Oral Histories

TB: So when you went to Frank Porter Graham then, at that point was your decision to go there that at that point that it was the closest, and so it was this sort of idea of a neighborhood school— VF: It wasn’t a decision. TB: Ok, so they districted— VF: We were still segregated— TB: --still that…

Tracey Barrett (TB) : Right. So you, I mean, you sound like you changed schools a lot, in terms of school buildings and I’m assuming also the students you were in school with changed a lot too, how did that affect the way you viewed school, or do you think that it affected your education as a…

Valerie Foushee (VF): by the time we got through Phillips, my whole class, black and white, it was just a big friendship. We had come through a lot of those things that we went through when I was in seventh grade with boycotts at the high school that kind of like trickled down to the middle school,…

"The fact that we have to talk about affordable housing … and how we want affordable housing but how difficult it is to acquire and maintain affordable housing in Chapel Hill, says whole a lot about how much we appreciate or how much we don’t appreciate diversity. And I think it’s a little bit more…

This interview is in association with the Marian Cheek Jackson Center’s Life History Series. Senator Valerie Foushee, born May 7th 1956 is a lifelong member of the First Baptist Church. She began attending First Baptist at the age of two when her grandmother would bring her and her siblings to…

Valerie Foushee: ...or I would just kind of like stay in my room, watch TV and study, but I was at Carolina, and that was important. Tracey Barrett: So did you, you lived on campus all four years? VF: I lived on campus for two years, and my roommate the first year was a sophomore from the Henderson…

TB: So after you left you mentioned that you were working full time, what job were you working at? Valerie Foushee: I started out working part time while I was at Carolina for the Chapel Hill School system driving a school bus and being a bus monitor, and then I got a job at Blue Cross and Blue…

Tracey Barrett (TB): How did you decide to sort of get into politics? I mean, you described a long career in the Police Department, and obviously you were working your way up in many ways, from where you started to where you ended up as an administrator, but what led to your decision to -– am I…

Tracey Barrett (TB): What is something that you are most proud of? That, sort of, you feel like was an accomplishment during your time on the School Board, that you look back on and say, like “I’m glad that I was there for that” or “I know I made a difference in that way?” Valerie Foushee (VF): My…

"I didn’t know that there were ways that we had to behave and be and appear to be so that we would not be at risk, even in Chapel Hill. And I didn’t understand that for the longest time." - Vivian Foushee Vivian Foushee was born in Chapel Hill, where her father worked for University Cleaners and her…

This interview provides into Fowler's life growing up in Chapel Hill, her church attendance, and her education at Northside Elementary School. She goes into the neighborhood and family dynamics as well. She shares that her father worked for UNC. She spends her leisure time playing music and learning…

"“It all goes back to the original concept of why Hargraves was built; for community, for providing services, and to make sure we take care of people." - John French John French, a born and raised local of the Chapel Hill area, is the current supervisor of the Hargraves Community Center found in the…

And that’s my life, it's all about Ms. Kay, and I’m still going to help until the day I die. If they need help, I’m going to do it. - Kay Gattis Ms. Kay Gattis describes her upbringing in Chapel Hill, with her parents and eight siblings. She described how she took on the role of the caregiver after…

Patricia “Pat” Jackson: Alright, alright, alright, coming to the mic at this time, Mr. William Gattis! Alright! William Gattis: Now, I hope I’ve got some nice things to say to you all because when we got the pool, unlike Eugene, I came to look in the pool. Now, there were those kids back when I was…

William Gattis (WG): Now, the date that we are talking about is around 1851… Dr. Courtney Rivard: Yeah, let’s see if we can get a better timeline than what we have here. WG: ... and the reason why I am saying that is that this is when these lines were drawn. It is even documented. Merritt Mill Road…

Dr. Courtney Rivard (CR): May ask a question because I want to think how we are going to be able write this in the Wikipedia and I just want to start by saying thank you. Thank you. Patricia “Pat” Jackson (PJ): Now shut up. [Laughter] CR: No, actually just the opposite. There’s some translational…

William Gattis: And as a kid, the other part to this puzzle is, and a lot of older people can attest to this, you actually learn as a child where you can go and be safe and not harmed. And you know at the bus station, you’re gonna go downstairs to use vending machines. And one of the sisters at St.…

William Gattis: But the upshot of the whole thing is that you get to write your own narrative and that’s why you have the walls. And I mentioned this before. You have Windy Hill is a wall of your house. Northside is a wall of your house, or Potter’s Field. Tin Top is one of the sides of your house.…

Alexandra Odom (AD): And so how far back would you go? I think, Mr. Gattis, you said something about 1850. What is the earliest that… and I know we are talking about reconstruction and we’re talking about 1855 and post-emancipation, so when we talk about Potters Field, where exactly should that…

William Gattis: I don’t know how you grade being hated, being enslaved. We get the Emancipation Proclamation. You get the 13th, 14th, 15th Amendment and then after the 1870’s is when you start getting the pushback against a lot of things. For example, you could be in Chapel Hill, maybe live in these…

Patricia “Pat” Jackson (PJ): So, do you have the time frame better? Dr. Courtney Rivard (CR): So I have 1865-1870 when reconstruction began and then, and, I don’t know if this is too much time, 1865 to 1920, the birth of … the solidification of Jim Crow, then 1920 to 1950? William Gattis (WG): If I…