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Excerpt from Oral History Interview with Terry Graham, March 22, 1999. Interview K-0434. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) See Entire Interview >>

White customers refuse to ride with black taxi drivers

White customers would often refuse to ride with black drivers after calling Graham's taxi service, he recalls.

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

Of course, when I started the taxi business, down on the Mill Hill, like Burlington, down where they go - they'd call us and if we went down there and they saw we was black they'd come to the door and go back - shut the door in our face - but now, it's … they ride or walk
AMANDA COVINGTON:
Yeah.
TERRY GRAHAM:
Because there's nothing else but black driving taxis now. No big deal over, over that. Just went along with the mood - because if we didn't make any money, we just didn't make none, that was it.