Oral Histories

This interview was a part of the History Potluck held by the Marian Cheek Jackson Center in October 2019. In this interview, Dennis Farrington, a current member of the Northside community reflects on his life. He discusses growing up in Chapel Hill and the integration of schools in the city. He also…

Dennis Farrington spent the first part of his life in the Northside area of Chapel Hill before moving to a home off of NC Hwy 54, and he has deep roots in Chatham County, North Carolina. He attended Chapel Hill High School after it was newly integrated. He spent most of his working career at UNC…

This interview is part of the Marian Cheek Jackson Center’s Life History Series. Minister Willis Farrington, an associate pastor at S. Joseph CME Church, grew up in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He grew up going to St. Joseph CME all his life and has never been a member of another church. In 1975 he…

This interview is part of the Marian Cheek Jackson Center’s Life History Series. Reverend Willis Farrington, a leader of St. Joseph CME Church, was born in Chapel Hill and spent the entirety of his childhood running the streets of Northside and the Roberson Street Community Center. Reverend…

Joe A. Fearrington has lived in Chapel Hill his whole life and worked at the Carolina Inn for 30 years as a bellman on the “graveyard shift” and in the maintenance department. He reflects on his experience working at the Carolina Inn, sharing stories of guests, renovations, and other happenings at…

The interview was conducted on the porch of Joe’s home, a wonderful venue for an interview about home and community, although maybe not ideal for sound quality. There was significant wind at times and the sound of the cars passing by on the street. The interview begins with Joe’s stories of how he…

"I’m a people person, you know that, I love people. And I love to talk." - Louise Felix In this interview, Mrs. Felix exudes warmth and happiness. She highlights her family’s deep history of construction. Beginning with the Hargraves Community Center and continuing on throughout Chapel Hill and…

Louise Felix: Out of the boys, four. Kathryn Wall: All four boys. Do you know the names of all four boys? I know you said your Uncle Handy. Louise Felix: Uncle Leo, Uncle George, and Uncle Bill Kathryn Wall: Okay. And did any of their sons go into building with them? Louise Felix: No, after they…

Louise Felix: I know when the man came from State to do the job and I went over there across the street and I was talking to him and he said, I was telling him about how my grandaddy built the school. And he said, “What?” And I said, “Yeah he and all of his sons.” And he told me to come around there…

Louise Felix: I think my grandaddy what they were saying, you would need to ask Peter. I think he built every rock house when he was coming up there, except the one on Merritt Mill Road Road with his sons and things. Down there in front of Lincoln Center that house across the street, the rock house.…

“Lincoln High. That was the school back then. Everybody couldn’t wait to get to Lincoln High School.” - Sheila Florence Sheila Florence, a nurse lab technician, grew up in Chapel Hill during the 1950s and 60s. She reflects on her experiences growing up in the Northside district, attending Northside…

Harold Vaughan: So how long have y’all lived in this, this neighborhood? Esphur Foster: Seventy years. HV: Your whole life. EF: Yeah. We have, we had a cookout one night and we brought all of our, a lot of old pictures out and were showing them to everyone at the cookout. We got and left them out,…

Esphur Foster (EF): So when we took her down to the hospital that next morning Charley sent word over to the dental school and she said, tell everybody if they want to see Hattie for the last time to say goodbye, to come over. So when we got ready to leave Hudson, the whole Emergency Room dock was…

Esphur Foster (EF): Cause children always… Hudson Vaughan (HV): Create EF: Yeah they do, yeah they do. Chante, had met a little girl and her father was wonderful. He taught science at Chapel Hill High. He was the most incredible man and they just fell in love with each other. So then, she wanted,…

Hudson Vaughn (HV): Were you involved also in some of the marches, like Harold? Esphur Foster (EF): No he was at the forefront. I did march, in one or two of them. We had to take an oath, not to be nonviolent and mother always taught us to support each other if we were doing right. So we thought…

Hudson Vaughan: All these stories, I feel like, speak to really what makes a neighborhood. But could you talk a little bit about what you feel like have been the most valuable aspects of the neighborhood you’ve grown up in? And if maybe it has changed then what that change has been like. Esphur…