Campbell maintenance staff in 1941.
BUIES CREEK — Jordan Terrell, a senior in broadcasting communication studies at Campbell University, was working the African American Studies Club booth at the Street Fair last August when a young alumnus asked him: “Who was the first African American student at Campbell?”
Terrell didn’t know; and as the founder of Campbell’s African American Studies Club, “I was a little embarrassed I didn’t already know the answer,” he said.
But he assured the former student: “I will do everything in my power to find out the answer.”
His pursuit to find out the answer led him to ultimately document his findings — and more — in the 40-minute documentary “Black History at Campbell.” The African American Studies Club will premiere the film Thursday, Feb. 19, at 5:30 p.m. in Turner Auditorium. The film not only traces the history of African Americans at Campbell, it incorporates interviews with some of the first African Americans who attended or worked at the university.
“My main focus was to give those who haven’t always had a voice or platform to share their stories,” said Terrell, who founded the African American Studies Club in March 2013. “The oral history is truly important for this documentary to present the experiences of African Americans at Campbell.”
Terrell started digging into the research in October. He began by going directly to Campbell’s registrar’s and alumni offices and asking who were the first male and female African Americans to attend Campbell. Kendra Erickson, an adjunct in Campbell’s history department, also provided tips and guidance on researching information and photos in University Archives.
Their help led Terrell to discover Cordell Wise was the first African American man to attend Campbell, while Patricia Oates Conway and Marquriette Lawrence share the title as the first African American women to attend Campbell. (Read more about Wise and Conway in Campbell Magazine’s Winter 2014-15 issue.)
For his documentary, Terrell interviewed Conway, who left Campbell after only a year but returned recently to complete a communication studies degree. He also shadowed her as she returned to the room in Day Hall she once shared with Lawrence when they were students in 1968. He captured the moment Conway took her first step into her old dorm room after nearly 40 years. She stood inside it for about a minute, Terrell said, before existing, “her face completely changed.”
It’s such footage and stories Conway and others share in “Black History at Campbell” that Terrell said are important in capturing the experiences of those who came before him. “I know I can’t feel the whole impact of their experiences,” he said, “but just to have a little piece and to share their stories is important and helps make something known what was previously unknown.”
Those stories go beyond just the students. Though Terrell began his research wanting to learn more about the first African American students to attend Campbell, he quickly realized: “There is more to the university than just the students.” So he expanded his scope to also include the experiences of faculty and staff. He interviewed several African Americans who worked at Campbell in earlier years. Among them was 94-year-old Alease McKoy, who worked at Campbell from 1940 to 1958, and Bonnie Campbell.
Bonnie Campbell worked in Marshbanks Dining Hall from 1953 to 1970. With Terrell’s camera rolling, Bonnie Campbell visited Marshbanks Dining Hall this past November for the first time since she worked there. “She was in a state of shock and awe to see the changes at Campbell,” Terrell said. Marshbanks had an all-female staff, for example, when she worked there; today, it’s a coed staff.
Of all that he learned while making the documentary, Terrell said: “I’m still trying to process it all.”
“Some people had experiences they didn’t want to relive, but others were happy with their experiences. Overall, it was positive,” he said. “I just wanted to find out people’s stories, both the good and bad, because without the bad, how can you recognize whether the good is truly good or not?”
Terrell doesn’t want to spoil “Black History at Campbell,” but he hopes that today’s students, faculty and staff who watch the documentary will “learn a little more about the history of Campbell.
“I also hope others will go beyond their own normal social circles and speak to others and get to know them,” he added. “That’s one of the things making this documentary reminded me of: We’re all people, and we all have a story to share.”