Gloria Rentrope
Selah Shorts
March 25th, 2026 @4:00pm
Brighton Rd, Mrs. Rentrope’s House
0:00:00 Mrs. Rentrope
hospital, but it, uh, does exist as a clinic. And where the building where the clinic is now used to be the parking lot, and where the parking lot is used to be where the building was located. But this is basically the same site.
0:00:13 Selah
Hmm. I don't think I've been over in that.
0:00:16 Mrs. Rentrope
It's right down-
0:00:17 Selah
Oh-
0:00:17 Mrs. Rentrope
... not too far from Central.
0:00:18 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:00:19 Mrs. Rentrope
Yeah.
0:00:21 Selah
Hmm. How long has your family been living here?
0:00:24 Mrs. Rentrope
Oh my gosh. I've lived here all my life.
0:00:28 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:00:29 Mrs. Rentrope
And so that's 1945. Um, as I can recall hearing my mother say, she moved here when she was very, very, very, very young. And, um, Mother died in 2004 at the age of 96, so I think she'd be about 124 years-
0:00:50 Selah
Oh.
0:00:50 Mrs. Rentrope
... she was living there. Um, and as I recall, um, s- she moved from Chatham County to Durham County when she was about... She was real young.
0:01:02 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:01:02 Mrs. Rentrope
Very young.
0:01:03 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:01:03 Mrs. Rentrope
Um, I don't even think she was a teenager. Um, but she moved to work 'cause my mother only had a third grade education, and she started working very, very, very early. But, um, my mother was very, um, one of my heroes, heroines, whatever you call a female. But, uh, with only a third grade education, she taught herself how to read and how to write. Um, she got involved in a lot of civic organizations, uh, and served in, uh, various capacities as a officer in some of them, um, treasurers, um, not really ever the secretary I don't think, but a president, a historian, uh, and has... And she's been honored for some of the things that she has done in the community. Um, but she's now in Heaven.
0:01:52 Selah
What is her name?
0:01:53 Mrs. Rentrope
Her name was Savater Evans. Uh, her maiden name was Nunn, N-U-N-N, so Savater Nunn Evans.
0:02:01 Selah
Mm-hmm. And your father's name?
0:02:03 Mrs. Rentrope
My father's name is Ulysses Sylvester Evans.
0:02:06 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:02:06 Mrs. Rentrope
And he was from Norlina. I know he was from Norlina, but I do not know, uh, what age, 'cause he was actually older than my mother. He was born in 19... I think it was 1989, um, something like that.
0:02:19 Selah
Norlina?
0:02:20 Mrs. Rentrope
Norlina. It's near Henderson in Vance County, Warren County area.
0:02:24 Selah
I, I, I'm not quite familiar with that, but the terms are familiar.
0:02:29 Mrs. Rentrope
Uh-huh.
0:02:29 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:02:30 Mrs. Rentrope
You've heard of Henderson?
0:02:31 Selah
I've heard of Henderson.
0:02:32 Mrs. Rentrope
Okay, so it's not far from Henderson.
0:02:33 Selah
Mm.
0:02:34 Mrs. Rentrope
Okay.
0:02:36 Selah
Do you live here by yourself?
0:02:38 Mrs. Rentrope
I am now. My husband just passed last year. And, uh, my grandson had been living with us for about three and a half years, and he just moved out in January. I tell my family I've never lived by myself-
0:02:50 Selah
Mm-hmm
0:02:51 Mrs. Rentrope
... until January-
0:02:53 Selah
Mm-hmm
0:02:53 Mrs. Rentrope
... of this year. So for ei- I'm 80 years old. I was 80 last year. So for 80 years-
0:02:59 Selah
You're not giving your age
0:03:00 Mrs. Rentrope
... I have never lived by myself until January of this year, so it's quite an adjustment having to deal with my husband's passing and then living by myself, so it's an adjustment and I'm still going through it.
0:03:15 Selah
I'm sorry.
0:03:15 Mrs. Rentrope
Mm-hmm. Thank you.
0:03:16 Selah
And I'm, I'm sure that has been a tough process for you.
0:03:19 Mrs. Rentrope
Yeah. But I've had so much support, lots of support from my family, friends, my church, um, people down at the center, my high school family, my college family, my NCCU class of 1967 family.
0:03:37 Selah
Was your husband a pastor?
0:03:39 Mrs. Rentrope
Mm-hmm. Yes. Uh, we, um, we met at, uh, Mount Zion Christian Church. Um, and, um, he had already been a minister. He had been, uh, ordained... I mean, not ordained, but he had been licensed a minister at another church, and he came to Mount Zion and, uh, we met there. And, uh, at Mount Zion, he was, uh, ordained an elder. And, uh, in 2000 and... Well, I went to Mount Zion in 19 s- I first came back to North Carolina, uh, 19-
0:04:15 Selah
You're from North Carolina?
0:04:17 Mrs. Rentrope
I'm from North Carolina.
0:04:17 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:04:18 Mrs. Rentrope
I left. I went... I moved to Cleveland. I went to gra- After I finished, um-
0:04:22 Selah
Cleveland, Ohio?
0:04:23 Mrs. Rentrope
Yeah.
0:04:23 Selah
Oh, that's where my daddy from.
0:04:24 Mrs. Rentrope
Oh, okay. After I finished undergrad school here at, uh, at North Carolina College, when I went in 1967, I went to grad school in, uh, Cleveland, and I ended up staying up there. And I ended up, uh, getting married, and I had, um, children, and then that marriage, um, dissolved and my children and I came, uh... Well, I had three children, but one of my, uh, my first daughter's deceased, and she's buried in Cleveland. But, um, came back with my two children when one of them was only three months old, the other one was four years old.
0:05:01 Selah
Mm.
0:05:01 Mrs. Rentrope
Moved back to Durham and, um, and was a single parent for, uh, many years. And, um, my husband and I, my, uh, uh, husband that just passed, we were married for 37, almost 38 years. Um, and we met at Mount Zion Christian Church. And then in 2001, um, we founded our own church-
0:05:25 Selah
Mm-hmm
0:05:25 Mrs. Rentrope
... in, in Apex, North Carolina.
0:05:27 Selah
Mm.
0:05:28 Mrs. Rentrope
And we had our church from 2001 to 2016, and we closed our church in 2016, and we started going to Triangle Christian Center, and that's where I'm currently, at Triangle Christian Center. It says Raleigh. It's really in Briar Creek.
0:05:44 Selah
Mm-hmm. What was the name of your church?
0:05:46 Mrs. Rentrope
Christian Revival Church.
0:05:48 Selah
Mm. Nice. Thank you for sharing that with me.
0:05:53 Selah
Where did you grow up in the Durham area?
0:05:55 Mrs. Rentrope
Not too far from here actually, uh, three-
0:05:57 Selah
Can you give me streets and landmarks?
0:06:00 Mrs. Rentrope
I can.
0:06:00 Selah
Yes, ma'am.
0:06:00 Mrs. Rentrope
I can give you the street, North Carolina College. Three streets over from, from, uh, McDougald Gym.
0:06:08 Selah
Mm.
0:06:09 Mrs. Rentrope
I, I grew up on Price Avenue. It's now Price Avenue, when I f- I was born it was called Price Street. Uh, and there are three parts to that street, and I'm in a part that's right, um, kinda middle or central, but it's three streets over. And one street from Lincoln Hospital. So when I was born, I was only one street that... 'cause there's, uh, Lincoln, one part is on Massey and one part is on Linwood. Um, so, uh, and my parents had built a house on, uh, Price Avenue-
0:06:40 Selah
Mm-hmm
0:06:41 Mrs. Rentrope
... it was Price Street. And, um, they brought me from home from the hospital to Price Street, and I stayed. And I actually still have that house. I don't live in, in there. I rent it out. But my, I still have my home house.
0:06:55 Selah
On Price Street?
0:06:55 Mrs. Rentrope
On Price Street.
0:06:58 Selah
Now I'm gonna have to see it.
0:07:00 Mrs. Rentrope
And that's the house that's in the preservation, that's in the Stokesdale community.
0:07:05 Selah
Mm.
0:07:05 Mrs. Rentrope
And so, uh, that house was built in, uh, 19, I think it was 1936.
0:07:12 Selah
Mm-hmm. How did the neighborhood look back then?
