Cornelius Dudley was born at his home on March 4, 1941 in Aurora, North Carolina. He was the seventh of eleven siblings. He grew up on a farm where the cash crop was tobacco. He and most of the Black children were known as rainy-day students because, when the weather was nice, you could find …
Born in 1950, Delores Slade grew up in the small community of Maple Grove, near Washington, NC. A place, she says, where everyone seemed to get along and would take care of each other. On the days when there was a church service, it was like old-time religion. “The windows were up, and you could …
Ira Harris was born and raised in rural Franklin County, NC, on his family’s farm. As a child, he learned firsthand the realities of racism. He and his friend Henry were forced to attend an all-white school by a Jim Crow School Board in an attempt to show Blacks were inferior to whites during desegregation, …
Lillian Boyd was born in Washington, North Carolina, in 1919. At 106, her life experiences have been many. She and her four siblings grew up in a loving family where their parents always made sure there was food on the table, and they never went wanting. As a child, she worked in the tobacco fields, …
84-year-old Helma Witchet was born and raised in the small rural community of Blounts Creek, NC. The daughter of sharecroppers, she learned firsthand the rigors of growing and harvesting tobacco. Witchet attended the Ware Creek Rosenwald School, one of six Rosenwald Schools in Beaufort County, through the 5th grade. She attended NC A&T in the …
Ethel Bryant was born in Washington, North Carolina, on October 21, 1934, to Joseph Henry and Ethel Bryant. Her father was the offspring of a slave owner in Windsor, North Carolina, and was enslaved as a child. Bryant was a member of the first graduating class from P.S. Jones High School in 1952. Her experiences …
Born in 1941 in Edgecombe County, NC, Gladys Johnson proudly says she is “85 plus.” She grew up working on her father’s farm, who was a tenant farmer, along with her other ten siblings. She marched with civil rights protestors while a student at Fayetteville State University in the 60’s and then went on to …
Joneice Carroll was born in Washington, NC, in 1954. She credits her tight-knit family for preparing her for the challenging road ahead as a Black woman. Racism was no stranger to her as a child and throughout her adult life. And despite these challenges, she became a teacher for 34 years and, for the last …
At 83, Charles Oden has touched many lives. Growing up just east of Washington, NC, he recalled as a child playing in the dirt, sand, and mud, and working his father’s tobacco field. Little did he know that he would go on to spend 40 years in education, many of which were as a middle …
On a gorgeous Spring day, 94-year-old Loraine Mason, 83-year-old-Milbert Whitley, and 79-year-old Yvonne McClure gathered to share their heartfelt stories of growing up in Pantego, North Carolina, and their life journeys, which eventually brought them back home once again.