Search results

Title: Arneichia Green oral history interview, 2016 April 20
Creator: Green, Arneichia, 1965-
Date Created: 2016-04-20
Subjects--Topical: Gentrification, African American families, African American neighborhoods, Urban poor--Social conditions
Description: Arneichia Green discusses the Optimist Park neighborhood in Charlotte, North Carolina, where she has lived since 1997. She stresses her appreciation for the opportunity to move into a Habitat home through the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project...

Title: Cecelia Johnston oral history interview, 2015 October 22
Creator: Johnston, Cecelia, 1951-
Date Created: 2015-10-22
Subjects--Topical: Drug traffic, Gentrification, African American families, African American neighborhoods, Urban poor--Social conditions, Urban transportation--Public opinion
Description: Cecelia Johnston discusses her life and involvement in the Optimist Park community in Charlotte, North Carolina. Ms. Johnston is a longtime resident of the neighborhood and treasurer for the Optimist Park Community Association. She stresses the si...

Title: Cynthia Horton oral history interview, 2016 March 16
Creator: Horton, Cynthia, 1955-
Date Created: 2016-03-16
Subjects--Topical: Gentrification, Cities and towns--Growth, African American families, African American neighborhoods, Urban poor--Social conditions
Description: Cynthia Horton, a new member of the Optimist Park neighborhood, reflects on her childhood in Wilmington, North Carolina and notes regret that her decision to marry early prevented her from going to college. She discusses her impression that the Op...

Title: George Little oral history interview, 2015 November 11
Creator: Little, George, 1992-
Date Created: 2015-11-11
Subjects--Topical: Gentrification, African American families, African American neighborhoods, Urban poor--Social conditions, School integration, Cities and towns--Growth, Social mobility, Race relations
Description: George Little shares his experiences growing up in the Optimist Park neighborhood of Charlotte, North Carolina, where his parents built their home with Habitat for Humanity. Having lived in the neighborhood for twenty-three years, he discusses bei...

Title: Girvaud Justice oral history interview 2, 2006 August 11
Creator: Justice, Girvaud, 1944-
Date Created: 2006-08-11
Subjects--Topical: African American neighborhoods, African Americans--Segregation, Discrimination in education, School integration, Segregation in education, Racism in education, Civil rights, African American families, Urban renewal, Gentrification, City planning--Citizen participation, Drug traffic--Social aspects, Public housing
Description: Girvaud Justice was one of four African American students who attended all-white schools in Charlotte in 1957 as a challenge to the city's slow response to desegregate schools, which had been mandated by the Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board ...

Title: Gwendolyn Burris oral history interview, 2016 March 16
Creator: Burris, Gwendolyn, 1954-
Date Created: 2016-03-16
Subjects--Topical: School integration, Gentrification, Segregation in education, African American families, African American neighborhoods, Urban poor--Social conditions
Description: Gwendolyn Burris is a Charlotte native who moved to the Optimist Park community in 1987. She shares her memories of growing up in downtown Charlotte and details some of the challenges her family faced, including school integration in the early 197...

Title: Harold Miller oral history interview, 2015 October 22
Creator: Miller, Harold, 1957-
Date Created: 2015-10-22
Subjects--Topical: Gentrification, African American families, African American neighborhoods, Urban poor--Social conditions
Description: Harold Miller discusses living in the Optimist Park neighborhood in Charlotte, North Carolina for twenty-seven years. He grew up with twelve siblings in Charlotte and compares his upbringing with the experiences of contemporary children. He descri...

Title: Henry Heath oral history interview, 2015 October 17
Creator: Heath, Henry, 1942-
Date Created: 2015-10-17
Subjects--Topical: African Americans--Music, African American families, African American neighborhoods, Gentrification, Urban poor--Social conditions, Segregation in education, Racism, Civil rights movements
Description: Henry Heath, a native of Charlotte, North Carolina, describes his life and his involvement in the Optimist Park community since 1987. Mr. Heath details his childhood growing up close to Beatties Ford Road, including his education at segregated loc...