0:07:15 Mrs. Rentrope
Uh, the neighborhood, um, there are houses, uh, everywhere. Um, most of the houses when I, that I can remember were u- were there when I, um, that w- when I think about, you know, way back-
0:07:33 Selah
Mm-hmm
0:07:33 Mrs. Rentrope
... when I was growing up.
0:07:34 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:07:35 Mrs. Rentrope
Um, I can see all of the houses that are still there now. Uh, I take that back. Because there is a house that's, it was just built, uh, uh, last year.
0:07:45 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:07:45 Mrs. Rentrope
The house that had been there, it was a duplex house. That house was torn down, and now a house w- has been built there that is kinda to me foreign to the neighborhood.
0:07:56 Selah
Mm-hmm. Understand.
0:07:58 Mrs. Rentrope
Um, it was on the market for $699,000.
0:08:01 Selah
Mm.
0:08:02 Mrs. Rentrope
And we've never had a house in our community, uh, like that.
0:08:06 Selah
Yeah.
0:08:06 Mrs. Rentrope
But growing up, uh, one of the things, because it was very much seg- segregated in this community, I mean, in Durham, um, regardless of what your profession was or what, uh, your financial status was, people lived together.
0:08:23 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:08:23 Mrs. Rentrope
So for example, uh, my father worked at Liggett & Myers Tobacco factory. My mother, uh, was basically what is now called a domestic engineer. She worked in white folks' houses-
0:08:36 Selah
Yeah
0:08:36 Mrs. Rentrope
... as a maid.
0:08:37 Selah
Yeah.
0:08:37 Mrs. Rentrope
And, um, we didn't own a car. Um, took the bus or walked or somebody gave us a ride, um, to every place that we needed to go. But we, we got to g- get to go most places that we need. We got... A place that we needed to go-
0:08:54 Selah
Mm-hmm
0:08:54 Mrs. Rentrope
... we got there. But it was a beautiful neighborhood. It was a neighborhood where everybody cared for each other. If you did something wrong, your neighbor saw it, so you got reprimanded by your neighbor, then you got reprimanded by your parent. And, um-
0:09:11 Selah
It was a line.
0:09:12 Mrs. Rentrope
It w- yes. And, um, we played in the streets, of course. I mean, we, most n- most of us didn't, uh, didn't have a television.
0:09:22 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:09:22 Mrs. Rentrope
Uh, I cannot remember when televisions came about, but I, I can remember the first person on, on our street that I was aware of-
0:09:30 Selah
Mm-hmm
0:09:30 Mrs. Rentrope
... who got a television, lived across the street. And, um, we had party lines. There were four people on a line, and your number was, uh, somebody's number was just one number off from the other.
0:09:45 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:09:45 Mrs. Rentrope
And, um, we used to pick up the telephone- ... and somebody else would be on the line. We'd put our hand over the mouthpiece and listen to their conversation. And that was, that was-
0:09:56 Selah
That was fun
0:09:57 Mrs. Rentrope
... that was fun.
0:09:57 Selah
Yeah.
0:09:59 Mrs. Rentrope
Or if they'd been on the line too long, we'd get on line, "Now you've been on the line long enough now." As a child, we couldn't say that to an adult.
0:10:06 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:10:07 Mrs. Rentrope
We could say that to another child.
0:10:08 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:10:09 Mrs. Rentrope
But n- you never, you did not disrespect a- adults, regardless. Even if they were wrong-
0:10:15 Selah
Mm-hmm
0:10:16 Mrs. Rentrope
... we did not disrespect adults when growing up. And of course, the pastor and the teacher and the policemen were people that you truly respected.
0:10:25 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:10:26 Mrs. Rentrope
Um, so there were people in the neighborhood, I live in the neighborhood where Asa Spaulding, not to, he's, the, the house is r- just a block over-
0:10:35 Selah
Mm-hmm
0:10:35 Mrs. Rentrope
... where the Spauldings live, who we known from North Carolina Mutual, and who have income. The Garretts are up the street. Uh, there were school teachers. Uh, but there also were those who worked at Liggett & Myers. Uh, some people worked at the Mutual. Um, people who, um, were hairdressers. And we didn't say cosmetologists.
0:10:57 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:10:57 Mrs. Rentrope
We said hairdressers.
0:10:59 Selah
Is cosmetology the new term now?
0:11:01 Mrs. Rentrope
Cosmet- oh my gosh. The new term.
0:11:03 Selah
That's the new language.
0:11:05 Mrs. Rentrope
Um, there were, um, all kinds of people, but, uh, we were in the same neighborhood, and so, you know, you got to, you got to know your neighbors.
0:11:16 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:11:17 Mrs. Rentrope
Um, you didn't go hungry, because if it looked like you may not have, you may need something to eat, there was always somebody who was gonna give you something to eat.
0:11:26 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:11:26 Mrs. Rentrope
And I'm not talking about just trash. I'm talking about real food.
0:11:30 Selah
Food. Mm-hmm.
0:11:31 Mrs. Rentrope
Um, people cooked then. Um, they even cooked the chicken feet. Um, all parts of the chicken got cooked. Um, I remember right across the street, um, um, Ms. Davis made the, the grand- the, the mother of the husband-
0:11:50 Selah
Mm-hmm
0:11:51 Mrs. Rentrope
... lived with the family, and that was, at that time, I think they ended up with nine children. I think maybe it was about-... five or six, whatever. Um, but the grandmother made lye soap in the, uh, backyard in, um, one of those big, uh, wrought iron, uh, big pots-
0:12:09 Selah
Mm-hmm
0:12:09 Mrs. Rentrope
... that, uh, a fire was under it, and then when she finished making the lye soap, the neighbors got some of the lye soap.
0:12:16 Selah
Yeah.
0:12:17 Mrs. Rentrope
Uh, it was during the time where, um, everybody had, like, uh, their house had not really a basement, but what we call a underpin, and the chicken man came doing, on Saturdays, and everybody had their chicken coop, a small little coop, and you buy the live chicken, and the chicken you bought the week before was the one you would kill this weekend. So on Saturdays, and particularly in the springtime, all you could hear in the neighborhood was chickens cawing- ... 'cause their necks were getting broke and getting, they were being defeathered. They put them in a great big-
0:12:50 Selah
Oh, man
0:12:52 Mrs. Rentrope
... pot, pot, and they put in a boiling tank, break the neck, and then take the chicken by the leg and, and put it, uh, face, uh, neck down into this boiling water. Not so you got your hand burnt-
0:13:04 Selah
Mm-hmm
0:13:05 Mrs. Rentrope
... but so that it would get the feathers, and then you pick the feathers off, and that w- that chicken became Sunday dinner. Um, the milkman came.
0:13:14 Selah
The milkman.
0:13:15 Mrs. Rentrope
We had the milkman to come, and you had a little thing on, like a little, um... It was a box, but-
0:13:23 Selah
Mm-hmm
0:13:23 Mrs. Rentrope
... it was made out of, like, met- uh, metal, but it was also kinda insulated.
0:13:27 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:13:28 Mrs. Rentrope
And the milkman would put the milk in, um, in the box, um, 'cause you had a running account with the milkman, and it was the kind of milk that was in the glass bottles and had the fat at the top. And the ice man came if you had-
0:13:44 Selah
The ice man
0:13:45 Mrs. Rentrope
... a real ice box. If you had an ice box and not a refrigerator. Some people had refrigerators, and some people had ice box, and the ice box was a big, you get, bought the ice in a big, um, big-
0:13:58 Selah
Mm-hmm
0:13:58 Mrs. Rentrope
... uh, block of ice, a huge block of ice, and that's what you put in your refrigerator to keep your food, food cold. So it was a wonderful neighborhood, and we had, um, community schools. Uh, the school in the area on Price, the school, our, our school, our community school was called W.G. Pearson Elementary School.
0:14:20 Selah
Oh, that's still there.
0:14:21 Mrs. Rentrope
It's still there. Um, I actually went, uh, to what was called play school. I think it's equivalent to kindergarten now.
0:14:31 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:14:31 Mrs. Rentrope
At, at W.D. Hill Recreation Center, and I have pictures, uh, when I was five years old, and they're, and some of the, uh, people in the pictures are still living are my friends now. Uh, many of them graduated from Hillside with me, and, uh, we, we graduated from, uh, W.G. Pearson Play School, and we went from the... No, I'm sorry, W.D. Hill Play School.
