Born in 1948, Reginald Willis grew up in the rural community of Blounts Creek, North Carolina, where he still resides today. He says his work on the family farm as a child taught him how to survive, as it meant rising at 4:30 in the morning and not stopping until dusk. After graduating from the …
Listen to our latest interview for the Black Oral Histories of Beaufort County project. blackoralhistories.blubrry.com. Born on July 3, 1946, in Pantego, North Carolina, Wayland Whitley has pretty much seen it all in his life. As a child child he helped to work the land on his father’s farm, and he and his siblings helped …
Born in 1933, 92-year-old Ledell Moore grew up in a small two-room house with her five other siblings in Blounts Creek, NC. She never wore shoes in the summer, and when the only pair she got for school in the fall wore out, her dad would use hog rings to patch them up. And, despite …
Born in 1949, Joyce O’Neal grew up in Belhaven, NC. As a child, she experienced segregation and racism firsthand and admits to being a bit rebellious at times with some of the things she encountered. She credits her success in life to those who recognized her potential and helped to get where she needed to …
Luther Harvey was born in rural Beaufort County in 1946. He has seen and experienced so much in his first 79 years. He says nothing in his life was planned, “it just sort of happened.” Harvey says his parents and a lot of other good Black folks“taught him right,” but the one thing that changed …
Mary Brooks was born in Greenville, North Caroloin, in 1942. After her father passed when she was only three months old, her mother brought her and her two sisters to Washington, North Carolina, where she has lived for the last 83 years. Her mother worked hard in the fields and in the homes of others …
Born in 1940, Richard Brooks grew up in Washington, North Carolina. As the oldest of six siblings, he grew up fast. While other children were outside playing, he was learning how to cook, working in the garden, and helping put food on the table. At 12, his uncle taught him how to do cement finishing. …
To say it has been an interesting life for Washington, North Carolina native Nancy Burroughs would be an understatement. When she was two weeks old, her mother gave her up to her sister, who was only 15 at the time. She went on to work in the banking industry for over 30 years in New …
Mima Dixon was born in the small community of Ransomville, North Carolina on February 21, 1947. “Blink and you would miss it,” said Dixon. She went to business school in Durham, NC, and returned to Washington, NC, where she worked as a secretary at the Beaufort County Technology Institute for over 20 years. But inside, …
Born on March 7, 1943, in Washington, North Carolina, Ray Northern never shies away from the fact that his family was poor, but he and his five siblings never knew it. They never went for want of food on the table or a roof over their heads, even though his father only made $37.50 per …