Henry Atwater
"I told them that the Orange County Training School was the only school that Black people had...I was the only one to kick when they built that train that went by the back of the school."
- Henry Atwater
Henry Atwater and Charles Weaver - On the African American freedom struggle and Civil Rights Movement in Chapel Hill
"Chapel Hill and Carrboro have been fighting each other for a long time. Ever since I was born. About where the city limits are, what they do, and how they’re going to do this. That’s why you’ve got the mayor of Chapel Hill and the Mayor of Carrboro. Chapel Hill has been trying to take over Carrboro ever since Carrboro’s been there."
- Charles Weaver
Charles Weaver, born in 1925, and Henry Atwater, born in 1915, recount how being Black has impacted their life, including their experience in Chapel Hill. Weaver specifically recounts the munitions plant that was open in Carrboro during World War II. This munitions plant employed predominantly Black workers, which strained the University of North Carolina’s access to Black labor at the time. Weaver claims that this tension evolved into a greater battle for labor and business between Chapel Hill and Carrboro. Atwater describes the makeup of the Black community in Chapel Hill and his own experience growing up in a family of brick masons and farmers and his journey to playing football at 3 different colleges. Atwater further explores what medical care looked like historically for Black people in Chapel Hill. Having been drafted into the Army for World War II, Atwater shares his experience with being the in U.S. military and what reintegrating into society following his time of service.
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.
