The Karen Vaneman Oral History Collection of Asheville Urban Renewal (AUR)
OH-AUR

Nathaniel L. Bowman 

Interview Date

November 23, 2009

Format

Audio cassette tape ; copy CD ; text ; photo

Scope and Contents

Nathaniel Bowman talks about his life and his family.

Biography

Nathaniel Bowman was born on in 1925. He attended Stephens-Lee High School in 1943, and worked for the Levi E. Rosenberg Company in New York City, making buckles and then served for two years in the U.S. Army. He subsequently returned to Asheville where he worked as a nursing assistant at the VA Hospital.

Additional Materials

Transcript

Recording Note

Parts of the recording are inaudible, and gaps exist in the recording

Willie Mae H. Brown 

Interview Date

March 9, 2008

Format

Audio cassette tape ; copy CD ; text ; photograph

Scope and Contents

Reviewing the photographs of East End Asheville in the Andrea Clark Photograph Collection at Pack Memorial Library, Willie Mae Brown describes the area, before and after the Urban Renewal Project.

Biography

Willie Mae H. Brown was born in 1935 in Asheville, North Carolina. She married Bobby Brown and had two children, Linda Glaze and Robert E. Brown. Brown graduated from Stephens-Lee High School and worked as a nurse, and hotel maid, before working at Ball-Incon Glass for 28 years. In 2008, she was on the Board of the Asheville-Buncombe Community Relations Commission, and the the Board of Quality Forward. She also served on the Planning Board for the M. L. King Breakfast in Asheville, and in 1992, she was the recipient of the M. L. King Jr. Award for Asheville.

Additional Materials

Transcript

Jean Boyd 

Interview Dates

March 13, 2008 ; April 17, 2008

Format

Audio cassette tapes ; CD copies ; text ; photographs

Scope and Contents

Two interviews with Jean Boyd. In the first recording, made on March 13, 2008 at Pack Memorial Library in Asheville, Mrs. Boyd primarily talks about her life. The second recording, made in her home on April 17, 2008, Boyd talks further about her life, but also describes the changes in Asheville as she views maps and photographs.

Biography

Jean Boyd was born in Asheville, attended St. Anthony's of Padua, followed by Stephens-Lee High School. She as an Attendance School Developer (truant officers) with the North Buncombe county schools before being hired by Asheville Child Development Training Program under the Opportunity Corporation. In 1976, she became director of the Head Start Program of Madison and Buncombe counties, before moving to Raleigh in 1983 where she worked in Early Childhood for Shaw University. After being in Raleigh for many years, she returned to Asheville.

Additional Materials

Transcript [3/13/2008] ; transcript [4/17/2008] ; photographs, clippings, and copies of documents

Trevor Chavis 

Interview Date

March 25, 2008

Format

Audio cassette tape ; CD copy ; text

Scope and Contents

Trevor Chavis primarily talks about growing up in Asheville during the 1940-50s, but also her life at college in Baltimore and then living in Queens, NYC.

Biography

Trevor (pronounced "Treva") Chavis was born in 1936 in Hendersonville, North Carolina and moved to Asheville as an infant. She attended Stephens-Lee High School in Asheville, and Morgan State University in Baltimore, majoring in Music Education, and completed a Masters of Arts from Queens College, Branch of NYU. She taught music in public schools in Edenton, North Carolina and Queens, NY. Mrs. Chavis was married to Samuel A. Chavis. She retired in 1991, and moved back to Asheville in 1993.

Additional Materials

Transcript

Zani Davidson 

Interview Date

April 24, 2009

Format

Audio cassette tape ; CD copy ; text ; photographs

Scope and Contents

Zani Davidson talks about her life, especially growing up in Asheville in the 1950s.

Biography

Zani Davidson was born in Asheville, North Carolina in 1946. She attended Burton Street Elementary and Allen High School. and UNC Asheville, majoring in Math Education. After graduating in 1969, she taught math at Hall Fletcher Junior High School. Both Zani and her husband volunteer in the community with Meals on Wheels, Church and the Asheville Arboretum.

Additional Materials

Transcript

Lawrence Gilliam 

Interview Date

November 8, 2007

Format

Audio cassette tapes ; CD copies ; text

Scope and Contents

The first part of the interview was not recorded but a summary of the interview which covers Lawrence Gilliam's personal history is included in the transcript document. The recorded interview takes place in in Mr. Gilliam's car whilst touring the areas impacted by urban renewal projects, specifically East Riverside, Southside and Stumptown. He talks about the history of the area, the people who lived there, and the impact of urban renewal

Biography

Lawrence Gilliam was born in 1939 in Asbury Park, NJ and moved to Asheville when he was seven years old, and attended St. Anthony of Padua elementary school. He returned to Asbury Park where he went to high school and then attended a Presbyterian college in Charlotte.

Additional Materials

Transcript

James Green [Transcript only] 

Interview Date

December 6, 2007

Format

Text ; clippings

Scope and Contents

James Green talks about urban renewal and its impact on the Clingman Avenue area of Asheville, where he grew up. He then describes returning to Asheville and opening and running his business.

Biography

James Green was born in Asheville in 1937, graduating from Stephens-Lee High School in 1955. After school he joined the army where he earned a degree. After the army, he worked as an engineer for the Cleveland Board of Education, and the City of Cleveland. Sensing a need for a convenience store in the area where he grew up, he returned to Asheville in 1983, and opened Green's Mini-Mart and Gas Station on Depot Street. In 2009, he was honored by Riverlink for his contribution to the revitalization of the area near the French Broad River.

