Oral Histories

“...It really became the motto of my life- to live like that. Not just for knowledge or education, but to have tools like that- qualities, virtues that can help people fight battles through life.” - Sherdenia Thompson Dunn Sherdenia Thompson Dunn was raised in Carrboro in the 1950s and early 1960s…

“[Lincoln] was a school that you could go in and… no paper on the school campus. Hallway shines like new money all the time. You could drink out of the commode in the bathroom. And it was kept just that clean.” - Walter Durham Walter Durham discusses growing up as part of a large family on his…

Cynthia Edwards-Paschall (CEP): I look at this pool and I’m just thinking about...most of us were probably this high when this place was our second home and it was a safe place and I had no idea at the time that it was the only place I could come to be safe but it was one of those places when your…

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.

"You couldn't have the expression of anger because you knew what this person was doing. Because your actions would not have come back on you, it would have come back on your parents." - Keith Edwards Edwards discusses her life in Carrboro and how she felt safe within the Black community but unsafe…

"After a while the only Blacks you will see in this community will be those going to the churches but not living here." - Keith Edwards Keith Edwards discusses the impact the Jackson Center and student organizations on the Northside community as well as the challenges posed by ongoing gentrification…

“Sundays were always a special day. That whole day was made into just like a holiday. - Keith Edwards This interview includes Keith Edwards’s viewpoint on the importance of food in the home and in the community.  She recalls specific recipes in the interview. Edwards was born and raised in Carrboro…

"...you can have the biggest, beautiful house or the smallest house but if it don’t have the elements to make it a home, it’s just not a home. It’s just a house." - Keith Edwards Keith Edwards has lived at the same address on McDade St. in Northside since she was born but now resides in a different…

“The thing I remember the most coming up in the Black community, the Black community supported the schools, not only financially, but they also supported the schools by parents having involvement in the children’s schooling.” - Keith Edwards Keith Edwards was born in 1950 and grew up in Carrboro and…

This interview is part of an oral history project called Southern Communities: Listening for a Change: Mighty Tigers--Oral HIstories of Chapel Hill's Lincoln High School. The interviewes were conducted from 2000-2001, by Bob Gilgor, with former teachers, staff, and students from Chapel Hill, N.C.'s…

This interview is part of a group of interviews conducted by Susan Simone exploring the lives and struggle of various members of the Northside community: a historically black and primarily residential neighborhood located immediately northwest of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and…

"The change comes when people are strong enough to stand up, and now you have to be very very strong, to stand up and say 'Hey, something is wrong here. This is not right.'" - Keith Edwards Keith Edwards was born in and grew up in Carrboro before moving to Chapel Hill around the age of eleven. She…

Lillie recounts on her first experiences with cooking bread as a young girl. She was the designated cook of the family. She also talks about her mother’s cooking style since her mother does not use standard recipes to cook. Juanita speaks about Mama Dip (her aunt) being the head cook in her family.…