0:14:56 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:14:57 Mrs. Rentrope
And we went from W.D. Hill Play School to W.G. Pearson Elementary School, and for, we went grades one through six at W.G. Pearson. And then there were all, all the communities had community school. Lyon Park, City's, Pullen, Burton, um, I can't even think of, not coming to me right now, but depending on what community you live in, you went to that elementary school. Remember, we're talking about when there was segregation.
0:15:22 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:15:23 Mrs. Rentrope
So we're talking about Black schools.
0:15:24 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:15:25 Mrs. Rentrope
Um, so, um, after W.G., after, um, play school at W.D. Hill, uh, I graduated from there, and then went to W.G. Pearson. We went from grades one through six, and then because, uh, the school system in, uh, North Car- in, uh, Durham was just that you had the county schools and you had the city schools, and of course we were in the city. And so those of us who went city, Blacks only had one, uh, junior high school that we could go to.
0:15:54 Selah
Only one?
0:15:55 Mrs. Rentrope
It was J.A., J.A. Whitted Junior High School, and it's still, the building is still, part of the building is still in existence now over on Umstead Street, but they have made, uh, it a residential, part of it a residential for people, uh, um, to, to live in.
0:16:12 Selah
And that was called what?
0:16:14 Mrs. Rentrope
J.A. Whitted-
0:16:15 Selah
J.A
0:16:15 Mrs. Rentrope
... Junior High School. And the J.A. Whitted is still written on the front of the building right now. So that was the only junior high school for those of us who lived in the city of Durham-
0:16:26 Selah
Mm-hmm
0:16:26 Mrs. Rentrope
... we could go to. And we went to J.A. Whitted from grades, uh, seven, eighth, and ninth. And for the 10th grade we went over to the famous, the only high school- ... Hillside High School. And Hillside was the only Black, uh, all-Black school or in the, uh, Durham City School, um, District. Now, the county schools had, uh, um, Little River and, um-
0:16:54 Selah
Hillside
0:16:55 Mrs. Rentrope
... oh my gosh. I can't remember-
0:16:56 Selah
Hillside's right on Fayetteville Street
0:16:58 Mrs. Rentrope
... oh, uh, uh, Little River and Merrick Moore were the two county schools, and they were what we call consolidated schools, so they went from g- grades K through 12, but they were the county, county schools.
0:17:09 Selah
K through 12?
0:17:10 Mrs. Rentrope
Grades K through... They were, they were called consolidates, consolidated schools.
0:17:14 Selah
That's crazy.
0:17:16 Mrs. Rentrope
So, um, back to, um, back to Hillside, that, uh, even though we were... Okay, let me just say one thing too. During that time-
0:17:29 Selah
Mm-hmm
0:17:29 Mrs. Rentrope
... in the state of North Carolina, there were about 300 predominantly Black high schools in the state of North Carolina. As of today, only five of those schools are still in existence, and Hillside is the oldest. Hillside's, uh, date, uh, as Hillside High School dates back to 1922.
0:17:48 Selah
Wow.
0:17:48 Mrs. Rentrope
So Hillside is over, as Hillside High School, is over, uh, 100 years old. Matter of fact, on the, uh, in 2022 we did have a centennial celebration for Hillside.
0:18:00 Selah
Wow.
0:18:02 Mrs. Rentrope
Um-So then I, um, finished Hillside in 1963.
0:18:08 Selah
You were Miss Hillside?
0:18:10 Mrs. Rentrope
Huh?
0:18:10 Selah
You were Miss Hillside?
0:18:11 Mrs. Rentrope
No.
0:18:11 Selah
Oh.
0:18:12 Mrs. Rentrope
No. Mm-mm. I was-
0:18:14 Selah
You were class president?
0:18:15 Mrs. Rentrope
No, I'm class president now.
0:18:17 Selah
Now. Mm-hmm.
0:18:17 Mrs. Rentrope
Uh-huh. Our class, we still, many, many classes still meet and still get together.
0:18:23 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:18:23 Mrs. Rentrope
Um, so I am, I've been president of, um, of, of, of, um, my class since 2008.
0:18:31 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:18:32 Mrs. Rentrope
So the class of '63 of Hillside. So going back then and s- graduated from Hillside in 1963, and I walked three blocks over to North Carolina College. Like I said, we didn't have a car.
0:18:49 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:18:50 Mrs. Rentrope
So I walked to W.D. Hill, I walked to W.G. Pearson, I walked to J.A. Whitted, and I walked to Hillside, and I walked to North Caro- North Carolina College.
0:19:06 Selah
How far is-
0:19:06 Mrs. Rentrope
But what I, one of the things I was gonna say, uh, while at Hillside, it was not long-
0:19:10 Selah
That's a far walk, kinda.
0:19:13 Mrs. Rentrope
Well, that's what-
0:19:15 Selah
That's kinda far.
0:19:17 Mrs. Rentrope
Well, that was nothing for us.
0:19:19 Selah
Yeah. Yeah.
0:19:20 Mrs. Rentrope
Um, we did... There were, there was, there were, uh, um, um... Integration was starting to, um, to come about, um, and there were people, um, in some of the grades, I know in the class of '62, um, there was, um, uh, Joyce Perry Edwards now, who, uh, went two years, I think she told me, at, uh, Hillside. So she, she was in the class of... She would've been in the class of '62 graduating from Hillside, but instead she graduated from Durham High-
0:19:58 Selah
Mm-hmm
0:19:59 Mrs. Rentrope
... in '62, and I think she went two years at Durham High, she told me. Uh, in my class we had four people who, and I can't remember whether they went the whole year of our senior year or half the year of our senior year, but we do have four people in our class who went over to Durham High. And so, uh, technically their diplomas were, is from Durham High. And one of them-
0:20:24 Selah
Mm-hmm
0:20:24 Mrs. Rentrope
... Oracle McFadden, who's a former mayor pro tem, uh, Alberta Watts Allen, Anita Brame, and there was a guy whose name just escaped me again.
0:20:34 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:20:36 Mrs. Rentrope
But those, those four in the cla- Hillside class of '63, um, technically graduated from Durham High. And it slowly, I think the class, the Hillside class of 1970, I think was the last, quote, uh, predominantly Black, um, s- uh, when the school was considered to be, uh, still segregated, was the last of the segregation, uh, for the s- uh, total segregation was in 197- the Hillside class of 1970 was that class. Um, and you know, uh, one of the things that I have to say is that as those of us who've come through those kinds of things, um, I'm not sure that we have communicated, um, uh, what it was like with our, our younger people, and so people just take for granted that what exists right now is how it's always been.
0:21:31 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:21:32 Mrs. Rentrope
But it hasn't. Um, you know, when we, when I was growing up, um, the buses were segregated. We had, Blacks had to sit in the back of the bus. Um, the bathrooms in various, uh, businesses, particularly department stores downtown and all places, they had a white bathroom, a white water fountain, a colored bathroom, and a colored water fountain.
0:21:58 Selah
That's so crazy.
0:21:59 Mrs. Rentrope
And so as, as Blacks, we went to the colored water fountain.
0:22:06 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:22:06 Mrs. Rentrope
Um, at eating establishments, at Rose's, at, uh, uh, Kresge, Howard Johnson's, um, the Ball, um, I can't remember what the name of the place where we used to get hot dogs. Uh, either we s- go in there and order our food-
0:22:24 Selah
Mm-hmm
0:22:24 Mrs. Rentrope
... and stand up and walk out. We couldn't eat in those establishments or unlike this, the, um, and it's escaping me to the name, but if where we used to buy hot dogs, we had to go around the, the side. Carolina Theater was segregated. Blacks had to go up the balcony, or go up the steps in the back of the Carolina Theater-
0:22:46 Selah
The Carolina Theater
0:22:47 Mrs. Rentrope
... go up to the balcony, and that's was, uh, um, where Blacks were, and we used to throw popcorn downstairs. Um, and, uh, there was a, there were, uh, many protests going on.
0:23:03 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:23:03 Mrs. Rentrope
One of them, for example, at the Carolina Theater, um, it was, um, um... And many people protested, only, I mean, when you read it and you see it, it only names a few, and those were people who were outstanding. But it took many of us involved in what was at that time for the Carolina Theater called Round Robin, wherein we had a huge group of people, and we'd go up to the ticket counter and ask to buy a ticket.
