Janie Alston - On her memories of A.D. Clark Pool (clip)
Interviewed on August 29, 2025
Patricia “Pat” Jackson: Now, get your hands together for that fabulous Ms. Janie Alston!
Janie Alston: Thank you Ms. Pat. Hello, everybody. That house behind you, I grew up in. That was my grandmother’s house. I am a Hargraves and a Weaver from Chapel Hill. I was born in New York City in the Harlem Hospital. We moved here I guess when I was four. I went to the nursery school down here. Ms. Robinson was a nursery school teacher at that time. I went to Northside. I went to Lincoln High. I played saxophone in marching band and, no, I played the clarinet in marching band and the saxophone in concert band. I played a little basketball but I wasn’t good enough. Ms. Gilmore used to say, “If you’re gonna make a foul, be a good one.” But anyway, my grandfather was a founder and a builder of St. Paul AME Church where I attend. His name was Jerry Hargraves. My grandfather, Luther Hargraves, was the first Black mortician in Chapel Hill. The funeral home is right up there on Lindsay Street. My grandfather also built the house that I live in in the 1920’s, and the house that my cousin Velma Perry lived in at the top of the hill. Also, he built houses in if you’re to Tin Top, Hargraves Lane, he built houses there. So, I was not privileged to go to this pool, because we moved away when I was 15 and I came back when I was 50 to take care of my mom, and I’ve been here ever since. And I had the pleasure of working with Mrs. Jackson at St. Joseph’s for the food ministry and along with my dear friend right there, and I belong to the Compass Group at the Jackson Center. And the Jackson Center is very involved with helping the community, saving our properties here, and that’s all I have to say. Thank you for the opportunity.
