Mattie Marshall oral history interview 1, 2015 October 31

In this interview, Mattie Marshall, president of the Historic Washington Heights Neighborhood Association in Charlotte North Carolina, discusses her origins as a sharecropper's daughter in Georgia, her family's migration north to New York, her work at the New York Stock Exchange, her attendance at Rutgers University in New Jersey, and her return South to settle down in Historic Washington Heights where she has lived for twenty-six years. She explains her role as president of the neighborhood association, emphasizing the importance of educating the younger generation so they may preserve their community's history. The neighborhood has been challenged by problems such as the construction of the Brookshire Highway that cuts through the community, drug trafficking, and the negative impact of urban renewal. Striving to meet these challenges, Ms. Marshall stresses the need to preserve the neighborhood's history; the landmarks, events, and generations of residents that have shaped the community into what is is today. Ms. Marshall also describes how Johnson C. Smith University and the Excelsior Club contributed to the development and culture of Washington Heights.