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 growing up during the long period of desegregation in Chapel Hill, as well as being among one of the final graduating classes from the historically black high school Lincoln High. Carolyn takes time to comment on her siblings and their different occupations they took once grown up; coming from a large family during a period of scarce resources, they took to growing most of their food to remain largely self-sufficient. Although they lived lives that seem foreign to modern observers in their relative difficulty, Carolyn and her community found time to participate in community cookouts, dances, and other events that kept them connected. Growing up during the Civil Rights Movement, Carolyn discusses how her and her classmates were taught to largely ignore counter-protesters and police violence through non-violent peaceful resistance, along with the community’s support of the younger generation coming together to directly confront the lingering effects of segregation.