Oral Histories

Eugene Farrar (EF): Because you could trust him to do it. What makes you the best is knowing your craft. He didn’t go to school to learn how to pour cement – he taught himself how to do it. So that made him one of the “go-to” people in Chapel Hill. There were other people finishing cement – Mr. Earl…

Eugene Farrar (EF): They would buy some rocks. I’m sure that they had places where they were buying them. I never knew where they bought rock and things like that. I don’t think we had a rock yard. There may have been a rock yard around here somewhere, but I don’t know where it was. They built…

Eugene Farrar (EF): I think hard work, but struggle of course, hard work and struggle back then. Perseverance – we had to make it, so we made the best out of what we had, and that wasn’t very much. Very few cars were in Chapel Hill.

Eugene Farrar (EF): My family was a very large family, and we sacrificed, and we would help each other, give each other – if you raised a garden and you had peas, string beans, potatoes, and somebody else raised a garden that had cucumbers, tomatoes, and something else, we would exchange. If you had…

Eugene Farrar (EF): I just want to say thank you all for what you’re doing. The only way our history can get told right is that we have to tell it. So I appreciate what you all are doing to explore that avenue of telling history like it’s supposed to be told, from the people who lived it. We’re the…

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.

"I always tell people love is what love does. A lot of people tell you they love you and they care about you but they speak from the mouth and not from the heart." - Dennis Lee Farrington This interview was a part of the History Potluck held by the Marian Cheek Jackson Center in October 2019. In…

Dennis Farrington spent the first part of his life in the Northside area of Chapel Hill before moving to a home off of NC Hwy 54, and he has deep roots in Chatham County, North Carolina. He attended Chapel Hill High School after it was newly integrated. He spent most of his working career at UNC…

"Hargraves used to be my home away from home." - Minister Willis Farrington This interview is part of the Marian Cheek Jackson Center’s Life History Series. Minister Willis Farrington, an associate pastor at S. Joseph CME Church, grew up in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He grew up going to St. Joseph…

This interview is part of the Marian Cheek Jackson Center’s Life History Series. Reverend Willis Farrington, a leader of St. Joseph CME Church, was born in Chapel Hill and spent the entirety of his childhood running the streets of Northside and the Roberson Street Community Center. Reverend…

Joe A. Fearrington has lived in Chapel Hill his whole life and worked at the Carolina Inn for 30 years as a bellman on the “graveyard shift” and in the maintenance department. He reflects on his experience working at the Carolina Inn, sharing stories of guests, renovations, and other happenings at…

"Yeah, we the longest living on this street. We lived here longer than anybody." - Joseph Fearrington The interview begins with Mr. Fearrington's stories of how he came to Graham Street, then navigates back to earlier years of his life on the farm. Significant time was given to his experiences in…

"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…

Louise Felix: My grandfather built the Hargraves Center and in 1924 he built Northside School and in Carrboro on Graham Street, he built those two rock houses over there. His son lived in one, he and his son, they did all the rock work themselves. So, we lived on Graham Street, 215. We lived on…

Louise Felix: Out of the boys, four. Kathryn Wall: All four boys. Do you know the names of all four boys? I know you said your Uncle Handy. Louise Felix: Uncle Leo, Uncle George, and Uncle Bill Kathryn Wall: Okay. And did any of their sons go into building with them? Louise Felix: No, after they…

Louise Felix: I know when the man came from State to do the job and I went over there across the street and I was talking to him and he said, I was telling him about how my grandaddy built the school. And he said, “What?” And I said, “Yeah he and all of his sons.” And he told me to come around there…

Louise Felix: I think my grandaddy what they were saying, you would need to ask Peter. I think he built every rock house when he was coming up there, except the one on Merritt Mill Road Road with his sons and things. Down there in front of Lincoln Center that house across the street, the rock house.…