Mr. Green died on November 2, 2011.

James E. Harrison 

Interview Dates

November 19, 2007 ; December 18, 2007

Format

Audio cassette tapes ; CD copies ; text

Scope and Contents

Comprises two interviews with James Harrison . The first interview was on November 19, 2007 at Green's Mini-Mart and Gas Station, and Harrison talked about growing up in Asheville and how his family was forced to move because of Asheville's Urban Renewal Program. He then described working on the railroad, and his role improving relations between the police and the African American community. The second interview at Harrison's home on December 17, 2007 is about police / community relations and includes discussions on documents and clippings, copies of which are included with this oral history.

Biography

James Harrison was born in 1937 and moved to Asheville, NC in 1951. He graduated from Stephens-Lee High School in 1955, attended Florida A & M for several years, and served in the military between 1960 and 1962. He worked for the Norfolk Southern Railroad from 1965 to 1995, starting as a brakeman before being promoted to conductor. Harrison worked to improve relations between the Asheville Police Department and the African American community in the 1970s revising the Asheville Police Manual and creating the Concerned Citizens Committee.

Additional Materials

Transcript [of both interviews]

William L. Johnson 

Interview Dates

February 28, 2008 ; April 7, 2008

Format

Audio cassette tape ; CD copies ; text ; photographs and copies of photographs

Scope and Content

A detailed account of growing up in Asheville beginning in the 1920's, describing the people and area, and how urban renewal impacted the community. Mr. Johnson also describes his personal history. The interview includes an audio-driving tour of neighborhoods in the Asheville area.

Biography

Although he was born in Greenwood SC in 1917, William Johnson moved to Asheville when he was four months old. He attended Stephens-Lee and Mountain Street Schools in Asheville. After graduating, he worked initially at the Grove park Inn and then moved to Washington DC, where he was an elevator operator. He returned to Asheville in 1944 to work as an elevator operator in the Flat Iron Building and Grove Park Inn, but then worked for the federal government in DC and St. Louis, Missouri, before returning to Asheville in 1955, where he had various jobs until his retirement in 1996.

William Johnson died on July 22, 2008.

Additional Materials

Transcript [of both interviews]

Ruby R. Jones 

Interview Dates

March 5, 2010 ; June 18, 2010 ; August 12, 2010

Format

Audio cassette tapes ; CD copies ; text ; photographs and copies of photographs ; clippings ; Stephens-Lee 2000 Reunion album [in book collection]

Scope and Contents

Ruby Jones talks about growing up in the Stumptown area of Asheville. She describes the area, the people who lived there, and the role of the church in her life. Copies of maps, photographs, and documents referred to in the interviews are included. The Stephens-Lee 2000 Reunion album has been cataloged.

Biography

Ruby Rice Jones was born in 1926, on Richie St. in the Stumptown area of Asheville, NC. She attended Allen, St. Anthony's, and Stephens-Lee High Schools before going to LaMae College of Cosmetology in Winston-Salem, and Stewart's Beauty School on Bartlett Street in Asheville. Jones worked as a beautician at her shop, on Depot Street, and a shop in Sylva, owned by Mr. Jim Walls, and then she worked for 10 years, offering Home Health Care. Following retirement, Jones continued to volunteer at the VA hospital.

Additional Materials

Transcript [of May 14, 2010 and and June 18, 2010 interviews. Also includes notes from unrecorded interviews on March 5, 2010 and January 25, 2011]

Dr. Charles Mosley 

Interview Date

October 9, 2009 ; February 2011 [not recorded but a summary is included in transcript document]

Format

Audio cassette tape ; CD copy ; text ; photograph

Scope and Contents

Dr. Charles Mosley talks about his life, but the interviews concentrate on the Asheville Urban renewal program and the impact the redevelopment had on the area and the people who lived there. [In addition to the interview recorded on October 9, 2009, Karen Vaneman had phone conversations with Mosley in 2011. These conversations were not recorded but are summarized in the transcript document.]

Biography

Dr. Charles Ronald Mosley was born in 1938 in Passaic, NJ. He attended Stephens-Lee High School, graduating in 1957, Shaw University in Raleigh, graduating with a B.A. in 1961, and completing his B.Div. from Shaw Divinity School in 1966. He was involved the sit-ins at the Woolworth counter in Raleigh in the 1960s. He is pastor with the Nazareth First Missionary Baptist Church in Asheville.

Additional Materials

Transcript ; orders of worship, and welcome pack, for the Nazareth First Missionary Baptist Church

Thelma Porter [Notes only] 

Interview Date

March 31, 2010

Format

Text ; audio cassette tape

Scope and Contents

The recorded interview is very indistinct, so the this history essentially comprises typed and handwritten notes, presumably by Karen Vaneman. These provide a sketch outline of Thelma Porter's biography and include questions that may have been intended for a follow up interview with Mrs. Porter.

Biography

Born in Sumpter, SC in 1921, Thelma Porter moved to Asheville when she was five years old where the family lived on Hill Street. She attended Lewis Business College in Detroit, and she later went to Shaw University. She and her husband ran Porter's Store on the corner of Pine and Mountain Streets, until it was demolished as part of the urban renewal program.

Related Collection

Thelma Porter interview in the Asheville Living Treasures Collection