Mr. C. Morgan Edwards discusses his life and upbringing in the Washington Heights neighborhood in Charlotte, North Carolina. Born and raised in the community and currently a resident, he recalls how during his youth the community was a mixed income neighborhood made up of mainly African-American professionals and educators, and home to institutions such as the Excelsior Club and Johnson C. Smith University. He discusses the role that his father, Carvin Marshall Edwards, had in the neighborhood as a professional photographer and one of the first members of the Excelsior club. Mr. Edwards describes the historic roots of his neighborhood, the changes it underwent during his lifetime, and in particular how the construction of the Brookshire Freeway impacted prominent neighborhood landmarks, including Biddleville Elementary School. He also discusses the effect that integration had on West Charlotte High School and their paired school during desegregation, Myers Park High School. In addition, he describes his own employment: working in Harris grocery stores before they became Harris Teeter stores, catering in the Myers Park Country Club, enlisting in the Navy and pursuing a career as a senior official for the North Carolina Department of Transportation. Mr. Edwards also discusses the drastic change Washington Heights and other neighborhoods along Beatties Ford Rd. corridor underwent between his graduation from Johnson C. Smith and his return to the area from military service. He notes that the neighborhood had become run down and depleted, which he attributes to the effects of urban renewal in Charlotte.
