Home > People > Virginia Medean > Virginia Medean
Oral History

Virginia Medean

Interviewed by Ella Wise and Rachel Mossey on March 19, 2010

Virginia Medean provides a look into her experience of Northside as a white woman who is aware of both sides of town (Northside and Carrboro). She explains her concerns and her ideas of how the community could grow bigger and change. She also indulges in the present and how she spends her everyday life here in the area.

Oral history interview of Medean, Virginia conducted by Ella Wise on March 19, 2010 at Unknown.

Citation: Marian Cheek Jackson Center, “Virginia Medean,” From the Rock Wall, accessed November 21, 2024, https://fromtherockwall.org/oral-histories/virginia-medean-2.

"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

Virginia Medean

Virginia Medean is a resident in the Northside community. Virginia enjoys making efforts to change her surroundings and the neighborhood. Virginia was raised in the Chapel Hill / Carrboro area and has experienced many effects of the civil rights movement and is working to restore her community.

More to explore

 Virginia Medean on Healthcare and the St. Joseph's Food Ministry (clip)

Virginia Medean (VM): My husband, I said you know, he has serious healthcare needs, which will affect where he will be able to work. Ella Wise/Rachel Mossey (EW/RM): Mhm VM: And, so it’s sort of an enforced poverty, even though it was out of our control that it happened – and I have a lot of…

 Virginia Medean on Meeting Needs and Addressing Problems (clip)

Virginia Medean: I think community takes people talking to each other and just finding what your similar needs are. I’ve met lots of people because I have a car, and I say to people, “Anybody need a ride to the other side of town?” Ella Wise: What else makes a community? So we talked about walking…

 Virginia Medean on St. Joseph and Church Activism (clip)

Ella Wise/Rachel Mossey (EW/RM): How have you seen Saint Joseph’s though – the role of Saint Joseph’s in this community? Virginia Medean (VM): They’ve always been a strong advocate for justice, social justice, and community means. They have a wonderful pastor now– EW/RM: Mhm. VM: –And [pause] I…

 Virginia Medean - On Racism and a Progressive Town (clip)

Virginia Medean: That place where I went to live for a few years in Halifax County was still as segregated as ever and was a very uncomfortable place to live. As a white person, it was very uncomfortable to be around other White people there because of their racism. They have learned not to say the…

 Ms. Sharon Livingston & Ms. Virginia Medean

Sharon and Virginia wanted to have their photograph demonstrate what they believed it meant to be a neighbor in the face of rapid change locally and in their respective lives. Residents of public housing at the time this photo was taken, they reflected on how neighbors can often be more important…
Back to Virginia Medean