William Gattis - Not the best place (clip)

Interviewed on March 26, 2025

William Gattis: And we talk about these people as though they were trained university workers. No, if the university is the big employer, it’s not only the biggest employer of Black people but white people as well. It is the emerald place, the invisible kingdom, and it is part of the structure, the segregated structure that relegated people of color to these areas. And these weren’t the best places, they were like, ghettos. And this makes it sound like, “Oh baby this is the best place to be in the world” you see. No not for Black people.

Tags: Potter's Field, Pottersfield

Oral history interview of Gattis, William on March 26, 2025 at St. Joseph CME Church Fellowship Hall, Chapel Hill, NC.

Citation: Marian Cheek Jackson Center, “William Gattis - Not the best place (clip),” From the Rock Wall, accessed September 13, 2026, https://fromtherockwall.org/oral-histories/william-gattis-not-the-best-place-clip.