Oral Histories

This interview is part of a group of interviews conducted by Susan Simone exploring the lives and struggle of various members of the Northside community: a historically black and primarily residential neighborhood located immediately northwest of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and…

"I remember my mother always told me, 'Whatever job you must do, be sure you give it your best.' She said if it’s sweeping the floor, washing dishes, anything, do it your best. And as I grew, that was her philosophy - always give it your best. And I still carry that philosophy." - Frances…

This interview is part of a group of interviews conducted by Susan Simone exploring the lives and struggle of various members of the Northside community: a historically black and primarily residential neighborhood located immediately northwest of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and…

FH: I guess I was just like any other youngster. I was more concerned about the neighborhood and being accepted by my peers and also my relatives. Just being a part of what was going on, and playing games, and going to school like any child would at that period. You must remember I was born in 1914.…

FH: at that time it was hard to find qualified teachers. That's why they sent me. I was the first teacher in Orange County to be certified to teach special education. So I ran a lot of workshops. And when I came back, UNC, this university up here sent students to me to train. BG: In teaching…

BG: What was the feeling about Lincoln High School when it was moved to Merritt Mill Road in 1951? How did the community relate to the school? FH: Wonderful, wonderful! Good heavens, you had everything: space, better school, more equipment. All of it was just wonderful. Very accepting of moving to a…

BG: I think this is interesting, and a lot of it is theoretical. So I want to go back to Lincoln High School and more of your memories of Lincoln High School. What the teachers were like, what the students were like. The sports, and the band, the chorus. Anything else you remember from Lincoln…

Keely Hargraves recalls learning to swim at Hargraves when she was nine years old.

Kelven Hargraves remembers attending nursery school and playing sports at Hargraves and the changes he has seen at the Center since the days when it had an orange dirt path instead of a sidewalk. He talks about the Center giving young people in the Black community a safe place to go to play and…

Ms. Hargraves explains that she didn’t know her father Billy, for whom Hargraves Center was named. She describes the legacy for her family and her pride in knowing how the Hargraves Center and the pool have impacted the community.

Curtis Harper is a member of the Church of Reconciliation, which he joined in the 1970s when he moved to Chapel Hill. Harper speaks about his upbringing in a community where the only secure place African Americans could meet was in church. He describes his work teaching at the University of North…

In her oral history, Andrea Harris discusses her parents and growing up in Henderson, NC. She attended segregated schools and went to Bennett College, where she began her community organizing career by experiencing first-hand the aftermath of the assassination of Dr. King and the became aware of the…

This interview provides Brentton Harrison’s early biographical information, reflections on his father’s life as a Reverend and his life growing up in Northside including participation in a band while in high school. He shares his involvement with Heavenly Grocery, overseeing the Pancake Jamboree at…

“It doesn’t feel like work, it feels like a calling, a mission, or a purpose." - Brentton Harrison Mr. Harrison is bidding farewell to the Jackson Center after 10 years of service to join the Hargreeves Community Center. With the whole staff bidding him farewell and asking questions, it leads to…

In this short clip, Rev. Harrison talks about his dream for Chapel Hill.

Listen to Rev. Troy Harrison, former pastor of St. Joseph CME Church, speak about how faith sustained the Black communities of southern Orange County.

Danina Henley: I’m still getting used to the diversity as far as feeling like I belong here. Growing up, I was around people that were just like me. It’s just different. We were all alike. We all had the same interests. How do I want to say it? Our way of life was just real similar. We shared a lot.…

Danina Henley: The community is what got people through, you know neighbors is what got each other through hard times when my grandmother was coming up and when her mother was coming up. It was neighbors that got people through hard times. I know with the recent recession scare and all the things…

Reginald Hildebrand (RH): The other connection I have, I developed in Chapel Hill around that time the church. And how that developed, I was living in Durham and had really wanted to attend a church in Durham, to establish myself in that community. I visited the best known AME church in Durham,…

Rob Stephens (RS): And you say you did talk to elders about it? Reginald Hildebrand (RH): Yeah. Elders, I mean older people, not officials of the church. RS: Yeah. RH: Yeah. But these are the same people you’re talking to. Velma Perry and Rebecca Clark and others like that and they had, well it…

Reginald Hildebrand (RH): My grandmother’s parents, my great grandparents, on my father’s side, were slaves. Often heard stories of him coming out of slavery and his master providing some land that was actually in the family until like the 1980s. It was not common, but it happened enough that it was…

Reginald Hildebrand: This is the story that’s handed down in the family, that at the time of emancipation they were on a plantation in South Carolina owned by a family named Wannamaker. Most of the slaves on that plantation took the name Wannamker and for that first generation, all of the slaves –…

Reginald Hildebrand (RH): And so, I was very much aware of her, and her as a force in that church, and in that community, and was very much aware of her supportive involvement and engagement with any young – at that time, I was relatively young – person who appeared to be trying to make something of…