Interview with Morris and Wilma Simpson

Morris and Wilma Simpson are interviewed by Lorraine Crittenden on May 19, 1986 as part of the Western North Carolina Tomorrow Black Oral History Project. Born in 1914, Mr. Simpson discusses his family members and growing up in Bryson City, North Carolina during the Great Depression. He recalls segregation of troops during his time in the Airforce in World War II. Mr. Simpson and his wife Wilma describe segregation and integration in Bryson City. They both remember church services. Mr. Simpson recalls his work as a butler and chauffer to the Enloe family at Western Carolina University in 1948. Wilma also describes working as a housekeeper at Western, the job discrimination she witnessed against African Americans, and seeing some of the first African American women living in the dormitories during the 1960s