Carrboro Oral History Project

About the Carrboro Oral History Project

The Carrboro Oral History Project (COHP) is a work in progress that was created from ideas generated by the Board of Aldermen as a way to make Carrboro's history more accessible to the public. This on-going project got its start in 2015 under the guidance of the Town Manager's office. Currently, the project has recruited 13 volunteer interviewers led by a project leader volunteer. Over the coming year, it is the goal of the project to obtain oral histories from some of Carrboro's eldest residents.

The Project is being completed with the support of the Southern Oral History Program (SOHP) at the University of North Carolina. The SOHP has collected over 5,000 interviews in it's history with several of them having direct relation to the Town of Carrboro. The interviews completed by the COHP will be deposited to the SOHP for generations to come to have access to. The oral histories below are a combination of those from the SOHP and COHP.

A full database of the SOHP's oral histories can be found here.

Food and Agriculture

Oral histories related to food and agriculture of Carrboro.
Interview no.	Interviewee	Date	Project title
R-0431	Wilma Hanton; Jack Hanton	January 13th, 1995	R.32. Special Research Projects: Carrboro Farmers' Market Project
R-0433	Sarah Lewallen	January 15th, 1995	R.32. Special Research Projects: Carrboro Farmers' Market Project
R-0430	Dan Graham	January 19th, 1995	R.32. Special Research Projects: Carrboro Farmers' Market Project
R-0432	Alex Hitt; Betsy Hitt	February 7th, 1995	R.32. Special Research Projects: Carrboro Farmers' Market Project
R-0434	Katie Taylor	March 2nd, 1995	R.32. Special Research Projects: Carrboro Farmers' Market Project
R-0435	Daniel Tolfree	March 4th, 1995	R.32. Special Research Projects: Carrboro Farmers' Market Project
R-0436	Barbara Wilson; Billy Wilson	March 4th, 1995	R.32. Special Research Projects: Carrboro Farmers' Market Project
R-0783	Scott Conary	March 5th, 2015	R.44. Special Research Projects: Carolina Cooks, Carolina Eats

Government Officials

Oral histories aimed at preserving the voices of past and current Carrboro government officials.
Interview No.	Interviewee	Date	Project Title
A-403	Michael R. Nelson	February 9th, 1996	A.3. Southern Politics: North Carolina Politics
L-0112	Mark Chilton	November 10th, 1997	L.1. University of North Carolina: Individual Biographies
L-0277	Judith Welch Wegner	July 18th, 2008	L.10. University of North Carolina: Faculty and Diversity, 1960-1990
L-0293	Mark Chilton	January 19th, 2010	L.2. University of North Carolina: Anne Queen and the Campus Y
U-0997	Carolyn Hutchinson	June 5th, 2013	U.16. The Long Civil Rights Movement: The Women's Movement in the South
R-0690	Eleanor Kinnaird	April 8th, 2014	R.34. Special Research Projects: New Roots
U-1127	Randee Haven-O'Donnell	June 7, 2016	U.16 The Long Civil Rights Movement: The Women's Movement in the South
U-1129	Lydia Lavelle	June 15, 2016	U.16 The Long Civil Rights Movement: The Women's Movement in the South
R-0903	Jacquelyn Gist	March 30, 2018	R.34 Special Research Projects: New Roots

Immigrant Communities

Oral histories that explore immigrant life and its relation to the Carrboro community and the Orange County area.
Interview no.	Interviewee	Date	Project title
R-0397	Hector Arrendondo(pseudo.)	March 1st, 2008	R.30. Special Research Projects: Oral History and the Study of the Modern South
R-0400	Edgar Rodriguez (pseudo.)	March 2nd, 2008	R.30. Special Research Projects: Oral History and the Study of the Modern South
R-0459	Karla Castillo (pseudo.)	April 1st, 2011	R.34. Special Research Topics: New Roots
R-0487	Martín X (pseudo.)	April 5th, 2011	R. 34. Special Research Topics: New Roots
R-0621	Nicole Lansdale	March 26th, 2012	R. 34. Special Research Topics: New Roots
R-0615	Sandra Clark	April 6th, 2012	R. 34. Special Research Topics: New Roots
R-0637	María Dolores Vargas	April 6th, 2012	R. 34. Special Research Topics: New Roots
R-0627	José Antonio García Pérez	April 7th, 2012	R. 34. Special Research Topics: New Roots
R-0636	Gloria Valdez	April 10th, 2012	R. 34. Special Research Topics: New Roots
R-0625	José Francisco González Martinez	April 16th, 2012	R. 34. Special Research Topics: New Roots
R-0666	Shaunna Jeffries	March 27th, 2013	R. 34. Special Research Topics: New Roots
R-0673	Margarita Robledo	April 2nd, 2013	R. 34. Special Research Topics: New Roots
R-0690	Eleanor Kinnaird	April 8th, 2014	R. 34. Special Research Topics: New Roots
R-0713	Juan Sánchez (pseudo.)	April 13th, 2014	R. 34. Special Research Topics: New Roots
X-0016	Aung Oo; Mi Htoo	March 6th, 2015	X.1. Rural South: Individual Biographies

