Home > Oral Histories > Allen Buansi - On getting into college (clip)
Oral History

Allen Buansi - On getting into college (clip)

Interviewed by Kathryn Wall on September 24, 2024

Allen Buansi - On getting into college (clip)

Tags: , ,

Oral history interview of Buansi, Allen conducted by Wall, Kathryn on September 24, 2024 at Marian Cheek Jackson Center, Chapel Hill, NC.

Citation: Marian Cheek Jackson Center, “Allen Buansi - On getting into college (clip),” From the Rock Wall, accessed September 13, 2026, https://fromtherockwall.org/oral-histories/allen-buansi-on-getting-into-college-clip.

"We’re writing our own history, thank you!"

Ms. Esphur Foster

Want to add in?  Have a different view?  What do you think? Want to upload your own photos or documents?

History is not the past.  It’s the sense we make of the past now. Click below to RESPOND—and be part of making history today.

Respond

In this Oral History

Allen Buansi

 Allen Buansi - On Education

"I really want my kids to first off, be good people, kind people, to be respectful of others, and to be advocates for themselves. I’m of course going to be their best advocate, along with their mother, my wife. But giving them the tools to be able to recognize when they themselves or others are…

More to explore

 Allen Buansi - On Education

"I really want my kids to first off, be good people, kind people, to be respectful of others, and to be advocates for themselves. I’m of course going to be their best advocate, along with their mother, my wife. But giving them the tools to be able to recognize when they themselves or others are…

 Allen Buansi - On his AP U.S. History teacher (clip)

 Allen Buansi - On raising his children (clip)

 Allen Buansi - On mentoring students (clip)

 Allen Buansi - How his mother inspired him (clip)

 Allen Buansi - On differing viewpoints in college (clip)

 Allen Buansi - On New Hampshire vs. North Carolina (clip)

 Allen Buansi - On working across the aisle (clip)

 Allen Buansi - On criminal justice reform (clip)

 Allen Buansi - On addressing the NC teacher shortage (clip)

 Allen Buansi - Why elections matter for schools (clip)

 Allen Buansi - On his family and moving to Chapel Hill (clip)

Allen Buansi: My mom moved us here when I was about 10 years old. I was actually born in Chicago, or near Chicago, I should say. I was born in Evanston technically, but spent about the first 7 years of my life in the Chicago area. We moved around a lot when I was a kid before the age of 10, but we…

 Allen Buansi - On his mother advocating for him in school (clip)

Allen Buansi: And some of my formative experiences being in Chapel Hill, I can remember my first or second day of school, when I was at Guy B. Phillips Middle School. I can remember not feeling the most welcomed at first, because I remember I got called into the principal’s office and when I went…

 Allen Buansi - On his AVID teacher (clip)

Allen Buansi: Now, I am also grateful to have had teachers who really, really cared about me. One of my middle school teachers–she was my AVID teacher, Ms. Wiggins. She really took me under her wing starting my sixth-grade year; she had the foresight to welcome me to apply for the AVID program for…

 Allen Buansi - On his "three moms" (clip)

Kathryn Wall (KW): Were there other teachers that you remember from middle school or high school who really stand out as…? Allen Buansi (AB): Absolutely yes, absolutely. So in high school I had a counselor, who’s still school counselor at East Chapel Hill High School, her name is Jessica Harris, and…

 Allen Buansi - On instilling a sense of belonging (clip)

Allen Buansi: I guess the other thing too is, when I go around to different community events with any one of my kids, it was really important for me that they grew up knowing that they belong in any kind of space. And so often times folks will say to me, especially if I’m bringing Zara with me…

 Allen Buansi - On his environmental justice work (clip)

Kathryn Wall: And you’ve done some work right here in Chapel Hill around the RENA community and the landfill here. Could you speak a little bit about that? Allen Buansi: Sure. Absolutely. So, just going back to law school, back, I guess, during 2013. The summer of 2013. This was my first summer…
Back to all oral histories