by Shannon Butler One would have to be living under a rock (a really big one) these days to not know the importance of the current situation we find ourselves in. Protesting in large crowds, which is breaking down the barriers of our recent social distancing guidelines, parts of the country are rethinking their police forces, and racial tensions appear to be similar to those of the 1960s. All of this drives a history nerd to contemplate, what were the views of previous generations when it comes to racial equality in our area? You might hear people from the north (especially right here in our area) say things like, “well we fought on the right side of the Civil War,” or “we had a lot of abolitionists up here,” or “Ok so maybe we did have slaves, but they were treated better than the ones in the south.” All of this makes me think of an oral history that I conducted years ago with Mrs. Doris Mack, a volunteer from Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site. Doris (who was 92 when I interviewed her, and still going strong by the way) was born and raised in Durham, North Carolina. She and her [...]