Cultivating Common Ground
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- Willie Coleman oral history interview, 2001 November 1
- Interviewer volume is low., Willie Coleman was a 77-year-old woman at the time of interview, which took place at Wilmore Community Garden in Charlotte, North Carolina. She was born in Matthews, North Carolina in 1924. She was educated at Clear Creek High School and was employed at the Pepsi-Cola bottling plant and as a laundry worker., Willie Coleman recounts her lifelong involvement with gardening and her memories of her family. She discusses growing up in Matthews, North Carolina, attending school in Steele Creek, living through the Great Depression as a child, and working at a Pepsi bottling plant and for a laundry business in Charlotte, North Carolina. Ms. Coleman describes her involvement with the community garden and greenhouse in the Wilmore neighborhood in Charlotte where she lives, differences between gardening at the community garden and at home, changes in gardening over the course of her life, and why it's important for young people to learn about gardening.
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- Pauline Cox oral history interview, 2002 January 23
- Pauline Cox was interviewed at Wilmore Community Center in Charlotte, North, Carolina. She was born in Anson County, North Carolina. She was employed at Charlotte Memorial Hospital for thirteen years., Pauline Cox describes growing up on a farm in rural Anson County, North Carolina, living in the Wilmore community in Charlotte, North Carolina for the past thirty-two years, and gardening at the Wilmore Community Garden. Ms. Cox describes chores she performed when young, which included taking care of her younger siblings and milking the cows before school. She describes memories of her mother growing the food they ate and subsisting on the farm produce without needing to buy anything from the store. She briefly talks about her first job working at Charlotte Memorial Hospital, and walking a long distance to attend her segregated school. Ms. Cox explains that her early experiences growing up on a farm and watching her mother preserve food grown at home made her interested in gardening at the Wilmore Community Center. She describes her personal methods of gardening, canning, freezing, pesticide control and caring for the vegetables and herbs.
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- Annie Diggs oral history interview, 2001 October 30
- Low volume., Annie Mae Diggs was a 74-year-old woman at the time of interview, which took place in her home in Charlotte, North Carolina. She was born in Russellville, South Carolina in 1926. She was employed as a dry cleaner who worked with silk fabrics., Annie Mae Diggs recalls growing up in the country in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, helping to found the Wilmore Community Garden in the Wilmore neighborhood of Charlotte, North Carolina, and her relationship with gardening. She discusses chores that she did while growing up, working on a farm with her grandparents and family members, walking to school, and raising chickens for food. Ms. Diggs has been a resident of WIlmore for thirty-six years, and shares background information on the WIlmore Community Garden. She discusses aspects of gardening, including enjoying having access to fresh vegetables; tomatoes, okra, and squash; pesticides and weeding; and cooking greens.
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- Daisy Dunlap oral history interview, 2001 October 27
- June Blotnick spends some time in the beginning advising how to ask and answer questions., Daisy Mae Dunlap was a 67-year-old woman at the time of interview, which took place in the Wilmore Community Center. She was born in York, South Carolina in 1934. She was educated at Jefferson High School and was employed as a housekeeper and food service employee., Daisy Mae Dunlap discusses how gardening influenced her life while growing up in York, South Carolina and later, living in the Wilmore neighborhood of Charlotte, North Carolina. Ms. Dunlap describes how her family wasn't that negatively affected by the Great Depression because her father had a job with the government. When she was young, her family had a garden in which every member of the family helped. She talks about attending Jefferson High School, which was an all-Black school during segregation, starting a family in her late teens, and working as a housekeeper and in a cafeteria. Ms. Dunlap discusses working in the Wilmore Community Garden for the past two years, and how she was first inspired to want to garden from her grandfather.
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- Hassie W. Ervin oral history interview, 2002 January 10
- Interviewer volume is low., Hassie W. Ervin was a 77-year-old woman at the time of interview, which took place in her home in Charlotte, North Carolina. She was born in Greenwood, South Carolina in 1924. She was educated at Hodges School and was employed as a seamstress with Trimline and Lebo's., Hassie Ervin recounts growing up on her family's farm in Greenwood, South Carolina during the 1920s-1930s, moving to Charlotte, North Carolina, and living in the Wilmore neighborhood in Charlotte as an older adult. She describes her childhood, how her family was self-sufficient from farming, and how she worked in the family garden to help grow vegetables. Ms. Ervin talks about how she enjoys working in the Wilmore Community Garden. She explains that she loves gardening because it's fun and fresh vegetables taste the best.
