Note: Little Rock Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas on 3 September 1957] was starting when Francis returned. Wallace was saying never at that time [Annotator's Note: Stand in the Schoolhouse Door, Foster Auditorium, University of Alabama 11 June 1963 by Governor George Corley Wallace, Jr.]. The resistance in the South was major against people registering to vote. The anger was controlled by King by using a Ghandi [Annotator's Note: Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, known as Mahatma Ghandi] approach to turning the other cheek. The ones who sat at the lunch counter in North Carolina were brave [Annotator's Note: Greensboro sit-ins, series of nonviolent protests, February to July 1960, Greensboro, North Carolina]. New Orleans went through the same thing but there was a coalition of Blacks and Whites who helped. Ruby Bridges [Annotator's Note: Ruby Nell Bridges Hall; American civil rights activist] was brought to school by Marshals [Annotator's Note: escorted by four United States Marshals to William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans, Louisiana on 14 November 1960]. There were many groups challenging segregation. Francis worked with CORE to file lawsuits and to protect the ones putting themselves in danger. He met with the lawyers of the stores that were being picketed to ensure the owners would act sanely. Francis had an educational role to his students. He chaired the Urban League's [Annotator's Note: now the National Urban League] board. The Urban League was working with Johnson [Annotator's Note: Lyndon Baines Johnson, 36th President of the United States] on moving Civil Rights forward. Thurgood Marshall [Annotator's Note: Thurgood Marshall; attorney, judge, first African-American justice of the United States Supreme Court] came to New Orleans to work and gave leadership to integrating schools. The Freedom Riders [Annotator's Note: civil rights activists on buses, 4 May to 10 December 1961] were given a place to stay on campus [Annotator's Note: Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans, Louisiana] after their bus had been bombed and they had been beaten. That was a big decision.

[Annotator's Note: Dr. Norman Francis worked with the Congress of Racial Equality or CORE, an African-American civil rights organization founded in 1942]. Stokley [Annotator's Note: Kwame Ture, born Stokely Standiford Churchill Carmichael; civil rights organizer in the United States and globally] was stoking things with Black Power [Annotator's Note: political slogan and name given to ideologies regarding self-determination for people of African descent]. Malcolm X [Annotator's Note: born Malcolm Little; American Muslim minister and human rights activist] was also working against segregation. Francis never met Medgar Evers [Annotator's Note: Medgar Wiley Evers; American civil rights activist]. Francis was working with federal agencies to find jobs for students based on John Kennedy's [Annotator’s Note: John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 35th President of the United States] 10925 Executive Order [Annotator's Note: Executive Order 10925 established what is now called affirmative action in employment]. He worked with Housing and Home Financing which became HUD [Annotator's Note: United States Housing and Urban Development Department]. Francis covered Birmingham, Alabama; Jackson, Mississippi; Tampa, Florida; and Coral Gables [Annotator's Note: Coral Gables, Florida]. Francis went to Birmingham in March 1963. The city was on fire with the antics of Bull Connor [Annotator's Note: Theophilus Eugene "Bull" Connor; American politician, Commissioner of Public Safety for the city of Birmingham, Alabama]. Francis covered that for the Attorney General [Annotator's Note: Robert Francis Kennedy; American politician]. He did not realize how dangerous it was. It was just weeks before the four little girls were bombed in Birmingham [Annotator's Note: 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama on 15 September 1963]. Robert F. Kennedy challenged Bull Connor about integrating the city. Francis went to a meeting with the Regional Director [Annotator's Note: for housing] in Birmingham. The Director told Francis there were no vacancies in his operation [Annotator's Note: for hiring African-American workers]. Francis replied that there would be when he left there. Francis then went to Jackson in the summer of 1963. Kennedy was assassinated in November 1963. Medgar Evers was assassinated in his own driveway [Annotator's Note: Evers was assassinated in Jackson, Mississippi on 12 June 1963]. Evers lived next door to a Pharmacist, a veteran Francis had met who had graduated from Xavier [Annotator's Note: Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans, Louisiana]. White and Black students were coming from the North and East for that summer. Those four cities were being challenged in federal buildings and federal agencies to provide jobs to Blacks. He reflects back on all that it took to get these Constitutional rights.

