What was going on when I was born?

New York State and civil rights groups have reached an agreement to set goals for integration at the huge Starrett City project in Brooklyn and other state-subsidized private housing in New York City, sources close to the negotiations said last night. The settlement, which is to be announced today, will eventually apply to all state-sponsored housing projects in the city with tenant populations that are more than 80 percent white. The agreement provides that plans will be drawn up to increase the number of minority tenants to a minimum of 20 percent. Settlement of Suit The pact would settle a lawsuit that was filed more than three years ago on behalf of prospective minority tenants and had split integration advocates who are normally allies. The suit had focused on one of the country's largest government-assisted housing projects, Starrett City, whose 46 brown-beige buildings are 99 percent occupied, with nearly 20,000 residents.

An article Monday about a New York Times/CBS News Poll on the prospects of a woman as Vice President incorrectly tallied political shifts among some population groups in response to such a possibility. Those shifting toward Democrats included unmarried women, by 11 percentage points, and Republican women, by 9 points. Shifts toward Republicans included Democratic men and Middle Western men, each by 14 points.

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, rejecting opposition calls for an independent inquiry into the Government's handling of the crisis over the Libyan Embassy, said today that she had ordered an internal review to be carried out by established security agencies. In the House of Commons, Leon Brittan, the Home Secretary, said the search of the embassy had uncovered two handguns, a quantity of ammunition and accessories for a submachine gun. He said detectives had discovered a spent submachine-gun cartridge of the same caliber as that of the weapon that killed a police constable and ''firearms residue'' on the carpet beneath a window from which witnesses saw shots being fired. Decision Disclosed in Letter The shots fired on April 17 killed Yvonne Fletcher, a London police constable who was helping supervise a demonstration by opponents of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, the Libyan leader, that day at the embassy in St. James's Square. Britain broke diplomatic relations with Libya and, after an 11-day siege, the Libyans left the building to return to Tripoli and the police began their search Monday.

Walter F. Mondale won a decisive victory today in the Tennessee primary, setting back Gary Hart's hope of rebounding as the Democratic Presidential campaign entered a crucial eight-day period. The Rev. Jesse Jackson came in a strong third. The record black vote energized by his candidacy was a notable exception to the apathy that election officials said was responsible for the state's low primary turnout. The Vote Tally With 2,340 of 2,391 precincts reporting, or 98 percent, the Democratic vote was: Mondale130,107 (42%)Hart*92,456 (30%)Jackson*73,458 (24%)Uncommitted**6,358 (*2%) In the day's other primary in the District of Columbia, Mr. Jackson won his first clear-cut victory in the 1984 campaign, handily turning back both his rivals. (Page D26.)

THAT unmistakably bosky odor drifting under the noses of shoppers in some of the city's more elaborate vegetable markets these days comes from morels, curious-looking fungi with spongy, corklike caps and a sweetly nutty flavor that many enthusiasts consider the finest of all eating mushrooms. Morels, which are being shipped to the city from Oregon and the West Coast, are expensive - $18 at Dean & DeLuca and Fairway, $22 for the black variety at Pasta & Cheese and $24.95 for the regular ones at Jefferson Market; Balducci's has been charging $20 when they are in stock and new shipments from the West Coast are expected at all the stores today. The price should go down somewhat as the two-month season, now in its early stages, advances and the usually prolific crop from Wisconsin and Michigan begins to arrive. The mushroom's natural affinity for rich sauces based on cream or Madeira or both means a little can be stretched a long, long way. Half a pound of morels, sauteed in butter, dressed with cream and poured over taglierini noodles provides an ample first course for six.

The stock market scored an impressive advance yesterday in the heaviest trading in six weeks. The blue-chip, technology and transportation issues were the biggest gainers. Reflecting the upswing, winners on the New York Stock Exchange outscored losers by more than 2 to 1. Volume on the Big Board expanded to 110.6 million shares from 72.7 million Monday. Turnover was the largest since March 16, when 118 million shares traded.

TWO absolutely smashing collections shown back to back yesterday morning put the Seventh Avenue fall and winter fashion openings on the fast track. Calvin Klein presented the definitive sportswear collection - it will be difficult for the other leaders in the field to surpass him for clarity and conviction. He may well have established the pace for fashions of the 1980's. His clothes are mannish in derivation, resulting in absolute simplicity. An oversize topcoat, sweater, white silk shirt and trousers are his basic components.

An article in Business Day on Monday about two Ohio utilities misnamed the county that is a party to a complaint filed with regulators in opposition to the Perry nuclear power project east of Cleveland. It is Geauga County.

A group of New York's largest law firms and corporate legal departments announced yesterday that they would devote substantially more of their time to supplying legal services to the poor. Under the plan, law offices employing more than 5,000 of the city's 35,000 lawyers will provide 30 hours a year per lawyer to public-service work, primarily to civil cases involving fraud, landlord-tenant matters and the wrongful denial of government benefits. Officials of the City Bar Association, which organized the program, said it could double the amount of time that private law offices donate to public interest work. This, they said, may more than make up for the effects of cuts by the Reagan Administration in Federal legal-services programs.

Thousands of Solidarity backers led by Lech Walesa slipped into an official May Day parade in Poland's port city of Gdansk and shouted slogans of the outlawed independent union as they marched past a reviewing stand. Cheers and shouts of ''Solidarity!'' rose from the crowd, and officials on the the stand appeared stunned. Protests were reported to have developed into street clashes in at least six cities. (Page A1, Column 6.) Konstantin U. Chernenko presided over the May Day parade in Red Square a year after his absence from the march prompted some students of Soviet affairs to begin writing him off as a force in Kremlin politics. A theme of yesterday's parade seemed to be the ascendancy of the 72-year- old Mr. Chernenko as the Soviet party leader and head of state. (A12:3-6.)

Lech Walesa and thousands of supporters slipped into an official May Day parade in Gdansk today and shouted Solidarity slogans as they marched past a reviewing stand. The Communist Party officials on the stand appeared stunned. An overwhelming number of policemen were deployed to keep supporters of Solidarity, the outlawed independent labor union, from protesting on the traditional workers' holiday, but Western correspondents reported that demonstrations nevertheless developed into street clashes in Warsaw, Czestochowa, Szczecin, Wroclaw and Nowa Huta as well as in Gdansk. Many Countries Mark Day The celebrations in Poland were among many around the world to mark May Day, which many countries and labor groups mark as a workers' holiday.

Lots of companies and executives are finding that this year's proxy statements are literally an embarrassment of riches. Consider the predicament of William S. Anderson, the just-retired chairman of NCR Inc. He leads the list of the highest paid American executives, but is none the happier for it. Mr. Anderson's name appeared in newspapers and magazines all across the country after Business Week reported that his total compensation for 1983 was a staggering $13,229,000. That was a lot higher than the runner- up, Philip Caldwell, chairman of the Ford Motor Company, whose total compensation was $7,292,000.