Oral Histories

Principal Coretta Sharpless retold the past of Northside Elementary School (NES) and discussed the re-opening of NES. She proudly highlighted how students carry out NES values through community engagements and commemoration. The Northside Timeline and preservation of archival materials from OCTS,…

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.

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…

“What we had students don’t get now as easily. There’s something missing now for many of the kids…when I attended Lincoln there were Black role models around me everywhere…there were Black people around you, which you always had a sense of family, and a sense of community, a sense of safety, and a…

RG: Are there any other memories of your childhood that stand out in your mind? CS: No, I think you just kind of accept things as they are, and you don't question them or really see the value until you move on to another stage. Then you can see the importance of what you did have, and what we had,…

RG: Well, let's graduate from Northside - not Orange County Training School - and go on to Lincoln. I may repeat some of the same kinds of questions, but I want to understand what you remember about the characteristics of the teachers at Lincoln. CS: The characteristics that I remember of - the…

RG: Was it difficult for you at the high school, with your dad as principal? CS: Probably, yeah, (laughter) Eyes always on me. RG: Eyes always on you. CS: Yeah. RG: Did you think you got special treatment, or tougher treatment, or the same as everybody else? CS: I didn't get special treatment. And I…

RG: What is it that, what are the contributions that your mother made that allowed a school to be named after her? CS: Just the longevity of teaching in this community as long she did. RG: 1932 till — CS: What was it, I know they had taught over 60-some years in this particular community together,…

This interview was done as part of the “Histories of Homes” initiative of the Marian Cheek Jackson Center for Saving and Making History. The interview includes R.D.’s experience in WWII and his role in constructing their current home after the war. R.D. also held educator roles at Lincoln High…

The interviewees share their experiences with living in Northside, the1940s until today, and the lack of interactivity between Northside and the university. There is a lack of progress in preventing harmful change to Northside. R.D. Smith talks about his own experience on town council. They talk…

Euzelle Smith (ES): My mother-in-law didn't particularly want to put them in daycare. She said she would rather keep them. But I wanted them to start getting used to being with other children. And learning how to mingle and associate. And when the twins went to nursery… to daycare at two, the first…

R.D. and Euzelle Smith have lived in Pottersfield in Chapel Hill since the 1940s. Both worked as educators in Chapel Hill for decades, and R.D. served as a member of the Town Council. They then became the namesakes for Smith Middle School when it was constructed. This interview was done as part of…