Minister Robert Campbell - On his family history (clip)
Interviewed by George Barrett and Kathryn Wall on October 28, 2022
Kathryn Wall (KW): I’ll go ahead and start the recorder and what I usually like to do is just let everybody in the room introduce themselves for the purpose of the recording, just so if something ever happens to the file we can ID it. So, this is Kathryn Wall from the Marian Cheek Jackson Center.
Minister Robert Campbell (RC): And Robert Campbell from the Rogers Eubanks Neighborhood Association/Rogers Road Community Center.
George Barrett (GB): And George Barrett from the Jackson Center.
KW: Alright and we are here today because we are working on recording interviews about builders in the community and we know that your family has a long history with that so I wondered if we could just start out by talking about your family’s history in the community and especially with building.
RC: Yes, I got introduced to construction work at a very young age working for my grandfathers and my uncles. My grandfather was Mr. John Wesley Campbell. He was Papa and he was teaching all of us how to be construction workers: bricklayers, and rock masons, and carpenters. But in my journey with my grandfather I guess I learned how to mix mortar and cement too well because that basically was my job. But I did learn how to lay bricks and I learned how to put the joints, different types of joints, the V joint, the bubble joint, several different other types of joints. But it was just the discipline around the construction work and just to see some of the work that he helped put together still stands and I tell people most of the time you cannot go from Carrboro to Durham without seeing some of the handiwork of my grandfather.