0:23:30 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:23:31 Mrs. Rentrope
They wouldn't sell us a ticket, and we'd march on around and come on back, and that was done at the Carolina Theater that eventually did, you know, integrate. Um, and that wasn't the only place. So, um, for many of us, um, you know, growing up in that era, yes, it was segregated, but, um, there was also a part of it whereas, uh, people, as Black people, um, there was s-So much, uh, what I feel like a family, uh, atmosphere where we looked out for each other and we took care of each other. Um, and a lot of that has dissipated now.
0:24:21 Selah
Yeah. Why do you think that is?
0:24:26 Mrs. Rentrope
I think there are... It's no one reason.
0:24:28 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:24:28 Mrs. Rentrope
I, I think it's so many reasons.
0:24:31 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:24:31 Mrs. Rentrope
And for me, I think that we've taken God out of everything, and God has just taken his hands off a lot of this. And he said, "You, you want to do it your way, you do it your way, and you get the results of doing it your way." Um, many people don't believe there is a God-
0:24:48 Selah
Mm-hmm
0:24:48 Mrs. Rentrope
... or that, uh, God isn't important, uh, in their lives, even though they will acknowledge that he created them. Um, but it's, uh, my thing and doing my thing. And even in some churches, we got so many manmade doctrines now going on in churches that, that the Bible, Bible is not really being taught. It's not being-
0:25:10 Selah
Mm-hmm
0:25:11 Mrs. Rentrope
... uh, adhered to. And even from the pulpit, there are, um, so many manmade doctrines going on, and we put so many different kinds of, um, platitudes in there where you do this and you sit here and, and you get up and you do things-
0:25:25 Selah
Mm-hmm
0:25:25 Mrs. Rentrope
... that it's not in the Bible, and that man has created those things. Um, but also I think it... we've gotten into a disrespect for each other. Um, and if you read the Bible, it sh- it tells you that, that, that, um, things like this, we'll be living in perilous times. Um, there will be wars and rumors of wars. Uh, that, um, things would happen where people would try to do this and do this, and, um, it's there.
0:25:56 Selah
It's kinda happening.
0:25:57 Mrs. Rentrope
It's kinda happening.
0:25:58 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:25:59 Mrs. Rentrope
It's not kinda happening. It's happening.
0:26:00 Selah
It is happening.
0:26:01 Mrs. Rentrope
Yes.
0:26:01 Selah
Yeah.
0:26:02 Mrs. Rentrope
And so it is, and the thing is, is that people really don't realize the times that we're in.
0:26:11 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:26:12 Mrs. Rentrope
Um, and if you look, um, the violence has increased, and the Bible did say that that would happen. When it said knowledge would increase, and knowledge is increasing. I was looking at the news last night. It's like with AI there, it's like what I was hearing on the news last night or whatever I was looking at, is that AI is gonna be so prominent that it's becoming, uh, it's gonna...
0:26:41 Selah
It's gonna take over the world.
0:26:42 Mrs. Rentrope
It's gonna take over the world, and it's not in a good thing, in a good way.
0:26:46 Selah
Mm-mm. Mm-mm.
0:26:46 Mrs. Rentrope
And, um, you know...
0:26:51 Selah
What do we do?
0:26:51 Mrs. Rentrope
It is, wh- what do we do? And we, w- we are cr- created, and-
0:26:56 Selah
Yeah
0:26:56 Mrs. Rentrope
... it's, uh, it's interesting. But there is hope if you know Jesus Christ-
0:27:03 Selah
Mm-hmm
0:27:03 Mrs. Rentrope
... as Lord and Savior.
0:27:04 Selah
Mm-hmm. People better get right.
0:27:06 Mrs. Rentrope
That's right. That is the truth.
0:27:08 Selah
Yeah.
0:27:08 Mrs. Rentrope
And people don't realize that. No, really, they think that, well, um, it's, it's all a myth, or they don't even bother, bother to, bother to think about it.
0:27:22 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:27:23 Mrs. Rentrope
But it's, it's, it's true.
0:27:24 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:27:24 Mrs. Rentrope
And a lot of these plans and programs that we come up with that we say, "Oh, this is what is needed to compact, combat this, and this is what is needed," and if it doesn't have God in it, it's not gonna work. And that's why a lot of these programs are not working, and everybody wants to blame everybody else.
0:27:41 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:27:41 Mrs. Rentrope
The community wants to blame-
0:27:43 Selah
Mm-hmm
0:27:43 Mrs. Rentrope
... uh, the government. The government wants to blame the community and the parents. The parents want to blame the government and the community. So everybody wants to blame everybody. And, um, it's nothing is... These programs are not working. And violence is increasing.
0:28:03 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:28:04 Mrs. Rentrope
Uh, disrespect of, uh, of even in within your own family.
0:28:09 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:28:09 Mrs. Rentrope
Um, we see... I mean, just the other day, this young, what, 16-year-old boy was killed over a pair of jeans.
0:28:17 Selah
Yeah.
0:28:18 Mrs. Rentrope
Says the father. Over a pair of jeans.
0:28:20 Selah
A pair of jeans?
0:28:22 Mrs. Rentrope
Yes. And, and it was the sa- He was 16, and I think that the child who killed him was about the same age, 16 or 17. Um-
0:28:29 Selah
It's a lot of... It's awful. It's a lot of young deaths going on too, especially over here.
0:28:34 Mrs. Rentrope
Yes. Yes. And, um, again, we, you hear people say, "Well, this is needed or that is needed," but, um, what's needed is for people to know that without God, it's not gonna work.
0:28:52 Selah
No, it's not. Mm-mm. W- what changes, positive and negative, have you noticed in the community over the past few years?
0:29:04 Mrs. Rentrope
Changes in the community.
0:29:06 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:29:07 Mrs. Rentrope
You mean in Durham community or-
0:29:09 Selah
In the Durham community. Over in the Fayetteville Street area.
0:29:13 Mrs. Rentrope
Uh, well-
0:29:13 Selah
The Hayti district
0:29:15 Mrs. Rentrope
... again, again, you know, crime has, I- i- has, has increased. Uh, while there are groups that are offering, um, different kinds of perspectives, I've seen even groups not willing to come together to work together. Everybody is... Everybody wants the eye on them-
0:29:36 Selah
Mm-hmm
0:29:36 Mrs. Rentrope
... or attention. And, um, so there's like some infighting. Um, and then everybody wants to get credit for, um, like bringing in some kind of new, uh, program or, or, or, or thing. And it just, um... I think that we've gotten very selfish.
0:29:58 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:29:59 Mrs. Rentrope
Um, and, um, all you have to do is look at the news, you know the crime has increasedUh, people are trying to self-medicate themselves from all of this that's going on, so we look at the j- increase in, in, in substance use. Uh, we look at the increase in suicide. People lose, are losing hope. And it's not that these things never existed.
0:30:23 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:30:23 Mrs. Rentrope
Yes, they did, but not to the, uh, tune that they're existing now. Um, suicide has increased among, um, Blacks, among all age categories.
0:30:35 Selah
Yeah.
0:30:35 Mrs. Rentrope
Even, um, quote, I call myself mature. Age group. Um, suicide is increasing among that, increasing among veterans, um, teenagers, espe- especially Black males. Um, all of the negative things seem to have increased.
0:30:55 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:30:56 Mrs. Rentrope
And that's what I, I, I notice, I notice. Again, I know that there are groups that are, are presenting programs and trying to think of ways to combat, uh, counteract some of these things that are going on, but like I said, without God, then it's not gonna work.
0:31:13 Selah
Mm-mm.
0:31:15 Mrs. Rentrope
And so we can put all kinds of money into these programs. Um, some people, even with these programs, they're not using them as they are supposed to be intended to be used. People use the money for things they're not supposed to be used, or they are not as dil- diligent in making sure that the program is, are functioning as, as best as it can. We get too comfortable. Um, it gets kind of easy, and we kind of sit back and... And I'm not saying it's happening in-
0:31:48 Selah
Right
0:31:48 Mrs. Rentrope
... in every aspect.
0:31:49 Selah
Right.
0:31:49 Mrs. Rentrope
But you do see, you do see that there are, um, programs where the money is not being used as it's supposed to be used. So I, I don't know. It's, if I didn't have God in my life, I would, I would be hopeless-
0:32:05 Selah
Mm-hmm
0:32:05 Mrs. Rentrope
... with what is going on.
0:32:06 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:32:07 Mrs. Rentrope
To be honest.
