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Welcome to Shared Stories: Black Lives in North Mecklenburg County – an archives of oral histories, photographs and community records that document the lives, experiences, and contributions of African Americans in North Mecklenburg County, North Carolina.  The majority of materials relates to the towns of Davidson, Cornelius, Huntersville, and Charlotte to a lesser extent. In a similar fashion to its book version and the accompanying physical exhibit held in 2017, the project centers the lives of Black community members around the broader topics of Education, Service, Religion, Community, and Business. 

There are several ways to navigate this site and interact with the materials:

  • Stories: in this section you will find interviews with local community members. There, you will be able to listen to the interviews and read their corresponding transcriptions.
     
  • Booklet & Introduction: this page presents a condensed introduction to the project and the ideas behind it. Here you can access Shared Stories: African Americans in North Mecklenburg Volume 1, the project's physically published version.  
     
  • Community Documents: this section features documents and photographs that serve as contextual backdrops to the oral histories included in the website. Among these materials you will encounter personal and family scrapbooks, high school yearbooks, religious documents, community and organizational bylaws, and newsletters.
     
  • Browse Archives: this tab gives you the chance to explore all the individual items in the site. 
     
  • The Search Bar parses through the entirety of the site, including the interview transcripts. Here you can search for dates, names, places, or specific words. 

This project was originally possible by support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.  This website and the descriptive work it entails has been made possible by support from the Duke Endowment and the Davidson College Archives.  Please visit the Booklet tab for further acknowledgements.

Oral Histories

Browse all oral histories

  • Interview with Patricia Stinson, 2017 January 13

    Interview with Pat Stinson, conducted by Jan Blodgett on January 13, 2017.

  • Interview with Verdie Torrence, 2016 March 25

    Interview with Verdie Torrence, conducted by Jan Blodgett on March 25, 2016.

  • Interview with Theodore Roosevelt Wilson, 2002 September 20

    Interview with T. R. Wilson, conducted by Jan Blodgett on September 20, 2002.

  • Interview with Susie Lowery

    In this interview, Susie Lowery provides insights into the experience of a Black woman growing up and working several jobs in and around Huntersville, Davidson, and Mooresville. Born in Huntersville, Ms. Lowery’s family moved several times in the area to farm for different landowners, mentioning for instance, the farms of Dr. McConnell and Mr. Caldwell. After her marriage in 1931, Ms. Lowery moved to Davidson and worked for several White faculty families, such as the Cummings or the Wilsons. She also mentions cooking at a Davidson College fraternity house until her retirement. Ms. Lowery talks about raising her own children, grandchildren and even greatgrandchildren, as well as many of the children from the families she worked for. After raising many children and see them leave, as well as dealing with her husband’s passing, she explains she had to move out from Griffith Street at a difficult time. Nonetheless, she discusses the Reeve’s Temple AME Zion and Gethsemane Baptist churches, and recalls fried fish picnics, baseball games, and other events that the church community would organize. Ms. Lowery expresses herself positively about Davidson and its people, characterizing it as quiet and kind place. She talks about businesses and entertainment in and around Davidson, and observes that at the time of the interview, many young people were leaving Davidson for a lack of jobs. Finally, she goes over some of her neighbors over time, mentioning Davidson residents such as Nancy Fairley, Brenda Tapia, Evelyn Carr, Hattie Thompson, Rosie Patterson, Dan Brown, and Mr. Graham.