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 Walter and Mary (Molly) Riggsbee

"This is Walter Riggsbee & his wife Mary (Molly)." - C. Rogers Photo courtesy of C. Rogers

Walter Durham

 Walter Durham - On school integration, his childhood, and race

“[Lincoln] was a school that you could go in and… no paper on the school campus. Hallway shines like new money all the time. You could drink out of the commode in the bathroom. And it was kept just that clean.” - Walter Durham Walter Durham discusses growing up as part of a large family on his…

Wanda Weaver

"Change is gonna happen, but the important thing is, you be a part of the change." - Wanda Weaver

 Wanda Weaver - On Bynum Weaver Funeral Home (clip)

Wanda Weaver: My dad was the owner and operator of Chapel Hill Funeral Home, which is only two funeral homes that was in Chapel Hill, a black funeral home and a white funeral home. Walker’s Funeral Home which is on Franklin street still there and right here on Graham Street was Chapel Hill Funeral…

 Wanda Weaver and Kathy Atwater - Speaking about family and the Northside community

This interview mainly focuses on Wanda Weaver’s mother and father/Kathy Atwater’s aunt and uncle, as well as the past and present dynamics of the Northside community. Ms. Wanda and Ms. Kathy show pictures of their mother and father/aunt and uncle, as well as discuss what they did for the community.…

Waters Films Showing Black Residents in Chapel Hill in 1939 (Reel 1)

Photographer H. Lee Waters traveled across North Carolina and parts of South Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee from 1936-1942 to film small communities. These videos, which he named “Movies of Local People” aired in local movie theaters, often before feature films. Trying to film as many people as…

Waters Films Showing Black Residents in Chapel Hill in 1939 (Reel 2)

Photographer H. Lee Waters traveled across North Carolina and parts of South Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee from 1936-1942 to film small communities. These videos, which he named “Movies of Local People” aired in local movie theaters, often before feature films. Trying to film as many people as…

Watts Restaurant and Watts Motel

"We may have had a few incidents, and I remember at the Watts Motel, they would throw acid and pee out the window, embarrassing. But they just didn’t want us to integrate, that was the biggest problem." - Carol Brooks "They was picketing that place because they wouldn t let Blacks go in there and…

 Welcome to Exhibit

White Rock United Holy Church

White Rock United Holy Church is located on White Rock Church Road in Chapel Hill, NC.

Whitney Robinson Rivers

 Will Martin

 William “Smitty” Smith - Arts and Science (clip)

William Smith: The art form is designing a project and having a finished project. The science is whether you are going to use S type model or pouring the cement. In some cases, you can do a rock wall that has neither mortar mix or concrete. It has no mortar at all, so there is a difference. So, if…

 William “Smitty” Smith - Builders Gateway (clip)

William Smith: What I would suggest at least when they decide to do it and have a design, that they specify to use some of the old masons. They could specify that and see how it works. And even now being retired, I could put something together and put something together. But they would have to have…

 William “Smitty” Smith - Class Description (clip)

William Smith: Well, it was a room that had a pile of bricks, a pile of sand, and bags of lye. Just an open space. Then we had a project, and the projects began with a 6-brick lead. 6-brick lead being you lay out 6 bricks and the next course is 5, the next course is 4, the next one is 3 and that’s…

 William “Smitty” Smith - Developing an Eye (clip)

William Smith: With brick and blocks everything is straight, it is dimensional. With stone it is not dimensional. You have to develop an eye and when we say eye, that means you can pick up a rock and find a place in the wall for it. You know? So, that is an ongoing thing. So, if you were, we’d never…

 William “Smitty” Smith - Differences between Rock Masonry and Stone Masonry (clip)

William Smith: The term, “stone mason” is misunderstood. Sometimes, basically what we did in the local area is we were rock masons. Stone masons are different. Being a stone mason, you have to cut, shape, and make the stones fit. Rock mason is not that way. You just take a rock as it is and lay it…

 William “Smitty” Smith - Good Masonry (clip)

William Smith: That’s the very difficult question because masons, I’ll give you an example, we had a mason one time come to work with a pair of white shoes. He worked all day and when he left his shoes were still white. No mortar on them at all and the quality of his work was superb. Okay now you…

 William “Smitty” Smith - Learning Brick and Stone Masonry (clip)

William Smith: I had a masonry class in high school for one year and that was being a brick mason. Actually, I was trained as a brick mason, and I became a stone mason in the later years. Enjoyed doing stonework because it was very creative and that was the part that really interested me.

 William “Smitty” Smith - Learning the Basics (clip)

William Smith: Well, when you do projects, you do a project over and over and over, and then progress it. You start out with a six-break lead, then you’ll do a pier, then you’ll do something else, then you’ll do a fireplace. But then once, these are just basics that you learn. You don’t really learn…

 William “Smitty” Smith - Mentors (clip)

William Smith: The secret is developing an eye you know. One guy can see a rock and find a place to put it. Another guy would have something and have a problem placing the rock. It all determines in how you see that rock and how it fits in your design. Danielle: It definitely seems like a talent as…

 William “Smitty” Smith - Owning a Business (clip)

William Smith: But the thing about being in business is you have to be very careful. If you’re working outside of your capacity, you’re in trouble. So, to be successful you have to stay in your capacity. Danielle Dulken: Because you’ll over promise if you’re outside of it? William Smith: Well when I…

 William “Smitty” Smith - Pride in His Work (clip)

William Smith: I was not an academic person so building was something that I could do and I could look at it after it was finished and brag about it because it was hands on and I enjoyed doing things with my hands. Danielle Dulken: And when you say brag about it, you must have been very good at…