0:32:10 Selah
Yeah. It's kind of hard not to be sometimes. It's tough going on. So what do you hope the younger generation understands about this community? Or about their life?
0:32:24 Mrs. Rentrope
What do I hope that they understand about this community is that in order for things to get better, that it's going to take, first of all, God.
0:32:38 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:32:38 Mrs. Rentrope
And it's going to take people willing to put self out of the way, be willing to work with each other, be willing to communicate. Everybody can't be the big I's. Um, it's going to take commitment. Um, it's going to take, um, willingness to, um, be willing to, um, do things maybe it's not exactly the way you want it to do.
0:33:07 Selah
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
0:33:08 Mrs. Rentrope
But if we work together, um, we can do things. And you know, the other part of it is, is also be willing to accept disagreement, 'cause everybody's not gonna agree. But what happens if you disagree with someone, I mean, it becomes a total...
0:33:30 Selah
Different thing now.
0:33:31 Mrs. Rentrope
Yes.
0:33:32 Selah
Yeah.
0:33:32 Mrs. Rentrope
It, it... People don't want you to disagree.
0:33:35 Selah
No. You can't disagree with people now.
0:33:36 Mrs. Rentrope
And, uh, people, um... You can agree to disagree.
0:33:41 Selah
Yeah. You can.
0:33:43 Mrs. Rentrope
And you do that, you do... I mean, but even in families, people can't disagree. Either they're shunned or, um, they're outcast or, um, stop speaking to each other.
0:33:56 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:33:56 Mrs. Rentrope
Uh, and that happens in the families, and that happens in the community.
0:34:00 Selah
Yeah. It does. Speaking of family, how many children do you have?
0:34:05 Mrs. Rentrope
Okay.
0:34:06 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:34:07 Mrs. Rentrope
All right. Um, I, biological, biological children, I have, uh, two living children.
0:34:14 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:34:14 Mrs. Rentrope
Uh, one is, the oldest is 54. The oldest living one is 54, and the other one is 50, and I have, uh, one grandson who's 32, and I just have a 12-day-old great-grand. Um, through bonus, I have, uh, with my husband, I mean, with his, uh, our children together-
0:34:41 Selah
Mm-hmm
0:34:41 Mrs. Rentrope
... um, there, um, is a son that's, um, lives in Rhode Island and then daughter here in, uh, well, in Wake Forest.
0:34:49 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:34:50 Mrs. Rentrope
And a grand, um, granddaughter and a great-grand. And then all my children are married-
0:34:59 Selah
Mm-hmm
0:34:59 Mrs. Rentrope
... so we got s- sons-in-laws and daughters-in-love. So sons-in-love and daughters-in-love. So together, uh, we have four children, three grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, four... two daughter-in-loves and two sons-in-law.
0:35:21 Selah
Big family.
0:35:22 Mrs. Rentrope
Mm-hmm. And we get together often, and that's, that's good.
0:35:26 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:35:27 Mrs. Rentrope
I enjoy that.
0:35:28 Selah
Do you guys... What do you guys do when you get together?
0:35:30 Mrs. Rentrope
Eat.
0:35:31 Selah
Yep. Okay. That's the happiness right there.
0:35:35 Mrs. Rentrope
That's the happiness right there.
0:35:37 Selah
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
0:35:37 Mrs. Rentrope
And we play games, and, um, we've traveled some.
0:35:42 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:35:42 Mrs. Rentrope
Um, well, various point, co- um, various ones of us have traveled, uh, some together. Um, but we c- we, we get together. And I used to, uh, first Sunday, I used to have everybody over here.
0:36:00 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:36:01 Mrs. Rentrope
And that was before COVID.
0:36:02 Selah
Mm.
0:36:03 Mrs. Rentrope
And, uh, after COVID, I got used to not cooking.
0:36:07 Selah
How was COVID for you?
0:36:10 Mrs. Rentrope
Um, it was, um, many different parts. Um, I ended up getting COVID. I was very sick. I didn't-- I was not hospitalized, and I got the Regeneron therapy. Um, and that was about a month that I was, m- I was very sick.
0:36:30 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:36:31 Mrs. Rentrope
Um, but I was here home.
0:36:33 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:36:33 Mrs. Rentrope
And, um, my husband didn't get it, and I'm so glad.
0:36:36 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:36:36 Mrs. Rentrope
Because he, he, he had some health issues. Uh, he never got it, and I'm thankful. And I ended up getting COVID again.
0:36:43 Selah
Me too.
0:36:44 Mrs. Rentrope
In October, my daughter and I, um, went on a cruise, um, and we came, uh... this was during part of the government shutdown.
0:36:55 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:36:56 Mrs. Rentrope
And so we spent, uh, nine hours in New Orleans Airport trying to get out of New Orleans.
0:37:03 Selah
No way.
0:37:03 Mrs. Rentrope
And we had a connecting flight in Atlanta. Uh, well, the-- when we finally got out of New Orleans and got to Atlanta, our flight had left. And when we got to Atlanta, we ended up having to spend the night in the airport, and it was somewhere during that time I got COVID, but it was nowhere near like when I, um, I had it before.
0:37:26 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:37:27 Mrs. Rentrope
Um, but one of the things too is that, um, I, I co-lead and head lead, a head, a head person, uh, in this group-
0:37:37 Selah
Mm-hmm
0:37:37 Mrs. Rentrope
... um, teaching a, um, class at, um, Durham Center for Senior Life. It's called Total Body.
0:37:44 Selah
Total Body.
0:37:45 Mrs. Rentrope
And it's, um, we... it's Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays.
0:37:51 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:37:51 Mrs. Rentrope
Uh, it's an hour. In the first half, we do aerobics. In the second half on Mondays, we use our balls. On Wednesdays, we use our ropes and bands.
0:37:58 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:37:59 Mrs. Rentrope
On Friday, we use our weights. And our class today, we had 51 people in there today.
0:38:03 Selah
Wow!
0:38:04 Mrs. Rentrope
So it's a pretty, it's a pretty big class. Um, but during COVID, the center did shut down, and at one point, um, they brought in, um, the, the other person who is, uh, doing the class with me.
0:38:21 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:38:21 Mrs. Rentrope
Um, we came in and, um, that's when we started live streaming. So it was nobody in the center but the staff and this other instructor and me, and we started, um, they, they started us doing live stream, and we continued the live stream up until-
0:38:39 Selah
Through COVID
0:38:39 Mrs. Rentrope
... we're still doing. No, we're still doing.
0:38:41 Selah
Oh, now?
0:38:42 Mrs. Rentrope
Yeah.
0:38:43 Selah
Nice. Uh-
0:38:43 Mrs. Rentrope
In addition to having our in-person lessons-
0:38:45 Selah
In person, yeah
0:38:45 Mrs. Rentrope
... we had 51. We had, like I said, I think it was 51 in there today, but we live streamed today. We live stream every Monday, Wednesday and Fridays. Uh, we also, um, before we started live streaming, uh, was this part of, um, some, some of these-
0:39:01 Selah
Mm-hmm
0:39:01 Mrs. Rentrope
... stuff getting a little mixed up now. But, uh, we did parking lot exercises. So the parking... clear- they cleared the parking lot, and we went, uh, section of the parking lot, and people could come, and they had to sign up 'cause we could only have so many. And, um, we did exercises out in the parking lot.
0:39:20 Selah
In the parking lot?
0:39:21 Mrs. Rentrope
Yes, and it was fun. And we, uh, we, we en- we enjoyed it. I think the participants enjoyed it.
0:39:28 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:39:28 Mrs. Rentrope
So during COVID, um, even though we had some changes and did some things differently, um, w- um, we still, at point still was able to, um, keep active. Um, and when I say about the Durham Center for Senior Life, I said it's the best-kept secret. I didn't know about it until I retired.
0:39:51 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:39:51 Mrs. Rentrope
I retired in January 1st, 2008. I had done... I was a clinical social worker at UNC Hospitals on Women's and Children's Services, and I had se- a couple of positions. I was, uh, one of the, uh, program directors at one time, um, which was a supervisory position, and a lead social worker, and, um, then a line social worker. Um, and, um, I had started... I retired January 1st, 2008.
0:40:25 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:40:25 Mrs. Rentrope
And my husband and I were... I can't even remember where we were.
0:40:28 Selah
Yeah.
