Oral Histories

“In the Black community, regardless of who you were, everyone socialized together to a certain degree.” - James Brittian James Brittian was born in 1944 on Rosemary Street and grew up in Chapel Hill. He talks about his family, growing up with his brothers and sisters, being a middle child, and his…

"[There’s] just a lot of history here, and a lot of people just died out or sold out, and I think it’s sad. I think it’s really sad because we don’t have anything anymore, so I was like, 'You know what? They are not taking my house, okay? [Even] if I had to live in a tent,' [laughter] I do what I…

Charles Brooks: My grandfather and my father, they started out as subcontractors and they used to do a lot of work for like JP Co. Force Security Builders. They even did some framing for Tate Construction. In the early 70s my father ended up obtaining his contractor’s license and that is when they…

Charles Brooks: Subcontractors usually they are not licensed, especially for like my grandfather and my father, they were carpenters. So, like when I say they subbed that means they would go in once the foundation was put in on a house, they would go in and do all of the framing, do all of the…

"But they just didn’t want us to integrate, that was the biggest problem." - Carol Brooks The interviewees provide an overview of the Chapel Hill Civil Rights Movement. They specifically note the emotion of CRM marches of Chapel Hill, Raleigh, and Durham in 1963. They speak on Watt’s Hotel…

Ben Barge: Do you remember what it felt like, being in the march? Carol Brooks: Well like I told you, it felt… wonderful, it was exciting, new, you know, trying to help integrate, want to be in the front []. Because I remember the bus station, you know, they had the colored, the white, you weren’t…

Keith Edwards: Yeah, 1966 when they fully integrated. Cause I went there in the seventh grade, and I was just eleven years old. We went on Franklin Street. Carol Brooks: See that was back in ’64, in ’63…That’s when we were cheerleaders for Lincoln High School. Patricia Atwater, Evelyn Walker, and…

Dr. James A. Bryan II, age 86, is currently writing a memoir about his life and medical career. This interview was conducted, while Dr. Bryan is in the process of reflection, to document his memories of Northside residents and their relationships.From 1964 to 2014, Dr. Bryan taught at UNC-Chapel…

"I really want my kids to first off, be good people, kind people, to be respectful of others, and to be advocates for themselves. I’m of course going to be their best advocate, along with their mother, my wife. But giving them the tools to be able to recognize when they themselves or others are…

Allen Buansi: My mom moved us here when I was about 10 years old. I was actually born in Chicago, or near Chicago, I should say. I was born in Evanston technically, but spent about the first 7 years of my life in the Chicago area. We moved around a lot when I was a kid before the age of 10, but we…

Allen Buansi: And some of my formative experiences being in Chapel Hill, I can remember my first or second day of school, when I was at Guy B. Phillips Middle School. I can remember not feeling the most welcomed at first, because I remember I got called into the principal’s office and when I went…

Allen Buansi: Now, I am also grateful to have had teachers who really, really cared about me. One of my middle school teachers–she was my AVID teacher, Ms. Wiggins. She really took me under her wing starting my sixth-grade year; she had the foresight to welcome me to apply for the AVID program for…

Kathryn Wall (KW): Were there other teachers that you remember from middle school or high school who really stand out as…? Allen Buansi (AB): Absolutely yes, absolutely. So in high school I had a counselor, who’s still school counselor at East Chapel Hill High School, her name is Jessica Harris, and…

Allen Buansi: I guess the other thing too is, when I go around to different community events with any one of my kids, it was really important for me that they grew up knowing that they belong in any kind of space. And so often times folks will say to me, especially if I’m bringing Zara with me…

Kathryn Wall: And you’ve done some work right here in Chapel Hill around the RENA community and the landfill here. Could you speak a little bit about that? Allen Buansi: Sure. Absolutely. So, just going back to law school, back, I guess, during 2013. The summer of 2013. This was my first summer…