Oral Histories

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…

Arminta Foushee (AF): This is actually the – one of the founding families. So, Hargraves Center. Kathryn Wall (KW): Mhm. AF: Billy Hargraves, William Hargraves Center. But we called him Billy, he was a good friend of my mom’s. They were in school together, they were both jazz aficionados, they just…

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 (AF): And actually, my grandfather was head of the Board of Trustees at St. Paul and he was one of the trustees that was hugely instrumental in the renovation of the church, breaking it and putting the stained glass windows in and air conditioning. Kathryn Wall (KW): Mhmm AF:…

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): She would usually be appointed as a delegate to the annual conferences. They used to be held in June but now they’re in May of each year. And she and her sisters, they would get chosen to be delegates as well, her sisters that were still on Lake James and so they would meet at…

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.…

Kathryn Wall (KW): Did your grandmother do most of the cooking–when you were–on these Sunday family meals, was she the cook in the family or did your mom do a lot of cooking? Arminta Foushee (AF): My grandmother did most of the cooking, but my grandfather would also cook meals too. He liked to–. KW:…

"So when the demonstrations started in Greensboro, we decided it was time to do it in Chapel Hill, too." - Braxton Foushee 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…

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.

Braxton Foushee: There were a lot of people who couldn’t do certain things in the movement so we had them do other things to be involved in the movement. There were a lot of people who couldn’t [] right back, and we knew it, and we asked them, you know, to be real truthful with us. And they were,…