Growing up in Henderson, NC

Dr. Thomas Stafford describes what it was like to grow up in Henderson, NC and recalls what it was like to live in a segregated society.

Interview on 2012-05-03 00:00:00 -0400

Transcript

00:00:00.000 Well I was born and grew up in Henderson, North Carolina.

00:00:04.212 It's in Vance Co. It's about fifty-five miles north of Raleigh.

00:00:08.157 ell it was a wonderful place in which to grow up.

00:00:13.200 You'll notice that I don't like to end a sentence in a preposition.

00:00:15.878 Back in the 1950s when I grew up there

00:00:21.430 I thought it was the greatest place in the world,

00:00:24.746 and then later as I left and had a chance to live in other places I realized that while it was a good place to grow up

00:00:32.756 it didn't offer a lot of the things that I certainly have enjoyed since I've been at NC State and lived in Wake County.

00:00:40.904 But, you know, it's a small town, and not only that but,

00:00:45.754 as you would know, back in the 1950s it was a segregated society

00:00:52.853 and so all the African Americans went to separate schools, separate churches,

00:00:57.865 and I think about that a lot now because that's such an important,

00:01:02.844 or what we try to emphasize with our students here at NC State,

00:01:06.645 the value of welcoming everybody regardless of your race, your gender, your sexual orientation, or any disability that you may have.