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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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Walt's Grill

The building that houses Ms. Molly's Gift Shop and Walt's Grill has been owned by the Riggsbee family since 1944. At various points in time, it has been home to the Church of God of Prophecy and Lizzy Mae's Southern Kitchen. In the late 1990s, the restaurant became Walt's Grill, run by Bobby…

Watts Restaurant and Watts Motel

"We may have had a few incidents, and I remember at the Watts Motel, they would throw acid and pee out the window, embarrassing. But they just didn’t want us to integrate, that was the biggest problem." - Carol Brooks "They was picketing that place because they wouldn t let Blacks go in there and…

White Rock United Holy Church

White Rock United Holy Church is located on White Rock Church Road in Chapel Hill, NC.

William E. Smith Masonry

"When you start, you’re always dealing with brick. But with bricks come long blocks, and then later on, then come rocks. You know, so I was not trained to be a rock mason. 1971 or 1972, I did my first rock repair on Pittsboro Street at the Carolina Inn. And we have just gone from there.... I knew…

Windy Hill

"I was born in Chapel Hill, I was born on Hillsborough Street, which most blacks referred as Windy Hill. And...to enter Windy Hill, you had to go through the white community. And to exit Windy Hill you had to go through the white community. And it was just a segment of black homeowners that lived on…

Winston-Salem State University

Winston-Salem State University is a historically Black public university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Founded as Slater Industrial Academy in 1892, it was renamed Winston-Salem Teachers College in 1925. The addition of a school of nursing in 1963 led it to be renamed Winston-Salem State College…