Oral Histories

This interview is part of a project done in fall 2015 and spring 2016, conducted by SOHP undergraduate interns with members of the Black Pioneers, the first African American students to attend and integrate UNC-Chapel Hill from 1952 to 1972. Betsy Davis begins the interview by reflecting on her…

This interview is part of an oral history project called Southern Communities: Listening for a Change: Mighty Tigers--Oral HIstories of Chapel Hill's Lincoln High School. The interviewes were conducted from 2000-2001, by Bob Gilgor, with former teachers, staff, and students from Chapel Hill, N.C.'s…

This interview is part of a project conducted by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill graduate and undergraduate students in a 2001 oral history course. Topics include Chapel Hill's efforts to end racial segregation in the public schools; the process of creating integrated institutions; and…

Audio recordings of interviews conducted by Yonni Chapman with participants in the African American freedom struggle and the civil rights movement in and around Chapel Hill, N.C.

Nate Davis remembers that during his childhood, the Hargraves Community Center as a safe space to hang out and play sports with friends, and now, after years of working first part time and then full-time for the Center, he is the director. Davis tells the story of Hargraves starting in the 1940s. It…

This interview is part of an oral history project called Southern Communities: Listening for a Change: Mighty Tigers--Oral HIstories of Chapel Hill's Lincoln High School. The interviewes were conducted from 2000-2001, by Bob Gilgor, with former teachers, staff, and students from Chapel Hill, N.C.'s…

In this interview, Shirley Davis speaks about her family history. She grew up in Chapel Hill on Merritt Mill Road. Her father worked thirty years for the Sigma Chi Sorority and her mother worked for Milton Julian. Her grandmother worked at University laundry, and her grandfather worked with the Town…

This interview is part of an oral history project called Southern Communities: Listening for a Change: Mighty Tigers--Oral HIstories of Chapel Hill's Lincoln High School. The interviewes were conducted from 2000-2001, by Bob Gilgor, with former teachers, staff, and students from Chapel Hill, N.C.'s…

Audio recordings of interviews conducted by Yonni Chapman with participants in the African American freedom struggle and the civil rights movement in and around Chapel Hill, N.C.

“Well I would say that [Black women] stood by the men and we also stood up for our rights. We knew a change had to come.” - Shirley Pendergraph Davis Civil rights activist, Shirley Pendergraph Davis, comments on the role of Black women in the Civil Rights Movement in the early 1960s. Ms. Davis…

In this interview, Jarrett Dawson, a Chapel Hill local discusses his experiences with work, family, and church. Although originally from North Carolina, Dawson talks briefly about how his family moved to Patterson New Jersey for a time, and the experience of taking trips between North Carolina and…

This interview was part of the Marian Cheek Jackson Center’s History Potluck series. Saundra Dockery, is a Northside native and daughter of Katherine Council better known as “Mama Kat”. Ms. Dockery shares photos and documents from her mother’s life as a way to commemorate her mother because of her…

“...It really became the motto of my life- to live like that. Not just for knowledge or education, but to have tools like that- qualities, virtues that can help people fight battles through life.” - Sherdenia Thompson Dunn Sherdenia Thompson Dunn was raised in Carrboro in the 1950s and early 1960s…

“[Lincoln] was a school that you could go in and… no paper on the school campus. Hallway shines like new money all the time. You could drink out of the commode in the bathroom. And it was kept just that clean.” - Walter Durham Walter Durham discusses growing up as part of a large family on his…

She remembers Hargraves as her “second home” and a safe place to be. She describes staying at the pool all day until her fingers and toes were like raisins.

Audio recordings of interviews conducted by Yonni Chapman with participants in the African American freedom struggle and the civil rights movement in and around Chapel Hill, N.C.

"You couldn't have the expression of anger because you knew what this person was doing. Because your actions would not have come back on you, it would have come back on your parents." - Keith Edwards Edwards discusses her life in Carrboro and how she felt safe within the Black community but unsafe…