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…

"I believe in encouraging students, because sometimes they don’t think they’re worth anything." - Cecilia Davis In this oral history, Cecilia Davis explores her time as a teacher in Chapel Hill at Lincoln High School and Phillips Junior High. She recalls what teaching was like before and after…

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.

"...people in the community got together and said we need this facility. - Nate Davis 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…

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…

Alexander Stephens (AS): This starts the sound. You can’t hear what people are saying. So I guess we can go ahead and start if that’s okay. Again, just imagine this (the recorder) is an extension of my body, don’t worry about it. AS: So, could you talk a little bit about the history of the Center…

Nate Davis: The construction was delayed when the B-1 Navy Band, which was a band that came to Chapel Hill to perform on campus and throughout the state, for the governor and for the Navy ROTC. It was an all-Black navy band that were put together to come here to perform. When they came they didn’t…

Nate Davis (ND): A lot of people look at a recreation center as just a location for people to go to do recreation programs. But again, it was used as a daycare center, which was located in the bottom of Hargraves. It was used for recreation programs, for meetings for the community, for special…

Alexander Stephens: And where did you grow up exactly? Nate Davis: I grew up…it was called Lincoln Lane, it was not called Lincoln Lane, School Lane. School Lane and School Lane was off Church Street. As I matter of fact, I could sit on my front porch and look directly at Northside School. That…

Nate Davis: No, I had graduated from high school. I was living on Merritt Mill Road when I graduated high school. And after that, I really couldn’t decide what I wanted to do. [I] played sports in high school, was planning on playing sports in college, and I hurt my leg. I pulled my hamstring my…

Nate Davis (ND): …a parking lot. You know, we lost that outdoor court that we had. But we did get a gym. And we still have an outdoor court. But everybody came and played on the outdoor court at Hargraves. And we had, you know, our outdoor basketball league that everybody played in. We had people…

Nate Davis (ND): Again it was a safe and fun place to come, again, we didn’t have the indoor gym, but we had the outdoor basketball court over here. Before the outdoor court was over here, it was over in that parking lot. And [it] was just one loose ball, basketball goal on a light pole, horse…

Alexander Stephens: Do you have any favorite stories or memories of being here as a youth? Anything that you want on the record, I know there might be some things you don’t want recorded, [Laughter] but any stories you got from when you were young here? We can go in the shade if you want. Nate…

Nate Davis: And, South Estes, which is off 15-501, the Estes Drive public housing used to be called Ridgefield. That’s one of the public housing areas, and when some of our friends had moved down that way we would go down there and–but, when we got ready to come home, as we were walking the police…

Nate Davis: And at Hargraves, when Fred, we called him “Toro,” Fred Battle was working here. You know sometimes he would just come into work and say, “Davis let’s go.” And I said, “Where are we going Mr. Battle.” And he would say, “Today, we’re just going to get a bus.” We used to have a bus in…

Alexander Stephens: What do you think is the significance of just being there to listen to what young people have to say and share ideas with them? Nate Davis: Well, it kept us out of trouble. It kept us out of trouble, you know not just with the police but with other people in the community. They…