Growth leaves behind African Americans
Graham worries that Mooresville has "just outgrown itself," and that in doing so, it may be leaving behind its African Americans, who Graham thinks are not motivated to involve themselves in politics.
Citing this Excerpt
Oral History Interview with Terry Graham, March 22, 1999. Interview K-0434. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) in the Southern Oral History Program Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Full Text of the Excerpt
- AMANDA COVINGTON:
-
Tell me what you think about -do you think its changed in some
ways?
- TERRY GRAHAM:
-
Change?
- AMANDA COVINGTON:
-
What do you think about Mooresville?
- TERRY GRAHAM:
-
Mooresville's just outgrown itself. That's the
thing. I stayed on the planning board for 15 years and things when I
started on there they were talking about what would happen in 20 years
from then and we went around and made surveys and talked. I went to
Belk's [Department Store] to the manager there and asked him
what he thought would happen in twenty years from now and he told me
then - [Hwy] 77 wasn't even down over there at that time -
but he said Belk would be over on 77 in 20 years from that day-
- AMANDA COVINGTON:
-
Uh-huh.
- TERRY GRAHAM:
-
And it happened. They plan way ahead. I mean, white are way ahead of us.
But we can't get our people to take interest in politics and
know what's going on.
