William Gattis and Patricia "Pat" Jackson - Glossing over (clip)
Interviewed on March 26, 2025
William Gattis (WG): Unfortunately, Katherine, the whole premise on which it starts is wrong. For example, it gives a more modern-day version of what happened. If you can imagine the 1865 Emancipation Proclamation in the Chapel Hill Area. For example, this starts off as…
Patricia “Pat” Jackson (PJ): This Pottersfield is glamorous.
WG: Right
PJ: The Pottersfield that we knew was thrown away property that nobody else wanted that nothing else could happen on, and they said, “OK. You could use this area”.
WG: Actually it wasn't so much “you could use,” but “This is where you’re relegated to, because we have established Chapel Hill–white Chapel Hill–as being between Boundary Street and Merritt Mill Road. This is our territory. Now we’re going to relegate you all to the Northside or Pottersfield area, to Tin Top, to Pine Knolls, to South Lane, and Windy Hills. Because these are the worst areas in the town, and we aren’t going to be there but we don’t mind you all being there.” So this is a glamorous–in fact let me just read from it just a little bit.
PJ: It’s just so pretty I couldn’t stop reading it.
