EPA Today Online: Interviewing Diahann Carroll

It sometimes feels to me like the end of an era when someone famous dies. I felt that way upon hearing of Diahann Carroll’s death this year on October 4. News reports of her death brought in a flood of memories and I emphasize memories.

It seems like ages ago that I was a college student at Howard University in Washington, D.C. and truthfully, it was ages ago. As a sophomore at the university I volunteered, as one of my extracurricular activities, to report for my college newspaper, which was called The Hilltop.*

Diahann Carroll was in the city doing several evening shows at a major hotel. So, I suggested to Michael Thelwell, The Hilltop’s editor in chief,** that we feature Carroll in The Hilltop. He agreed that I would write the article. I don’t really remember whom I contacted to get the interview. But, several days later I had an interview with Carroll. We had a late morning meeting in her hotel room, and to my knowledge, there was no one there, but the two of us.

It’s amazing to me now, looking back that, here she was, a well-known star, and she agreed to an interview with me, a college student, in her hotel room.

I don’t remember what she wore, but I do remember that she had a slight amount of light blue eyeshadow on. At the time, I thought that eyeshadow was only worn at night, so I assumed her makeup was from her performance the night before and she hadn't taken her makeup off. What did I know? I was 17 and not at all worldly-wise.

I pulled out my pad and pencil and the interview was underway. The interview lasted less than an hour, during which time, she was warm, soft-spoken and very gracious and, she answered all of my questions. I learned that her real name was Carol Diahann Johnson, which was something of a surprise, since my maiden name is also Johnson.

My interview with her took place at the height of the Civil Rights Movement. She expressed optimism about race relations in the U.S. and pointed to her own career and her interracial marriage as indicators that things in America were changing and that doors for African Americans were opening.

I had a camera with me and asked her if I could take a picture of her for the article. She told me that it would be better if she sent me one. I was relieved, because being such a newbie at taking photos professionally, I wasn’t really sure how the photo would turn out.

I thanked her for the interview and that was the end of it, except for the fact that I did get the photo several weeks later. It was a headshot and I still remember what she looked like in the photo. The photo arrived after my article was published, and being the collector that I am, who throws few things away, I might still have it, along with the article that I wrote about her.

I’ve never really thought of my interview with Diahann Carroll until now. I am just thrilled that she accorded me the time. I walked away from the interview feeling that the sky was the limit. Perhaps, the interview I had with her played a role in my being selected that year by the Hilltop staff as “The Outstanding Newcomer of the Year.”

It’s said that she was the first African American actress in a major role, in a movie or play, who was not cast as a servant or as subservient in some way.

Through her accomplishments, Diahann Caroll showed that the sky can be the limit. Thank you, Diahann, for being a real role model in many ways.
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* The Hilltop, Howard University's award-winning student-run newspaper, was co-founded in 1924 by Zora Neale Hurston and Louis Eugene King. In 2005, it became the first the first HBCU newspaper to be published daily. See the paper's website at http://thehilltoponline.com/

** Among his many accomplishments, Michael Thelwell became the founding chair of the Department of Afro-American Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

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