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 Reginald Hildebrand - On his family, genealogy, race, and community

Dr. Reginald Hildebrand is an Associate Professor of African and Afro-American Studies at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is also a member of St. Paul CME Church and an advisory board member of the Marian Cheek Jackson Center for Saving and Making History. This interview was conducted as part of the Jackson…

 Reginald Hildebrand - Racism and Quaker School (clip)

Reginald Hildebrand (RH): In the 4th grade, go to my parents, there was a Quaker school in Atlantic City. They had a good experience, thought it was worth the investment sending me to a Quaker School in Philadelphia, they wanted to do the same there. I went there, took exams, and the head mistress…

 Reginald Hildebrand - UNC-NOW (clip)

Rob Stephens (RS): And was there any so… what did you think when this, when this St. Joseph’s partnership with students, the UNC-NOW group, came up? Reginald Hildebrand: I was amazed. I was ama– ‘cause there’s nothing in my experience since the 1960s to prepare me for that. There was no, there’s no…

 Reginald Hildebrand - Rebecca Clark (clip)

Reginald Hildebrand (RH): And so, I was very much aware of her, and her as a force in that church, and in that community, and was very much aware of her supportive involvement and engagement with any young – at that time, I was relatively young – person who appeared to be trying to make something of…

 Reginald Hildebrand - The Hildebrand Name (clip)

Reginald Hildebrand: This is the story that’s handed down in the family, that at the time of emancipation they were on a plantation in South Carolina owned by a family named Wannamaker. Most of the slaves on that plantation took the name Wannamker and for that first generation, all of the slaves –…

 Reginald Hildebrand - Family Land (clip)

Reginald Hildebrand (RH): My grandmother’s parents, my great grandparents, on my father’s side, were slaves. Often heard stories of him coming out of slavery and his master providing some land that was actually in the family until like the 1980s. It was not common, but it happened enough that it was…

 Reginald Hildebrand - Greenbridge (clip)

Rob Stephens (RS): And you say you did talk to elders about it? Reginald Hildebrand (RH): Yeah. Elders, I mean older people, not officials of the church. RS: Yeah. RH: Yeah. But these are the same people you’re talking to. Velma Perry and Rebecca Clark and others like that and they had, well it…

 Reginald Hildebrand - Coming to St. Paul AME Church (clip)

Reginald Hildebrand (RH): The other connection I have, I developed in Chapel Hill around that time the church. And how that developed, I was living in Durham and had really wanted to attend a church in Durham, to establish myself in that community. I visited the best known AME church in Durham,…

 Dr. Reginald Hildebrand

Prof. H, as he is fondly known, is pictured here in front of his church, St. Paul AME. Founded in 1864, St. Paul has marked the corner of Chapel Hill and Carrboro for over 150 years. As St. Paul anticipates a new church campus in the Rogers Road area, the future of the “little red church on the…

 Danina Henley - On Community Gets People Through (clip)

Danina Henley: The community is what got people through, you know neighbors is what got each other through hard times when my grandmother was coming up and when her mother was coming up. It was neighbors that got people through hard times. I know with the recent recession scare and all the things…

 Danina Henley on Meeting Needs and Addressing Problems (clip)

Danina Henley: I’m still getting used to the diversity as far as feeling like I belong here. Growing up, I was around people that were just like me. It’s just different. We were all alike. We all had the same interests. How do I want to say it? Our way of life was just real similar. We shared a lot.…

Dishing It Up at Heavenly Groceries

The food ministry at St. Joseph C.M.E. began in 2004 as part of Rev. Troy F. Harrison’s vision of a “church without walls.” Initially a bread ministry stocked with loaves and coffeecakes donated by an Entemann’s Bakery Outlet, the ministry has grown to a grocery-style, no-documentation-needed, fresh…

 Reverend Troy Harrison - Faith Built This Community (clip)

Listen to Rev. Troy Harrison, former pastor of St. Joseph CME Church, speak about how faith sustained the Black communities of southern Orange County.

 Troy Harrison - There's a struggle going on (clip)

In this short clip, Rev. Harrison talks about his dream for Chapel Hill.

Troy Harrison

 Miss Brianna Harrison

Daughter of Pastor Troy Harrison, Brianna grew up in the house where the Jackson Center is now located.

 Brentton Harrison - On his time at the Jackson Center

“It doesn’t feel like work, it feels like a calling, a mission, or a purpose." - Brentton Harrison Mr. Harrison is bidding farewell to the Jackson Center after 10 years of service to join the Hargreeves Community Center. With the whole staff bidding him farewell and asking questions, it leads to…

Brentton Harrison

Brentton Harrison is a low country South Carolina born son of a preacher man. He tells his version of life experiences through jokes and metaphors sprinkled with a bit of straight-shootin' directness. He loves to ponder what love actually is but is deeply driven by his ever-evolving ideas of Love in…

 Brentton Harrison - On growing up in Northside, Heavenly Groceries, and the Jackson Center

This interview provides Brentton Harrison’s early biographical information, reflections on his father’s life as a Reverend and his life growing up in Northside including participation in a band while in high school. He shares his involvement with Heavenly Grocery, overseeing the Pancake Jamboree at…

Bernice Harrison

Mrs. Bernice Harrison is the wife of Reverend Troy Harrison and the mother of Brittney Harrison. She was raised in a Baptist church but began to attend a Methodist church after she married Reverend Harrison, becoming a member of St. Joseph CME. Mrs. Harrison has played a central role in the…

 Andrea Harris - On her aunt's story (clip)

 Andrea Harris - On building relationships and bridging divides

In her oral history, Andrea Harris discusses her parents and growing up in Henderson, NC. She attended segregated schools and went to Bennett College, where she began her community organizing career by experiencing first-hand the aftermath of the assassination of Dr. King and the became aware of the…

Andrea Harris

"At the same time I remember wanting to know why they had these water fountains that were “white” and “colored.” So my mother told me what was the difference: taste it. She made me taste both of them, right so I can see that there was no difference. Right?" - Andrea Harris

 Curtis Harper - On church, teaching at UNC, desegregation, and faith-based activism

Curtis Harper is a member of the Church of Reconciliation, which he joined in the 1970s when he moved to Chapel Hill. Harper speaks about his upbringing in a community where the only secure place African Americans could meet was in church. He describes his work teaching at the University of North…