Judy Nunn Snipes and Gertrude Nunn - Speaking about the Rogers-Eubanks community
Interviewed by Darius Scott on October 9, 2014
“I just have to say it was two proud families that basically loved the land and raised their families and contributed to the economy. There were lots of talents on both sides of the family- there was nothing her brothers couldn’t do.”
- Judy Nunn Snipes
This interview is part of an SOHP project called Rural South: Backways: Understanding Segregation in the Rural South. The interviews were conducted in the rural piedmont region and eastern North Carolina about the often hidden forces of structural and institutional discrimination that have outlasted the victories of the civil rights movement. The project explores space, place, and identity and examines issues like poverty, crime, and racial segregation. Mother, Gertrude Nunn, and daughter, Judy Nunn Snipes, are lifelong residents of Chapel Hill, N.C. Born in 1921 to the namesake of Rogers Road: Freeman Hollis Stone Walter Jackson Rogers, Nunn discusses her childhood and young occupational experiences that came with growing up on a truck farm. Gertrude and Judy discuss their family experiences and the changing physicality and nature of the Rogers Road community. Through their words on the relationship between the Rogers and the Nunns (a family into which Gertrude married), a rich account of the Rogers-Eubanks community's history and formation is outlined. The account situates the presence of the Rogers Road landfill as a particular hardship for the community. In the interview, a once relatively pristine environment of Rogers Road is detailed alongside stories of the family's century-long relationship with the land. They discuss struggles with the local Orange County government to protect the land and combat environmental degradation precipitated by the landfill. Gertrude and Judy reflect on the lives, occupations, and land inheritances of some of their relatives.
