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Elmer Pendergraft's Esso Service Station

"Used to be a service station right there called Elmer Pendergraft. Service station right here at the corner, right across from Carolina Carwash...[Dad] worked up until...he got sick. And then Mr. Elmer had to sell the service station because he had gotten sick too...So they just sold it, sold the…

Norwood Brothers Esso Service Station

"Northside was closer to Chapel Hill High than it was to Lincoln, and so in passing you would see the white students on the other side of Franklin Street smoking the cigarettes at Ross Norwood's service station in clear view of the schoolyard. Nobody was trying to hide from the either their parents,…

Northside Elementary

"I went to school at Northside. My parents wouldn't allow me to walk to school the first two years ...I was kind of ticked because I wanted to walk...They allowed me to walk to school in third grade. So that was cool, like a half hour walk from my house...all these roads here then were dirt roads.…

North Graham Street

"We [had] a sense of community on North Graham Street. Everybody's mother looked after each other. Our neighbors were like our sisters and brothers and we just had a big sense of family." - Clementine Self North Graham Street is part of the historically-Black Sunset neighborhood, now often regarded…

North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company

"During World War II, [my mom] sold insurance for North Carolina Mutual Insurance Company." - Doug Clark, Sr. North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company, founded in Durham, North Carolina in 1898 by John C. Merrick, is one of the oldest and largest Black-owned businesses in the United States.

North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University

"I went to North Carolina, I played football at North Carolina A&T, where I received a BS degree, and as a matter of fact, I was instrumental in the boycott in '62-'63, where we desegregated the Woolworths." - Fred Battle North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (North Carolina…

North Carolina Central University

North Carolina Central University (NCCU) is a public, historically-Black university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Dr. James E. Shepard in 1909, the university was made part of the state system in 1923.

Mr. Jasper Massey's Store

Jasper Massey ran a store on Brooks Street in Chapel Hill, near Orange County Training School. According to the 1940 census, Mr. Massey also worked at the Carolina Inn.

Morgan State University

"I went to Morgan State University in Baltimore...I felt like I was returning to my roots. I felt like integration had been forced upon me and now that I was able to choose what school I could go to I was going to choose to return back to my community where I knew that academics would be stressed in…

Miss Kelly's Store

"It was just a little meeting place. She just had a large room there. It was just a place you could go and communicate. A little place she had that after school you could go and dance. But no alcohol or nothing like that involved. Just was a place of communication." - Walter Durham Miss Kelly's…

Midway Business District

"I’ve heard stories from people that were around when there were Black owned businesses and most people that owned those businesses were family members or they knew the kid’s parents. It was really easy for them to come in and just hang around and don’t have to worry about safety or…

Midway Barber Shop

Stephen Edwards opened the Midway Barber Shop in 1952.

Merritt School

"We went to a little country school back of our house [run by] Lottie Merritt. It was a school where we [went] from [grades] 1 through 7 and then we would take a test and go to high school at Orange County Training School." - Isabel Atwater Lottie Merritt ran a country school known as Merritt School…

Merritt's Store

"The geographic boundary was pretty much the neighborhood. I think one time a friend and I left the neighborhood and we ended up at Merritt's store to get some candy. And we went past Merritt's store and we ended up on the next street. There turned out to be some lady up there who knew us, and she…

Memorial Hospital

"And that was 1952, when the hospital was opened. That's when jobs really became available. And then, if you got a job at the university hospital, twenty-five dollars a week, a hundred dollars a month. That was a long way from paying seven dollars a week." - Rebecca Clark "My grandmother didn't do…

McDougle Middle School

"I know at McDougle Middle School where I worked part-time for the past six years, I made many a phone call encouraging Blacks to come to PTA meetings and to let them know that it was very important to be involved. I did encourage becoming leaders within the PTA." - Hilliard Caldwell McDougle Middle…

McDougle Elementary School

McDougle Elementary opened in 1996. The school is named after Charles and Lucille McDougle, who educated students in Chapel Hill for over 40 years. It shares a campus with McDougle Middle School.

Mason's Grocery Story

"And my uncle was quite innovative at that time, and...he would get me and my brothers, and some of my friends—and we would go all over Chapel Hill. And he would have leaflets made, identifying when he was going to have a big sale at his store. And we would go all over Chapel Hill to do this. And,…

Mason's Barber Shop

"You know, the black community had their businesses. One of the ladies they employed out here ran the Bar-be-cue. There was Mason's Barber Shop. That whole area up there between Chapel Hill and Carrboro."
- Joanne Peerman

Mason Motel

"My uncle had Mason’s groceries, and then he decided he would have a motel, and they called it Mason’s Motel for Colored. And, it was the only motel for Black people. Of course, Black people couldn’t go to the hotels in this area. And, Callaway had been there, Diana Washington, James Brown." - David…

M&N Grill

"The M and N Grill...was owned by, my uncle Charlie and Robert Nicks, who were brothers in laws. I don’t know how they got along...The M and N Grill was the hangout for the Blacks in Chapel Hill. Especially on Saturday night after a big football game." - David Mason "It was a stop off place going…

Lincoln Park

"Then we moved out to Lincoln Park, name of the subdivision. We were sort of like the Hillbillies. When you turned on the hot water, it scared us, especially me. Getting used to these things. But all the good things went away, like homemade biscuits. In the old house, Momma used to cook homemade…

Lincoln Hospital

"...I was doing a part-time job at Lincoln Hospital where I was taking x-rays from one hospital to another...It was $7.50 every two weeks. And I would stop by after school in the afternoon, and I would go in the lab. They would give me several x-rays, and bus fare, and I would go from Lincoln…

Lincoln High School

“What we had students don’t get now as easily. There’s something missing now for many of the kids…when I attended Lincoln there were Black role models around me everywhere…there were Black people around you, which you always had a sense of family, and a sense of community, a sense of safety, and a…