UNC Story Archive recording with Mark Kleinschmidt: The Story of Us4 items
Date Deposited: 2021-12-17
Collection: UNC Story Archive (70096)
Collection Number: 70096
Finding Aid: https://finding-aids.lib.unc.edu/70096/
During a remote recording session, Mark Kleinschmidt (Class of 1992; J.D. class of 2000), a first-generation student and former mayor of Chapel Hill, shares how “one of the most profound relationships I have in my life is that between myself, this university and the community it sits in”. Kleinschmidt explains how he knew he had to be a Tar Heel... Read more
During a remote recording session, Mark Kleinschmidt (Class of 1992; J.D. class of 2000), a first-generation student and former mayor of Chapel Hill, shares how “one of the most profound relationships I have in my life is that between myself, this university and the community it sits in”. Kleinschmidt explains how he knew he had to be a Tar Heel when in November 1987 Joe Herzenberg became the first openly Gay elected official in the South and “as a closeted, Gay teenager [I knew] that was the community I was going to, I was going to escape my closet, and I was going to find a community that was going to embrace me”. Once at Carolina, Kleinschmidt shares how being a mixed-race child adopted by a “pretty lily-white family” and a Gay man made it even more difficult to find his place on campus. After five years of teaching in Charlotte post-graduation from UNC, Kleinschmidt made good on his promise to himself to return to Chapel Hill. In 1997 he entered UNC’s law school, determined to become a lawyer who would fight for at-risk populations. While in law school, Kleinschmidt became one of the first only Gay speakers of the UNC Student Congress and reached out to Mathew Shephard’s community after his murder. Kleinschmidt eventually became mayor of the community that he loved so much, sharing that he is excited to see “young people climbing that ladder and reaching heights that I could have only ever dreamed of”.Read less