0:40:29 Mrs. Rentrope
But I met someone who had worked at UNC, uh, and she retired before I did. And, um, she was telling me she was coming down to the Durham Center. Well, prior to that, I had attempted-- I was not athletic.
0:40:43 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:40:44 Mrs. Rentrope
I played in the band.
0:40:45 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:40:45 Mrs. Rentrope
I actually from elementary school-
0:40:47 Selah
A band girl. Mm-hmm
0:40:48 Mrs. Rentrope
... yeah, I was a band girl until I went to s- uh, North Carolina College.
0:40:52 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:40:52 Mrs. Rentrope
And I was in the band probably all the four weeks there, and that was the end of that. Um, but that was because I started work study. I really did. I worked all through-
0:41:00 Selah
You work study?
0:41:01 Mrs. Rentrope
I did work study.
0:41:01 Selah
What'd you do?
0:41:02 Mrs. Rentrope
I worked, uh, first I did, uh, in the library.
0:41:06 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:41:07 Mrs. Rentrope
And then, um, most of the two years was in the psychology department.
0:41:11 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:41:11 Mrs. Rentrope
'Cause, uh, my major was psychology, and my minor was sociology and education. I had a double minor.
0:41:16 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:41:17 Mrs. Rentrope
Um-
0:41:17 Selah
Okay
0:41:18 Mrs. Rentrope
... but, um, so, um, she, the person told us about the Durham Center and said, "Okay." Before then, though, I was saying I had tried Curves, and it just wasn't working for me.
0:41:32 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:41:32 Mrs. Rentrope
The hours weren't working, and plus to me it was monotonous. It was doing the same thing. And the Curves I was going to, the people didn't seem very friendly. I, I'm a people person, so I like to talk and whatever, but they had their own little groups, and I guess I was a newcomer, and so I didn't fit into the group. So I would go and leave and just... anyway.
0:41:54 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:41:55 Mrs. Rentrope
And, and, and it was just hard just getting in the hours-
0:41:59 Selah
Mm-hmm
0:41:59 Mrs. Rentrope
... because I didn't always get off at 5:00, and, um, just getting there. So it, it, it didn't work for me. But anyway, um, when I did retire, I've, um, this person told me, uh, told us about the Durham Center, so my husband and I decided to go.And we had the times mixed up.
0:42:18 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:42:18 Mrs. Rentrope
So the first time we went, uh, the class that we were, um, intended to, uh, participate in had already started.
0:42:26 Selah
Oh,
0:42:26 Mrs. Rentrope
So we, we went to... They have a little, um, gym with-
0:42:31 Selah
Mm-hmm
0:42:31 Mrs. Rentrope
... a few, um, e- pieces of equipment upstairs.
0:42:35 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:42:35 Mrs. Rentrope
So we said, "Okay, we're here, so we're gonna take advantage of while we're here." So I got on the treadmill, and I didn't know really about the treadmill. And, and this was before they started, um, teaching you how to use the treadmill.
0:42:50 Selah
Really?
0:42:51 Mrs. Rentrope
Now they teach you how to use it before you get on.
0:42:53 Selah
The treadmill?
0:42:54 Mrs. Rentrope
The treadmill, yes, because of something what happened to me. They, the, that, there is, there was still the attachment where they attach your, um, your, your T-shirt or something was attached to the machine, and supposedly if you started falling or whatever, it would, um-
0:43:10 Selah
It would catch you?
0:43:11 Mrs. Rentrope
... make, it would c- no, it would cause the machine to stop.
0:43:13 Selah
Oh.
0:43:14 Mrs. Rentrope
Which is what you want it to do.
0:43:15 Selah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
0:43:16 Mrs. Rentrope
Well, okay, I got on the treadmill, and I hit something, and so it started going a little bit faster. And I was trying to hit something to make it stop.
0:43:26 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:43:27 Mrs. Rentrope
Instead, I hit something to make it- ... go up a incline, and I ended up falling off-
0:43:33 Selah
No
0:43:33 Mrs. Rentrope
... and the treadmill didn't stop.
0:43:35 Selah
Yeah.
0:43:35 Mrs. Rentrope
I was walking, at that point, in the room where w- where it, the machine is at.
0:43:39 Selah
Uh-huh.
0:43:40 Mrs. Rentrope
It was carpet. I still have carpet burns on my-
0:43:42 Selah
No way
0:43:44 Mrs. Rentrope
... legs, 17 years ago.
0:43:46 Selah
No.
0:43:46 Mrs. Rentrope
So I, um-
0:43:48 Selah
Oh, my gosh.
0:43:50 Mrs. Rentrope
So, uh, to say that I've never- I have not been back on the treadmill-
0:43:55 Selah
Okay.
0:43:56 Mrs. Rentrope
... in 17 years.
0:43:56 Selah
Yeah. I don't blame you.
0:43:58 Mrs. Rentrope
But I started going to what is called total body class, and-
0:44:01 Selah
And started teaching
0:44:02 Mrs. Rentrope
... Well, I didn't go there to teach.
0:44:05 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:44:05 Mrs. Rentrope
I went there just as a participant.
0:44:06 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:44:07 Mrs. Rentrope
And it, it was so engaging, and things just kind of evolved. And, um, and then I became, um, first became the counter, and then I became like, um, a assistant when someone was out. And then I ended up being the lead teacher, and I can't, I don't remember when that was, but it's been over 10 years ago now, I think, uh, since I've been doing, doing it like that. But I just love going down to the center, and I volunteer in other ways. A matter of fact, I did some volunteer today. In February, um, I was volunteer of the month down at the Durham Center.
0:44:47 Selah
Okay.
0:44:48 Mrs. Rentrope
And so that was a, that was an honor. Um, but I just enjoy it, and one of the things that, uh, I say is... And I remember, I went with my husband when my husband was retiring from IBM. He didn't have a big-time job. He was just on production. But, um, they s- suggested that your spouse come with you as you're preparing to retire. And in one of the sessions they had is that oftentimes people, when they're working, that's their whole environment.
0:45:18 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:45:19 Mrs. Rentrope
They're there so long and so much till they haven't developed relationships outside of their immediate family and, um, outside of their work environment, and so that one of the things is that you need to get involved with other things. Well, I'm a person, I love to get involved, and I think I got that from my mother. As I told you, even with just a third grade education, my mother was into a lot of things and was recognized.
0:45:46 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:45:47 Mrs. Rentrope
Um, so the, um, when, um, we found out about the, um... My husband retired way before I did, but, um, when we found out about the center and started coming, one of the things that I realized is that people, um, sometimes when you get our age or you get retirement, that you go home and sit down, and you sit in front of the TV. You become a couch potato.
0:46:13 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:46:13 Mrs. Rentrope
You already was not one.
0:46:15 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:46:16 Mrs. Rentrope
And that's all you do, and you just slowly decrease.
0:46:19 Selah
Yeah.
0:46:20 Mrs. Rentrope
You slowly melt away.
0:46:21 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:46:22 Mrs. Rentrope
And until some people become so isolated, until their world just kind of doesn't even exist, and that's, that's not me.
0:46:33 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:46:33 Mrs. Rentrope
So one is, uh, there is a saying, um, at the, I think this is part of the Parks and Rec.
0:46:41 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:46:41 Mrs. Rentrope
I'm not sure where it is. I've seen the saying before, but it says, "You don't stop playing because you get old. You get old because you stop playing." And so I enjoy going to the center. I enjoy the exercises. They have so many different programs for people to participate in, in terms of exercise, in terms of the, the body, uh, different, uh, things from yoga, Pilates, all kinds of things.
0:47:07 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:47:07 Mrs. Rentrope
Um, muscle pump, uh, chair exercise, geriatric, I mean, uh, arthritis exercise, all kinds of things, yoga and all kinds of things. And so you can't, uh, um... It's something for p-people to do. Now, I know for some people, transportation might be a issue. Um, and right now with so many people coming, the parking lot is full. It's almost, can't find a place to park when you go down. Um, but it's a good-
0:47:33 Selah
There's nowhere to park
0:47:35 Mrs. Rentrope
... that's a good thing in the sense of people are participating.
0:47:38 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:47:38 Mrs. Rentrope
But that can also be a deterrent, 'cause people come and say, "If I can't find a place to park, then I'm not gonna stay. I'm gonna go home."
0:47:45 Selah
Yeah.
0:47:46 Mrs. Rentrope
So parking is an issue. It's a good thing to have a parking problem.
