Oral Histories

Albert “Bruce” Washington (ABW): Actually, I took it in high school, in Chatham County, Horton High School. And they used to interview us and say, “Who’s going to college?” If you weren’t going to college, they would teach you a trade – carpentry, brick masonry, all that, and it just went on from…

Albert “Bruce” Washington (ABW): Well, it is now, but a lot of things now is that, when I first started, it was all Black [people] doing it because it was hard, hard work, and then when the white [people] found out how much money was in it, they kind of took it over. I remember when I started, if I…

Yvonne Cleveland (YC): How far back does your family go in this brickmasonry? Albert “Bruce” Washington (ABW): I think it was just my uncle. YC: Just your uncle? ABW: Yeah, uh huh. And I forget who he worked for around here in Chapel Hill, but I can just remember him being around the house, filling…

Albert “Bruce” Washington (ABW): Well they need to make sure that they get their money for their labor. That’s what they need to do. Because the government has got it set up where you have to pay so many taxes and general liability and insurance and stuff like that, you know. So they just need to…

Albert “Bruce” Washington (ABW): I would like to see something like that, you know, I would like to see the picture of George Tate and Donny Brooks, and Charles Brooks, and people like that. And David Rankins, I’d like to see, because they were the ones who started us and taught us what to…

Yvonne Cleveland: What made you interested in becoming a brick mason? Albert Washington: Well, I took it in high school at Chatham County, Horton High School, and they used to interview us and say who’s going to college? If you weren't going to college, they would teach you a trade—carpeting, brick…

Yvonne Cleveland: What is one thing you would want to share with people today who might be interested in this kind of work? Another question is: do you think this kind of work is still in existence? Albert Washington: Well, it is now, but when I first started, it was all Black [people] doing it…

“I tell you young people, stay up with your peers. Never lose track of them.” - Clayton Weaver Weaver was born and raised in Chapel Hill, NC on Cameron Avenue. His great-uncle bought their family home in 1929 for $3000. He went to school at Northside Elementary. Weaver provides background on who…

Wanda Weaver: My dad was the owner and operator of Chapel Hill Funeral Home, which is only two funeral homes that was in Chapel Hill, a black funeral home and a white funeral home. Walker’s Funeral Home which is on Franklin street still there and right here on Graham Street was Chapel Hill Funeral…

"Everybody looked out for everybody." - Kathy Atwater This interview mainly focuses on Wanda Weaver’s mother and father/Kathy Atwater’s aunt and uncle, as well as the past and present dynamics of the Northside community. Ms. Wanda and Ms. Kathy show pictures of their mother and father/aunt and…

“On Sundays everybody would come after church and come there and eat, the pastors and all [of them]. We weren’t the wealthiest, but we were always full.” - Gracie Webb Throughout Gracie Webb’s life she has seemingly always been in the Northside and Cedar Groves area of Chapel Hill-Carrboro.…

"All of this was Black, all of this. All the way down Gomain was Black...All of the people who lived here weren’t nothing but Black." - Gracie Webb In the interview Mrs. Webb discusses her neighborhood and describes how the house that she grew up in was demolished by the state in order to build a…

Interviewer: Who does the cooking for Christmas and Thanksgiving? Gracie Webb (GW): All of us do. All us carried a covered dish. Interviewer: Oh. GW: Then it’s – so it’s not hard on nobody. One would cook ham, one would cook the turkey. And then, cook pies, whatever they want to. Everybody had…