Black Oral HIstories of Beaufort County

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 26 years, has served as the pastor of the Beebe Chapel CME Church. Her mantra over the years has been, “We all want the same. We want to be seen, we want to be heard, and we want to be valued.  There is no color for that. There is no distinction for that. We have a ways to go, but I think we are headed in the right direction.”  

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 and high school principal. So to answer his own question, “I got here by the grace of God and many good role models. Oden’s story is part of the Black Oral Histories of Beaufort County. blackoralhistories.blubrry.net

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. 

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 all-black SW Snowden School in Aurora, North Carolina, he went on to work as a welder at Hackney, a company that builds truck bodies and trailers, in Washington, North Carolina, for the next 49 years. Community service was also a part of his heart and soul, as he was always there to lend a helping hand to others.  “It’s been a good life.”

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 their mother around the house with chores, as the radio on the back porch played gospel music. He graduated from Pantego Colored School in 1965, which was one of six Rosenwald Schools in Beaufort County, North Carolina. Upon graduation, he went into the army and served two tours of duty in Vietnam. He shares that experience often times in graphic detail, and the racism he experienced there, as well as at home. Whitley continues to reside on the same plot of family land where he grew up. Some of the content is graphic in nature.  

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 the hard times, there was always food on the table for the family of eight. Ledell thanks the Lord that she is still living, cooking, and able to take care of whatever she needs on her own. Hear her story and others at blackoralhistories.blubrry.net.

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 go.  She was a school teacher for 25 years. An experience that brings tears to her eyes because of her love for the kids and what she learned from them.

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 his life was Beaufort County Community College, and the guidance he received as a young Black man from one instructor, Tom Heath.

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 to ensure that Mary and her sisters were always taken care of. Values that Mary carries with her today, as she is always there to help others in need.

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. When his father fell ill during his high school years, he stepped up to work weekends and nights to make sure his family was provided for. He never learned how to be a kid, but he learned how to lead when people needed him the most. Something he has carried with him his entire life.

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 York. She holds 13 college degrees, serves as the bishop of her own church, opened two biblical colleges, and currently sits on the Human Relations Council in Washington.

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, she always wanted to be a teacher. She became a librarian at the BHM Regional Library in Washington, which is where she found her true calling, reading stories to children.