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- Carrie Gaddy oral history interview, 2001 October 29
- Carrie Gaddy was a 71-year-old woman at the time of interview, which took place at the WIlmore Community Garden in Charlotte, North Carolina. She was born in Union County, North Carolina in 1930. She was educated at Western Union High School and was employed as a beautician and an elder care worker., Carrie Gaddy recounts growing up in rural Union County, North Carolina, living in the Wilmore neighborhood of Charlotte, North Carolina beginning in 1970, and gardening throughout her life. She describes life growing up with her family, attending school, and learning how to clean, cook, and garden. Ms. Gaddy talks about being one of the first ten to begin the community garden in Wilmore, the vegetables that she likes to grow, and having a personal garden at her home. She explains how she enjoys the community garden because of the sense of fellowship among residents. Ms. Gaddy shares specific aspects of gardening, including fertilizers and pesticides, using an almanac, and her strategies for spacing vegetables, watering, and harvesting.
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- Katie Grier oral history interview, 2001 October 27
- Katie Grier was a 76-year-old woman at the time of interview, which took place in Charlotte, North Carolina. She was born in 1925. She was employed as a practical nurse and as a cook., Katie Grier shares information about growing up in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, living in the Wilmore neighborhood in Charlotte, North Carolina for over thirty years, and her involvement with gardening throughout her life. She describes her early life on a farm, including raising animals, growing vegetables, and household chores. She has gardened at the Wilmore Community Garden for ten years, and talks about how she enjoys growing her own vegetables. Other topics include the Great Depression, canning vegetables in her youth, cooking and baking, and what life was like during segregation.
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- Donna McGee oral history interview, 2001 October 27
- Donna McGee was a 59-year-old woman at the time of interview, which took place at the Wilmore Community Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. She was born in Charlotte in 1942. She was educated at Second Ward High School., Native Charlottean Donna Anthony McGee recalls growing up in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Charlotte, North Carolina, also known as Second Ward. She describes her childhood, including walking to school and playing stickball. A resident of the Wilmore community in Charlotte for thirty years, Ms. McGee talks about the Wilmore Community Garden and her garden at home. She discusses her love of the outdoors and gardening, including how she was inspired to begin gardening, what she grows in her garden, and how the weather affects growing vegetables. She also briefly discusses how segregation affected her while growing up and before the civil rights movement.
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- Katie McGill oral history interview, 2001 November 1
- Katie McGill was interviewed in her home in Charlotte, North Carolina. She was born in Mint Hill, North Carolina. She was educated at J.H. Gunn School., Katie McGill discusses her childhood growing up in rural Mint Hill, North Carolina and her involvement in the Wilmore Community Garden. Mrs. McGill was raised by her grandparents Samuel and Ester Stafford, and explained that her entire family worked at a dairy farm that provided milk to the Mint Hill community. In addition to working at the dairy farm, the family grew all their own food at their home, which was why Mrs. McGill learned to garden at such an early age. Mrs. McGill explains that her early involvement in the Wilmore Community Garden stemmed from her deep love of gardening, which she compares to therapy. Other topics discussed include school desegregation and Mrs. McGill's personal gardening tips.
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- Mary E. Nash oral history interview, 2001 November 3
- Interviewer volume is low., Mary E. Nash was a 70-year-old woman at the time of the interview, which took place at the Wilmore Community Garden in Charlotte, North Carolina. She was born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina in 1931. She was educated at Sterling School in Pineville, and was employed as a housekeeper at the Lance, Inc. factory and in domestic work., Mary Nash recounts her childhood in rural Mecklenburg County, North Carolina and her thirty-two years living in the Wilmore neighborhood of Charlotte. Mrs. Nash describes going up on her family's small farm and discusses the various things her parents taught her, such as cooking and gardening. She describes the Wilmore neighborhood as peaceful and quiet when her family first moved there, but that it has declined in recent years. Other topics discussed include some of her previous jobs, her children and grandchildren, and family reunions.
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- Isaiah Smith oral history interview, 2001 November 3
- Interviewer volume is low., Isaiah Smith was a 68-year-old man at the time of interview, which took place in Wilmore Community Garden in Charlotte, North Carolina. He was born in Union, South Carolina in 1933. He was educated at Allen University and King’s College and later transported cars in the Detroit region., Isaiah Smith describes his experience as a recreational gardener at Wilmore Community Garden located in Charlotte, North Carolina starting in the early 1990s. He shares tips on how to cultivate a proper garden, his favorite vegetables and ways to prepare them for cooking, and why gardening is important for young people, along with some moral advice. Mr. Smith also discusses his work experience, his childhood growing up in the Great Depression along with the racial discrimanation he and his siblings faced growing up during segregation.