Dr. Norman Francis was on a panel at the museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana]. They talked about Black [Annotator's Note: African-American] soldiers in the war. A lot of the veterans were involved in the Civil Rights Movement [Annotator's Note: the name for the struggle for social justice, mainly during the 1950s and 1960s for African-Americans to gain equal rights under the law in the United States]. They came back with two things. They knew they would not be treated as Americans in their towns after having fought for the freedoms. They used the G.I. Bill to get educated and to fight for their rights. Francis graduated from a predominately White [Annotator's Note: Caucasian] school, went into the service, returned in 1957, and had to tell his young son he could not go into a movie house being built without an invitation. When the Civil Rights Act passed [Annotator's Note: Civil Rights Act of 1964; ended segregation and banned employment discrimination], he told his son they had gotten their invitation seven years later. Even in the North, Francis was not always treated with kindness. In Saint Paul [Annotator's Note: Saint Paul, Minnesota], he went to go get a beer with some White friends. Francis's glass was thrown in the trash can when he finished his beer. When integration hit Boston [Annotator's Note: Boston, Massachusetts], a number of Blacks were beaten. It was not just the South. He worries about us rewriting history in the wrong way. A signal needs to be sent to the children that they will be protected by the law and that you will be expected to be a true citizen of the country.

[Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks Dr. Norman Francis to talk about becoming the President of Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans, Louisiana.] He had the greatest internship anyone has ever had. Before he left the service, he was called to be the Dean of Men. He spent his time counseling. He expected to stay only two years, but it ended up being six. He became an Executive Vice-President. Francis was the first lay [Annotator's Note: non-ordained] president of the University. All of the presidents before him were Catholic nuns. The President of the Religious Order of Catholic Women said that they had proved that Katharine Drexel [Annotator's Note: Katharine Mary Drexel; American religious sister, or nun, now Saint Katharine Mary Drexel] was right in founding Xavier. Francis was offered the job. It was a big decision. He turned it down twice but was encouraged to give it thought. His wife encouraged him to take it. Martin Luther King, Jr. [Annotator's Note: The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; American civil rights leader] was killed [Annotator's Note: King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee on 4 April 1968] on the day Francis was going to tell the Sisters he was accepting the position. He was named on 1 July 1968. He had gotten to know what higher education in general was facing and how policy was being made. He continued this as President. He spoke freely and worked with the leaders of important universities across the United States. Francis says we need more diversity in teachers of higher education, but you have to educate them first.

[Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks Dr. Norman Francis how he feels about receiving the American Spirit Awards' Silver Service Medallion from The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana on 10 June 2016.] Having seen who has received the award before him, he is extremely humbled and honored to be in their company. They have served their country and have been a model for others. To receive an award that says that you represent the spirit of America embarrasses him in one way but makes him grateful that someone feels he represents that. The people he has served with are all part of the award. The American Spirit to him means that he has been true to the values instilled in him as a child. All Americans should have faith in their God, faith in themselves, and faith in their country. Francis admired all of the brave men and women who fought in World War 2 to save America and the Constitution. He believes that it was one of the great generations of our time; they never lost faith in our country. Some came back who were not welcomed the way they should have been, but that did not stop them from keeping the faith and making a difference. His fondest memory of being President of Xavier University [Annotator's Note: Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans, Louisiana] is having had the privilege of standing on the graduation stage with a diploma in his hand and looking in the eyes of the next recipient. He probably did this 400 times a year for 47 years. Every year, he was thrilled to have that honor of awarding that degree. His wife encouraged him throughout their 60 year marriage to do a lot of things with her support and counsel. He feels his honors should have been given to his wife. She was a part of whatever he did, whenever he did it. At her funeral he said that God had chosen who he should marry, and he is grateful for that.