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 Mary Mason Boyd - On the African American freedom struggle and Civil Rights Movement in Chapel Hill

"We thought that since it’s a fight for the Black cause, it should be located in the Black community and establishment." - Mary Mason Boyd This interview is part of an oral history interview project conducted by Yonni Chapman with participants in the African American freedom struggle and the Civil…

Shirley Bradshaw

 Shirley Bradshaw - On her childhood, education, and school integration

This interview is part of an oral history project called Southern Communities: Listening for a Change: Mighty Tigers--Oral HIstories of Chapel Hill's Lincoln High School. The interviewes were conducted from 2000-2001, by Bob Gilgor, with former teachers, staff, and students from Chapel Hill, N.C.'s…

Willie Bradshaw

 Willie "Brad" Bradshaw - On his childhood, education, and career coaching sports

“If you have good football teams, it permeates throughout the entire school and it helps the other things that you’re going to do come up to par, come up to snuff or whatever you want to call it. It cuts down on a lot of discipline problems. Kids want to do more in school, because they see the…

Funeral Service Program for Mrs. Arvella Mae Sligh Briggs

Mrs. Arvella Mae Sligh Briggs' funeral took place on August 18, 1976 at St. Joseph CME Church. Rev. Wylie E. Wilson officiated the service. Photo courtesy of Mrs. Patricia Jackson and St. Joseph CME Church.

 Carolyn Briggs - On her childhood and growing up during the Civil Rights Movement

In this interview, long-time local Chapel Hill resident Carolyn Briggs discusses her experiences growing up in Chapel Hill. While her family moved a couple of times during her childhood, Carolyn developed strong relationships with her family, friends, and mentors. Carolyn discusses the challenges of…

Carolyn Briggs

Carolyn Briggs grew up on S. Merritt Mill road in a two-story rock house. As a child, she walked over a mile to go to elementary school in Northside – no matter if it was raining, snowing, or sleeting. She is a graduate of Lincoln High School and participated in the Civil Rights Movement in Chapel…

 Carolyn Briggs - Sit Ins (clip)

Carolyn Briggs: Most of the students that were in there, they- we- were like fourteen, fifteen years old. So, you marched, demonstrated, it wasn’t – the older ones I think experienced some hostilities- but the younger ones, it was fun to work, to grow, and know that you could make a difference, that…

 Carolyn Briggs - On when integration started (clip)

 Carolyn Briggs - On being self-supported (clip)

 Carolyn Briggs - On funding for the A.D. Clark Pool (clip)

 Carolyn Briggs - On walking to Northside Elementary (clip)

 Carolyn Briggs - On the construction of the A.D. Clark Pool and lifeguards (clip)

Carolyn Briggs describes writing essays in school to convince people to build the pool. She also describes being saved from drowning in the pool and remembers several of the lifeguards at A.D. Clark Pool.

James Brittian

"[The Black teachers] were looked upon as gods." - James Brittian

 James Brittian - On the African American freedom struggle and Civil Rights Movement in Chapel Hill

“In the Black community, regardless of who you were, everyone socialized together to a certain degree.” - James Brittian James Brittian was born in 1944 on Rosemary Street and grew up in Chapel Hill. He talks about his family, growing up with his brothers and sisters, being a middle child, and his…

 Vernelle Brooks Jones and Charles Brooks - Becoming Contractors (clip)

Charles Brooks: My grandfather and my father, they started out as subcontractors and they used to do a lot of work for like JP Co. Force Security Builders. They even did some framing for Tate Construction. In the early 70s my father ended up obtaining his contractor’s license and that is when they…

 Vernelle Brooks Jones and Charles Brooks - Differences between Contractors and Subcontractors (clip)

Charles Brooks: Subcontractors usually they are not licensed, especially for like my grandfather and my father, they were carpenters. So, like when I say they subbed that means they would go in once the foundation was put in on a house, they would go in and do all of the framing, do all of the…

 Carol Brooks and Keith Edwards - On the Civil Rights Movement in Chapel Hill

"But they just didn’t want us to integrate, that was the biggest problem." - Carol Brooks The interviewees provide an overview of the Chapel Hill Civil Rights Movement. They specifically note the emotion of CRM marches of Chapel Hill, Raleigh, and Durham in 1963. They speak on Watt’s Hotel…

Carol Brooks

Carol Books was young when the Civil Rights Movement came to Chapel Hill, but she remembers how it felt to be here at that time. After she graduated from Lincoln High School, she attended Durham Tech. She devoted 32 years of her life to serving UNC’s Pediatric Ward, work which she loved and misses…

 Carol Brooks and Keith Edwards - On the mood at Civil Rights marches (clip)

Ben Barge: Do you remember what it felt like, being in the march? Carol Brooks: Well like I told you, it felt… wonderful, it was exciting, new, you know, trying to help integrate, want to be in the front []. Because I remember the bus station, you know, they had the colored, the white, you weren’t…

 Carol Brooks and Keith Edwards - On Civil Rights protests (clip)

Keith Edwards: Yeah, 1966 when they fully integrated. Cause I went there in the seventh grade, and I was just eleven years old. We went on Franklin Street. Carol Brooks: See that was back in ’64, in ’63…That’s when we were cheerleaders for Lincoln High School. Patricia Atwater, Evelyn Walker, and…

Michelle Rolanda Brown

Michelle Rolanda Brown (MRB) is the Director of Developm at the Jackson Center. MRB came to Chapel Hill as a student in 2014 and remained in the Triangle area following graduation in 2018 in order to continue work with the Silent Sam Movement. Following the monument’s toppling, MRB served as a…

 Michelle Rolanda Brown