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Explore Our Neighborhoods

"It takes a strong neighborhood to build a town. You’ve got to take it one neighborhood at a time. And I see that happening around here."
- Antonio Vinson

Explore the history of Black communities in Chapel Hill and Carrboro, NC. Meet our neighbors through oral history interviews, images, and more. Share your own story.
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Fowler's Food Store

"I just get goosebumps just thinking about it right now, the way the crowds would just cheer [the Lincoln High School marching band] on, and especially when we got up there by Fowler's where the Christmas Parade went." - Clarke A. Egerton, Jr. Fowler's Food Store opened in 1920 and occupied a few…

Frank Porter Graham Elementary

"I was offered a job and I accepted. And I've been at Frank Porter Graham ever since... I was in the classroom for eighteen, nineteen years. Then I became assistant principal. I was assistant principal for ten years. This is my year as a principal, interim principal." - Stella Nickerson Frank Porter…

Glenwood Elementary

"It was a nice place to go to school. It was, you could tell everybody there had some kind of connection to the university, directly or indirectly, and was the son or daughter of a staffer or faculty member or a merchant or service person who served the university and the university community. It…

Greenbridge

"This thing has taken up probably about six or seven either homes or grocery -- not commercial -- businesses, Black-owned businesses, where this mass of a building now stands....I don't think they went about it the right way, getting the community involved." - Willis Farrington The Greenbridge…

Guy B. Phillips Junior High

"I was never so angry, the first day that I went to Phillips. That's where I went to teach, Phillips. And I could not believe, when they had the lunch time, these kids ran, I mean, it was just like a zoo or something. Nobody, none of the teachers, corrected them. And I was just appalled by it..and…

Hackney School

"The school was located on Merritt Mill Road. The primary building was off from the main building. And they were all wooden frame buildings, but being a child just enjoying the experience, I didn't think about the building or what was taught. But it was wonderful. And I seemed to be very happy in…

Hamlet Chapel CME Church

Hamlet Chapel CME Church is located in Pittsboro, NC.

Hampton University

"One of the things about Hampton -- Hampton trained all its graduates with two goals, objectives in mind. Number one, to give back to the university so therefore it could continue. It was a private school, so alumni always gave money back to the school. The second thing was that anybody that…

Hargraves Community Center

Community-built and community-led, Hargraves is the heart of Northside. In 1939, with fiscal support from the Works Progress Administration (WPA), resident brick masons and carpenters began construction on the “Negro Community Center.” In the midst of World War II, UNC would host the Navy’s…

Harry's Grill

Harry's Restaurant or Harry's Grill was located at 175 East Franklin Street and operated from the early 1960s until 1973. The space is currently occupied by Four Corners restaurant.

Haw River Baptist Church

Haw River Baptist Church is located on Mt. Gilead Church Road in Pittsboro, NC.

Hearn's Grocery

"It was a little store right in Carrboro called Hearn’s Grocery Store. They went to that grocery store to buy stuff like flour, cornmeal... maybe milk, but I think they got their milk from a dairy, if I can remember correctly. But they very seldom had to go to the grocery store. When they did, they…

Heavenly Groceries

"Reverend Harrison was seeing that they were throwing away the day-old food at the Food Lions and then it became, 'How is this happening? So much food is being wasted. Why are we not surplussing this food and giving it to the need for the community?' And that is how Heavenly Groceries started at St.…

Hickory Grove Missionary Baptist Church

Hickory Grove Missionary Baptist Church is a historically traditional black church that is located in the rural area of Chapel Hill. It has a rich history that began with just a few people in a one-room log cabin, with one window, no floor, yet our ancestors were honored to call that building...…

Hollywood Cab Service and Carolina Cab

"Then on Franklin Street back in the 50s, from across from McDonalds all the way up to where they're building the Carolina Ale Shop, there was a Black restaurant called the Hollywood Grill. [Where 411 West is.] That was a Black restaurant. And next door to that in the same building was a cab company…

Hollywood Theater

"Now the only time we would go to that was on Friday nights...And we'd start getting very good before Friday, maybe start up Wednesday or Thursday, so you'd be eligible to go. Doing housework or any little thing, or being very sweet with your tongue, and very mannerly to get to go to the movies." -…

Holmes Day Nursery

"I enjoyed the teaching and then we enjoyed the children too. I did very little teaching with the children since I was the Director. But we handled the money well and fed them! We had good lunches and good food for them." - Sallie Pendergraft Holmes Day Nursery (now known as Holmes Child Care…

Johnson C. Smith University

"I vowed that when I left [Chapel Hill High School], I was going to a historically Black institution. And I did. I went to Johnson C. Smith up in Charlotte. And that was the best decision I ever made. I felt such a sense of acceptance. I made lifelong friends at Smith. I was actively involved. I…

Kennon Cheek/Rebecca Clark Building

The Kennon Cheek/Rebecca Clark building was built in the 1920s to house the university laundry. It was renamed in 1998 to honor Kennon Cheek, a former janitor in Venable Hall and first president of the university janitor's association, and Rebecca Clark, who worked as a housekeeper at the Carolina…

Knotts Funeral Home

"My uncle ran a funeral home here. Bynum Weaver Funeral Home (Chapel Hill Funeral Home), which is now on Graham Street. Actually, the original funeral home is still on Graham Street but is Knotts Funeral Home now. But that was my uncle’s funeral home." - Kathy Atwater Located at 113 N. Graham…

Lenoir Dining Hall

"I’ll never forget, down at the university when I worked in the food service, they were picketing in Lenoir Dining Hall, Chase Cafeteria, and the Student Union. We all had to group together because they didn’t want to pay us minimum wage, and the hours were so long. So, a guy came in from Georgia…

Lincoln Center

Located at 750 S. Merritt Mill Road, Lincoln Center is an administrative building of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools. From 1951-1966, the building was home to Lincoln High School, the school serving Black students in the school system. The campus currently houses an alternative high school…

Lincoln High School

“What we had students don’t get now as easily. There’s something missing now for many of the kids…when I attended Lincoln there were Black role models around me everywhere…there were Black people around you, which you always had a sense of family, and a sense of community, a sense of safety, and a…

Lincoln Hospital

"...I was doing a part-time job at Lincoln Hospital where I was taking x-rays from one hospital to another...It was $7.50 every two weeks. And I would stop by after school in the afternoon, and I would go in the lab. They would give me several x-rays, and bus fare, and I would go from Lincoln…