Title: James L. Atkinson oral history interview, 2015 October 22
Creator: Atkinson, James, 1954-
Date Created: 2015-10-22
Subjects--Topical: Gentrification, African American families, African American neighborhoods, Urban poor--Social conditions, School integration, Cities and towns--Growth, Social mobility
Description: James Atkinson discusses his life and his family's long term involvement with the Optimist Park neighborhood in Charlotte, North Carolina, including his role as an adviser to the Optimist Park Community Association. He describes the challenges of ...

Title: Kristi McCray oral history interview, 2017 November 19
Creator: McCray, Kristi T. (Kristi Turner)
Date Created: 2017-11-19
Subjects--Topical: Gentrification, Discrimination in housing, Transportation, Cities and towns--Growth, African American families, African American neighborhoods, Urban poor--Social conditions
Description: Kristi McCray provides a detailed account of the Optimist Park community located in Charlotte, North Carolina and its growth in the 1980s. She recalls her experience as one of the first Habitat for Humanity home owners in the neighborhood, and the...

Title: Mary Heath oral history interview, 2015 October 17
Creator: Heath, Mary, 1953-
Date Created: 2015-10-17
Subjects--Topical: Gentrification, African American families, African American neighborhoods, Urban poor--Social conditions, School integration, Cities and towns--Growth, Social mobility
Description: Mary Heath, a Charlotte native, describes her life and experiences as a longtime resident of Optimist Park. Mrs. Heath discusses growing up in the Hickory Grove area of Charlotte and how desegregation impacted her education. She describes how she ...

Title: Mattie Marshall oral history interview 1, 2015 October 31
Creator: Marshall, Mattie, 1948-
Date Created: 2015-10-31
Subjects--Topical: Community development, Gentrification, Urban renewal, Urban transportation, African American families, African American neighborhoods
Description: In this interview, Mattie Marshall, president of the Historic Washington Heights Neighborhood Association in Charlotte North Carolina, discusses her origins as a sharecropper's daughter in Georgia, her family's migration north to New Yor...

Title: Mazella McDowell oral history interview, 2015 October 31
Creator: McDowell, Mazella, 1950-
Date Created: 2015-10-31
Subjects--Topical: Gentrification, African American families, African American neighborhoods, Urban poor--Social conditions, Cities and towns--Growth, School integration
Description: Mazella McDowell describes her childhood in Huntersville, North Carolina and her move to Charlotte when she was thirteen. She lived in the Belmont and Optimist Park neighborhoods where she raised her children. She details her experience building h...

Title: Pauline Simuel oral history interview, 2015 October 17
Creator: Simuel, Pauline B. (Pauline Bonita), 1945-
Date Created: 2015-10-17
Subjects--Topical: African American families, African American neighborhoods, Urban poor--Social conditions, Drug traffic, Urban transportation--Public opinion, Gentrification, Cities and towns--Growth
Description: Pauline Simuel describes her life and her commitment to the Optimist Park community in Charlotte, North Carolina. She discusses her history with Habitat for Humanity, from building homes to moving into her own Habitat home in Optimist Park in 1986...

Title: Rosaland McCoy oral history interview, 2016 March 19
Creator: McCoy, Rosaland A., approximately 1963-
Date Created: 2016-03-19
Subjects--Topical: Gentrification, Cities and towns--Growth, African American families, African American neighborhoods, Urban poor--Social conditions
Description: Rosaland McCoy reflects on her life growing up in Charlotte, North Carolina and the Optimist Park neighborhood where she has lived since 1989. She contrasts her own deprived childhood with the stable lives of her children and grandchildren. Ms. Mc...

Title: Wayne Johnson oral history interview, 2019 January 14
Creator: Johnson, Wayne, 1953-
Date Created: 2019-01-14
Subjects--Topical: Gentrification, African American neighborhoods, School integration, African American families, Mentoring, Rosenwald schools
Description: Wayne Johnson, Charlotte realtor and longtime Grier Heights resident, discusses his deep family roots in Grier Heights, an historic African American neighborhood in Charlotte, North Carolina. Mr. Johnson describes how his maternal great grandfathe...

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