Black Oral HIstories of Beaufort County

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, where you might find her sitting under a big tobacco leaf to get out of the sun. Racism was not a s...

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 60’s, marched with protestors, and can proudly say...

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 with racism were different than others because of her lighter complexion. As a lover o...

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 have quite the career as a school teacher. She shares her life story...

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...

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...

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 co...

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 pl...

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...