Black owned business

"Yeah our friends would be going to the ball games and going here and then we had to go to work. But then when it came down to going to McDonald’s or whatever we had the money to buy it and they didn’t, so that was the good part about it." - Annette "Neecy" Council Anita Spring Council and Annette…

“At his (Walter Riggsbee) funeral, Reverend Manley said, “How many people had to call him at 1 o’clock in the morning, 2 o’clock in the morning, and he came?” I think every hand in the church went up.” - Collene Rigsbee This interview is part of the Marian Cheek Jackson Center’s Builders Series.…

"I’m a people person, you know that, I love people. And I love to talk." - Louise Felix In this interview, Mrs. Felix exudes warmth and happiness. She highlights her family’s deep history of construction. Beginning with the Hargraves Community Center and continuing on throughout Chapel Hill and…

"You have to keep going." - Marian Cheek Jackson Mrs. Marian Cheek Jackson begins with a description of prominent Black businesses that used to exist in the African American community, (including Mason's grocery store); St. Joseph's Christian Methodist Episcopal Church's role in civil rights…

"“[I don’t think] that there would be anything that I would have done differently. I really don’t." - Mildred Council This interview was recorded in 1994 for the Southern Oral History Program. Mildred Council, born in Chatham County in 1929, is the owner of Mama Dip’s Kitchen in Chapel Hill. She…

"It’s good to talk about what it took to generate economics for the community itself. It was always teaching the new guy on the block. This is what it’s going to take for the future." - Minister Robert Campbell Within his interview, Minister Robert Campbell’s lively spirit and storytelling ease…

"They had a very high reputation in the community. They did excellent work. One thing that my father always said, that when they finished their job, they didn’t have to go back…They did quality work, quality construction." -Vernelle Brooks Jones "I loved just doing things with my hands and then…