Oral Histories

This interview with Thurman Couch covers growing up in Chapel Hill during high school in the 1950-60s. He attended Lincoln High School before it was shut down in 1962, and then he attended Chapel Hill High School. Couch reflects on his lifestyle, neighborhood, family, religion, school, football…

"We all have grown up looking out for everybody, and I would like to see that continue. Kids come into the neighborhood and have a place to play safely without traffic…When the street lights come on, it is time to come in." - Kelli Council-Lattie This oral history interview with Kelli…

"Yeah our friends would be going to the ball games and going here and then we had to go to work. But then when it came down to going to McDonald’s or whatever we had the money to buy it and they didn’t, so that was the good part about it." - Annette "Neecy" Council Anita Spring Council and Annette…

Spring Council: Like Arminta said, I went there every day swimming. My brother Roy Cotton was a lifeguard. Some of the games we used to play was “Red Rover, Red Rover, Come Over,” and it was really fun. So, we had a high diving board and a low diving board. And I could jump off the low, so one day I…

Spring Council: One thing we did do for Hargraves in order to get money to go swimming, we used to go–we called it “hunting for bottles.” Back then you’d get like maybe one cent, two cents, five cents for a bottle, and we would take it to Mr. Blackburn’s store and we would get enough money so we…

This interview provides an overview of the place and birth of Mama Kat. Her house burnt down in 1962. She notes the change in neighbors versus before. She had children graduating from college. Her 3 kids were in college at the same time. The last baby was born with down syndrome. She recounts the…

In this impromptu interview done at Heavenly Groceries Food Ministry, Katherine “Mama Kat” Council tells us what it was like growing up right outside of Carrboro back in the 1930’s. She recalls how for a while her family had to use a wagon to get to Hamlet’s Chapel CME on Sundays. She also discusses…

In this interview, Mama Kat gives us her coveted pound cake recipe, which she knows from memory because she makes it so often.

“I really think with children, it didn’t matter. It was the adults that were having problems.” (In reference to integration) - Katherine "Mama Kat" Council Ms. Council, fondly known as Mama Kat, grew up on a farm in Chapel Hill down Jones Ferry Road and has lived in various places in the area her…

In Molly Norwood’s interview of Katherine “Mama Kat” Council, Council begins by describing what life was like when she was growing up in Chapel Hill. She describes how open and geographically spread out the neighborhood was, how she was constantly playing with the other children in the neighborhood,…

This interview is a part of the Marian Cheek Jackson Center’s A Place at the Table series. Katherine Council and Lillian Alston talk about their time volunteering with Heavenly Groceries. Katherine describes the origin of the food ministry before both women discuss their ties to the community and…

In this interview, Mama Kat, a cooking and baking extraordinaire, shares some of her kitchen expertise including tips and favorite recipes. Mama Kat learned how to cook from her parents and grandparents, and now writes down her recipes in cookbooks for others to follow. She discusses how products…

In this interview, Katherine “Mama Kat” Council talks about home and family. She discusses her parents, including her father’s death and her mother’s garden, and she describes where she grew up in rural Chapel Hill. Growing up was very different when Mama Kat was a child; she went to work and…

Katherine "Mama Kat" Council recalls students and neighbors at the holidays.To hear more from Katherine Council, listen to her full oral history "Katherine Council - On growing up in Chapel Hill and changes in the neighborhood."

Food is inextricably woven into Mildred Council’s life story. She grew up on a farm outside of Chapel Hill and cooked mostly out of necessity, and her main concerns were cost and practicality. She started learning from her father when she was nine years old, and as she grew up she held different…

"“[I don’t think] that there would be anything that I would have done differently. I really don’t." - Mildred Council This interview was recorded in 1994 for the Southern Oral History Program. Mildred Council, born in Chatham County in 1929, is the owner of Mama Dip’s Kitchen in Chapel Hill. She…

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.