Oral Histories

Esphur Foster (EF): If you don’t know where you came from, you won’t know where you’re going. Harold Foster (HF): Mhm-mm [in agreement] EF: You gotta know where you came from. Hudson Vaughan (HV): And Mrs. Jackson’s quote is “If you don’t know --Without the past, we have no future.” EF: Future!…

Esphur Foster has lived on Cotton Street in Chapel Hill, North Carolina for 70 years.  In this interview, Foster discusses the powerful life of her mother, Hattie Mae Foster, as well as growing up in Chapel Hill during a pivotal time in history. She also describes much about life before, during, 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.

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.

There are two interviews with Esphur Foster and friends, with one recorded on Yonni Chapman's side of the room and the…

Esphur Foster: And then the boys used to go to the trestle and jump in that sewage water and learn to swim because there was no way- you know, for us- to learn to swim. Hudson Vaughan: Mhm EP: So, they- the girls didn’t play that- so they would go over there and swim in the trestle.

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.

Christian Jacobi Foushee-Green is the lead singer, songwriter, and keyboardist for the “Chit Nasty Band” which he created in 2011, one year after graduating from the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Born on April 26 in 1988, Christian (or “Chit” to some of his fans) has been involved in both…

"After the announcements were said I had this motto I would state, every Sunday I would say, "We are so happy to have you worshiping with us, we hope you would come back again." And St. Paul’s motto was: "visitors are strangers but once."" - Arminta Foushee Aminta Foushee shares photographs and a…

"He [Jacob James] was just very well respected here in Chapel Hill. I remember when he passed in Chapel Hill, I was living in Washington DC. It was probably one of the largest funeral servicec I’ve attended at St. Paul [AME Church]. They had to bring in chairs, they put chairs in the aisle and over…

Kathryn Wall (KW): What did you all do at Bible School all day, at Vacation Bible School? Arminta Foushee (AF): Well we usually have a Bible text as theme for, it used to be like a week, and we’d have a theme, and so we had classes, we had an adult class, a young adult class, we had the teens then…

Arminta Foushee: But I also remember, I don't know how I got pegged with this job. So in most Black churches on Sunday mornings you have the announcements that are read and said, and so I did the announcements every Sunday from the time I was 12 years old until I went off to college. And I always…

Kathryn Wall (KW): Did you go to college in DC, then? Arminta Foushee (AF): No, I actually went, I’m a proud Aggie, I’m a North Carolina A&T State University Aggie, the number one HBCU in the country. No, my husband actually did. He went to Howard University, and my former husband went to…

Arminta Foushee (AF): I love history, and so I would end up being picked as the historian for the church. But this particular book, When Chapel Hill Was a Village by Cornelia Spencer Love, and it has information about the original churches in Chapel Hill, so of course St. Paul is included in this…

Arminta Foushee: My grandfather was funny. He wore a shirt and tie every day. He polished his shoes before wearing them every day. So he was always dressed like a perfect gentleman every day that he was not working. And he’d take off that chef’s uniform. He’d be in a crisp shirt and tie ‘til the day…

Arminta Foushee: And my grandmother was a class leader, and you’d just be responsible as a class leader for, they would divide membership and give them to different class leaders, and they were responsible for checking on these people throughout the week. If someone were sick, they were responsible…

Arminta Foushee (AF): They used to have nice flagship stores there. Kathryn Wall (KW): You know, when I first moved to Chapel Hill the Belk was still there. AF: Mm-hmm. Yeah. And Ivey’s… that was a really upscale store. But they ran out of business. I don't know if there are any Ivey’s left anymore.…

This interview provides a background of Braxton Foushee’s involvement in the Chapel Hill area. He shares his experiences as a committee member during the Civil Rights Movement where he was involved in demonstrations. He describes the various strategies the committee used during the movement as well…

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.