Lincoln High School

Oral histories from Carrboro residents who attended Chapel Hill's Lincoln High School, the historically black secondary school that closed in 1962 when a school desegregation plan was implemented.
Interview no.	Interviewee	Date	Project title
K-1061	Mary Norwood Jones	January 17th, 2001	K.2.20 Southern Communities: Listening for a Change: Mighty Tigers-- Oral Histories of Chapel Hill's Lincoln High School
K-0538	Nate Davis	February 6th, 2001	K.2.20 Southern Communities: Listening for a Change: Mighty Tigers-- Oral Histories of Chapel Hill's Lincoln High School
K-1067	Gloria Warren	May 14th, 2001	K.2.20 Southern Communities: Listening for a Change: Mighty Tigers-- Oral Histories of Chapel Hill's Lincoln High School

The Long Civil Rights Movement

From the SOHP, the Long Civil Rights Movement initiative aims to better understand how the South has been shaped by the black and women’s liberation movements, the Vietnam War, natural disasters, and conservative politics. All of the oral histories listed above have ties to Carrboro.
Interview no.	Interviewee	Date	Project title
A-0132	Howard Lee	December 13th, 1973	A.1. Southern Politics: Bass-DeVries Interviews
A-0403	Michael R. Nelson	February 9th, 1996	A.3. Southern Politics: North Carolina Politics
U-0518	David Caldwell	March 1st, 2011	U.13. Long Civil Rights Movement: Oral History and the Study of the Modern South
U-0605	Laura A. Heise	March 31st, 2012	U.1. Long Civil Rights Movement: Individual Biographies
U-0633	Tanya Ellen Jisa	June 4th, 2012	U.16. Long Civil Rights Movement: The Women's Movement in the South
U-0997	Carolyn A. Hutchison	June 5th, 2013	U.16. Long Civil Rights Movement: The Women's Movement in the South
U-0994	Salli Benedict	June 7th, 2013	U.16. Long Civil Rights Movement: The Women's Movement in the South
U-1064	Krista Bremer	April 3rd, 2014	U.1. Long Civil Rights Movement: Individual Biographies

Mill Work

Oral histories from Carrboro residents involved in mill work.
Interview no.	Interviewee	Date	Project title
H-0024	Versa V. Haithcock	April 4th, 1979	H.2. Piedmont Industrialization, 1974-1980: Burlington, N.C.
C-0216	Greef Smith; Mattie Smith	October 29th, 1981	C.9. Notable North Carolinians: B. Everett Jordan Project

Non Profits

Oral histories from leaders in nonprofit organizations of Carrboro.
Interview No.	Interviewee	Date	Project Title
R-0456 R-0614	Judith Blau	March 11th, 2011 March 20th, 2012	R. 34. Special Research Topics: New Roots
R-0469 R-0623 R-0622	Manuel Rafael Gallegos Lerma	March 29th, 2011 March 23rd, 2012 April 4th, 2012	R. 34. Special Research Topics: New Roots
R-0630	David Rigby	March 29th, 2012	R. 34. Special Research Topics: New Roots
R-0863	Antonio Alanis	April 4th, 2017	R.34. Special Research Projects: New Roots
R-0865	Madison Hayes	April 18th, 2017	R.34. Special Research Projects: New Roots

The University of North Carolina

Oral histories from Carrboro residents associated with the history of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Interview no.	Interviewee	Date	Project title
L-0112	Mark Chilton	November 10th, 1997	L.2. University of North Carolina: Anne Queen and the Campus Y
L-0277	Judith Welch Wegner	July 18th, 2008	L.10. University of North Carolina: Faculty and Diversity, 1960-1990
L-0293	Mark Chilton	January 19th, 2010	L.2. University of North Carolina: Anne Queen and the Campus Y
N-0045	Sherdenia Thompson Dunn	April 7th, 2016	N.8. Undergraduate Internship Program: Spring 2016