0:47:50 Selah
Right.
0:47:51 Mrs. Rentrope
But it's also, um, can be a deterrent to people-
0:47:54 Selah
Right
0:47:54 Mrs. Rentrope
... coming. So anyway, I, I do other volunteer work, uh, particularly with the, uh, with the, what we call the food-
0:48:03 Selah
The food? Mm-hmm
0:48:04 Mrs. Rentrope
... portion of it. Um, they, they have different things. We used to have what is called Shop and Grab, and then that's being modified. And I've been asked to, uh, be a more active participant in that, and I am nowI'm gonna be one of those who's gonna be shopping, uh, for the food rather than just waiting for the food to come to the center-
0:48:24 Selah
Mm-hmm
0:48:24 Mrs. Rentrope
... and then helping to set it out and whatever, um, because some of that is gonna change how we used to do that. So I've been involved with that for s- for, oh, I wanna say three years. I'm not sure.
0:48:35 Selah
Wow.
0:48:35 Mrs. Rentrope
Time just passes by.
0:48:37 Selah
Mm-mm. Time is, it- We're in 2026.
0:48:40 Mrs. Rentrope
Yes, and can't believe it.
0:48:42 Selah
Yeah.
0:48:43 Mrs. Rentrope
But, um, I, I remember when I used to think that 30 was old. And then-
0:48:50 Selah
Right
0:48:51 Mrs. Rentrope
... and now I think I'm still young.
0:48:53 Selah
And is. Hallelujah.
0:48:55 Mrs. Rentrope
I'm 80 years old.
0:48:56 Selah
80 years young.
0:48:57 Mrs. Rentrope
I, that's right, 80 years young.
0:48:59 Selah
80 years young.
0:48:59 Mrs. Rentrope
I'm 81 this year, and uh-
0:49:01 Selah
When's your birthday?
0:49:02 Mrs. Rentrope
September. September 22nd.
0:49:04 Selah
Nice.
0:49:05 Mrs. Rentrope
But, um, I feel good.
0:49:08 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:49:08 Mrs. Rentrope
And I, I'm very thankful to, to God for that. Um, and of course, like, there've been some losses. My husband, um, passing, my grandson moving out.
0:49:19 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:49:20 Mrs. Rentrope
But I, I, I still have joy.
0:49:24 Selah
Yeah.
0:49:25 Mrs. Rentrope
I still have joy, and I'm thankful again, like, for my church family.
0:49:28 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:49:29 Mrs. Rentrope
Uh, I just love them, and they have been so supportive of me.
0:49:32 Selah
Mm, I'm glad.
0:49:33 Mrs. Rentrope
Um, and down at the center and, um, I met so many people, and we've become friends.
0:49:40 Selah
Yeah.
0:49:41 Mrs. Rentrope
Um, and then my own biological family, my children, all, and my bonus children, and my biological children. Uh, I, I don't like the word step.
0:49:50 Selah
I don't like step either.
0:49:51 Mrs. Rentrope
And, um-
0:49:51 Selah
Those are my kids. And that's my brother, and that's my sister.
0:49:54 Mrs. Rentrope
Right.
0:49:54 Selah
Yeah.
0:49:55 Mrs. Rentrope
And so, um, I'm, um, I call them bonus sometimes. I may slip and say step.
0:50:01 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:50:02 Mrs. Rentrope
And I think of-
0:50:02 Selah
I don't mean it. Yeah
0:50:04 Mrs. Rentrope
... I think of Cinderella and the wicked witch.
0:50:06 Selah
Yeah. I have a few stepbrothers and step siblings-
0:50:10 Mrs. Rentrope
Mm-hmm
0:50:10 Selah
... and when I'm telling people, I'm like, "Yeah, they're step," but like, they not step.
0:50:14 Mrs. Rentrope
Mm-hmm.
0:50:14 Selah
Like, that's my family.
0:50:15 Mrs. Rentrope
Yeah.
0:50:15 Selah
That's my sister. Those are my brothers.
0:50:16 Mrs. Rentrope
Right.
0:50:17 Selah
Mm-hmm. It's just a word.
0:50:18 Mrs. Rentrope
So anyway, um, I, like I said, I, I enjoy life.
0:50:23 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:50:24 Mrs. Rentrope
And I'm very active. I'm gone probably seven days a week, and my house knows it 'cause it don't get cleaned anymore.
0:50:32 Selah
It's pretty clean to me.
0:50:34 Mrs. Rentrope
And, um-
0:50:35 Selah
Where's the Durham Senior Center?
0:50:37 Mrs. Rentrope
It's downtown Durham. The address, what is the address? It's on, um, Rigs- it's at Rigsbee Avenue.
0:50:45 Selah
Oh, Rigsbee Avenue.
0:50:46 Mrs. Rentrope
Uh-huh.
0:50:46 Selah
Okay.
0:50:47 Mrs. Rentrope
It's not too far from the Y.
0:50:48 Selah
No, it's not. It's right on E- West Main Street and East Chapel Hill Street in North-
0:50:54 Mrs. Rentrope
No, the, the address is, part of it is, um, the, they have an adult daycare.
0:51:00 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:51:01 Mrs. Rentrope
And that opening to that part, uh, faces, um, Rigsbee.
0:51:06 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:51:07 Mrs. Rentrope
But the front that we go in, uh, is on Hunt Street.
0:51:11 Selah
Mm.
0:51:15 Mrs. Rentrope
So what is this?
0:51:16 Selah
Hunt Street.
0:51:17 Mrs. Rentrope
Hunt Street. Mm-hmm. Yeah.
0:51:17 Selah
And so I guess this is the entrance.
0:51:20 Mrs. Rentrope
The entrance. Uh-huh.
0:51:21 Selah
Mm-hmm. Hmm. It's a lot down here in this downtown district.
0:51:29 Mrs. Rentrope
It, it is, but one of the things is, and that's, um, um, I'm just gonna be fra- honest. Um, the city at one time put, um, when they put, started putting all those parking lot, parking meters downtown, um, they put parking meters in front of the Durham Center and on the side. And with those parking meters, um, you, you couldn't stay longer than two hours. And um, of course it cost.
0:52:01 Selah
Right.
0:52:01 Mrs. Rentrope
And, um, so s- some of us got together. I, I kinda took, um, lead with some of this, and we did a petition-
0:52:10 Selah
Mm-hmm
0:52:11 Mrs. Rentrope
... to our, uh, s- city government. Um, and we ended up going to some of the work session city council and communicating with city council, um, members, uh, asking for those meters to be moved. And they eventually moved them. Of course, they didn't give us credit for-
0:52:28 Selah
Right
0:52:29 Mrs. Rentrope
... doing anything, but uh, we did present petitions and attended meetings and so, um, those meters are no longer in front of the, um, center. 'Cause uh, just think about this. Not only, uh, parking... Well, the c- the center does have a parking lot, but it's, um, it, it cannot accommodate all the people who attended-
0:52:54 Selah
Right. Yeah
0:52:55 Mrs. Rentrope
... the center. So there has to be some street parking. And, um, some of us, you going to the center, it's gonna take a little while to park your car and walk in, so you may have lo- or not lost, but utilized 20 minutes already. So you got two hours, and that means that you can only attend one class then, and you have to be back to move your car. People-
0:53:21 Selah
They-
0:53:21 Mrs. Rentrope
... go to the center, and many of them go for more than one class.
0:53:25 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:53:26 Mrs. Rentrope
And so that was not really, um, uh, something that was, that was working. Um, and the, the, uh, the big thing for me was that at 7:00, when the center was closed, but other people were downtown going to restaurants-
0:53:44 Selah
Uh-huh
0:53:44 Mrs. Rentrope
... and stuff, the parking was not enforced.
0:53:46 Selah
They taking the parking. Right.
0:53:48 Mrs. Rentrope
No, no. You didn't have to pay for parking-
0:53:50 Selah
Them
0:53:50 Mrs. Rentrope
... after 7:00.
0:53:51 Selah
Oh.
0:53:52 Mrs. Rentrope
Yes. So who was paying, who had to pay for parking were people who were there during the day-
0:53:56 Selah
Mm-hmm
0:53:56 Mrs. Rentrope
... who was in downtown during the day.
0:53:58 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:53:58 Mrs. Rentrope
Now, they still have a lot of the parking meters there, but uh, they did, um, take the ones that were in front of the center and on the side. They did remove those. But when you think about, all right, at 7:00-
0:54:13 Selah
Yeah
0:54:13 Mrs. Rentrope
... the restrictions on parking are no longer there. But who's there?
0:54:16 Selah
Right.
0:54:17 Mrs. Rentrope
Who's taking a... Who has the... Who, who's able to, uh, be downtown and go to restaurants-
0:54:23 Selah
Mm-hmm
0:54:24 Mrs. Rentrope
... and, and so then they don't, they don't have to, they don't have to pay for parking.
0:54:27 Selah
They don't have to pay for parking. They just go-
0:54:29 Mrs. Rentrope
So-
0:54:29 Selah
... park their car
0:54:30 Mrs. Rentrope
... um, just think about that. I won't go into farther than that, but just think about that
0:54:35 Selah
Yes. Hopef-- I wish they would open up... Yeah. They need more like just par-- regular parking lots, I think that you could just-
0:54:43 Mrs. Rentrope
Well, they, they, they, they do. I mean, it's just like Central.
0:54:46 Selah
Yeah.
0:54:47 Mrs. Rentrope
Central needs more parking lots. The-
0:54:49 Selah
Central needs more parking lots now
0:54:51 Mrs. Rentrope
... mm-hmm, more parking spaces.
0:54:53 Selah
Yeah, they do.
0:54:54 Mrs. Rentrope
I just had an encounter with Central on something, but I won't go into that.
0:54:58 Selah
What'd they do?
0:54:59 Mrs. Rentrope
Mm-mm.
0:55:00 Selah
Yeah. Yeah.
0:55:01 Mrs. Rentrope
Not at this time.
0:55:02 Selah
Okay.
0:55:03 Mrs. Rentrope
But, um, but parking, uh, the last time I was on Central's campus, I had to park on Pico Street and walk all the way-
0:55:10 Selah
Pico Street
0:55:10 Mrs. Rentrope
... over to the, uh, student center, and I have a bum ankle.
0:55:16 Selah
No.
0:55:16 Mrs. Rentrope
And, um, so but, but I did because I was going to a meeting and, um, I had ridden around Central several times.
0:55:27 Selah
Yeah.
0:55:28 Mrs. Rentrope
And not everybody... I mean, that's a good thing in one sense. And- ... and other, and even where I live, um, on certain occasions, uh, parking is off for people attending something at Central, especially games, parking is always on. My street, as a matter of fact, we, um, we ended up with, um, parking-
0:55:49 Selah
Mm-hmm
0:55:50 Mrs. Rentrope
... um, signs, but it doesn't mean anything.
0:55:53 Selah
I... So yeah, about that. So you, so you put up parking signs so people wouldn't park in-
0:56:00 Mrs. Rentrope
Well, the city put them up. We went to the city. The city put them up, um, for people not to park. Uh, I think it's a two-hour limit or-
0:56:08 Selah
Mm-hmm
0:56:08 Mrs. Rentrope
... something like that. But, uh, at some points it is much worse than it is now. So it's, it's, I guess it's more like a formality because we ended up, some of us ended up not getting the parking decals that-
0:56:23 Selah
Mm-hmm
0:56:23 Mrs. Rentrope
... we're supposed to get and stuff. And again, it's, it's more, um, I guess it's, it's more, um, on s- really special occasions like graduation and homecoming-
0:56:38 Selah
Yeah
0:56:38 Mrs. Rentrope
... um, that, uh, where you really have a big issue.
0:56:43 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:56:45 Mrs. Rentrope
But, uh, I mean, a real, real... I mean, with people parking that, that far up, I know that, uh, at homecoming, I think people had parked all the way. They went past, uh, my street parking for homecoming.
0:56:57 Selah
How did that, how did that make you feel when... Did it bother you if people would park on the street or-
0:57:03 Mrs. Rentrope
Well, I had already-
0:57:03 Selah
'Cause I try to think of it now
0:57:05 Mrs. Rentrope
... I had already told my tenants who live in my house, and I already told them just to-
0:57:10 Selah
Don't let- Yeah, don't let them park here.
0:57:13 Mrs. Rentrope
No, no.
0:57:13 Selah
Oh.
0:57:13 Mrs. Rentrope
I just said, "Save me a space." It wasn't about them. But I said, "Put a thing up there"-
0:57:19 Selah
For me
0:57:19 Mrs. Rentrope
... for me.
0:57:20 Selah
Right.
0:57:21 Mrs. Rentrope
And, and I parked, and then I-
0:57:22 Selah
Mm-hmm
0:57:23 Mrs. Rentrope
... gotta ride the campus so that my car would be somewhere near the campus when things are over.
0:57:28 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:57:29 Mrs. Rentrope
'Cause I can, I can walk. Could take me a little while now, but I can walk from my house to, um, Cen- to the, to the football field.
0:57:39 Selah
So how long has that home been in your g- family?
0:57:42 Mrs. Rentrope
1936, I think it was. And it's, I, I have, um, the, um, I guess more like the agreement that my, um, father made to buy the land and build a house.
0:58:02 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:58:03 Mrs. Rentrope
And it was like... I, I, I should go up there and show it to you. But it was like $3,000, and it took him many, many years to pay it because he couldn't pay but so much a month, like $10 a month.
0:58:17 Selah
Mm-hmm.
0:58:18 Mrs. Rentrope
But he eventually did it.
0:58:20 Selah
Yeah.
0:58:21 Mrs. Rentrope
And $10 a month was a whole lot back then.
0:58:23 Selah
That was a lot back then.
0:58:24 Mrs. Rentrope
When you only made 50.
0:58:25 Selah
Yeah. Yeah.
0:58:28 Mrs. Rentrope
So.
0:58:28 Selah
So that home means a lot to you.
0:58:31 Mrs. Rentrope
It does, and I think it means as much my... 'Cause when I came back, uh, with my children, and they kind of, uh, grew up in that home too, so it means a lot to them as well. And so they want to keep it. And then I, I think about that as Blacks, we have lost so much-
0:58:49 Selah
Mm-hmm
0:58:50 Mrs. Rentrope
... by either being taken from us or we're not understanding and we're losing it in some way. And, um, just, you know, having something, some, some preservation, you know, about, about some of these things because I get, uh, letters, poster cards, telephone calls, texts all the time for people who want to purchase that property.
0:59:21 Selah
Yeah.
0:59:21 Mrs. Rentrope
And we know that, um, they have no, um, no connection to the history.
0:59:30 Selah
Yeah. Yeah.
0:59:30 Mrs. Rentrope
And, um-
0:59:32 Selah
They know
0:59:32 Mrs. Rentrope
... don't know what the house is gonna look like 'cause several houses have been flipped o- over on our price, and they're totally different from the houses that, uh, were, have been there all, all, all the time.
0:59:44 Selah
Yeah.
0:59:44 Mrs. Rentrope
And then some of the houses, I mean, it's, it's, it's like it's not one answer for everything because there are some houses where there's inheritance involved and, um, I just did a, um, attended a s- a seminar. It was a three, three-session seminar-
1:00:03 Selah
Mm-hmm
1:00:03 Mrs. Rentrope
... um, done, uh, by one of the law professors at Central.
1:00:08 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:00:09 Mrs. Rentrope
Um, on trust and wills, but we get i- we got a little bit into, you know, houses and things that people inherit and, you know, how that factor into, um, trusts and wills. But, um, I, my, I c- I, I called her my sister 'cause her f- family was so close. She's, she just passed-
1:00:29 Selah
Mm-hmm
1:00:29 Mrs. Rentrope
... a few months ago.
1:00:30 Selah
Yeah.
1:00:30 Mrs. Rentrope
But the house that, now she grew, she, she grew up in, so herIt, it was four of them and her mother and father. And it was the grandmother's house. So the grandmother lived downstairs, and one of the aunts and her husband, and I think at that time maybe they had four children, they lived downstairs. And my, um, uh, my quote sister, her, her parents and her, uh, three, uh, three siblings, the four of them lived upstairs. And the, because the house was a family house, um, it, it like to have, uh, repairs done or to sell it or whatever, uh, you got to go through so many people because when a, it, the inheritance goes all the way down from the person who initially do- as long as they lived, and then their offspring-
1:01:33 Selah
Mm-hmm
1:01:33 Mrs. Rentrope
... and offspring and offspring. And so if it's not clarified in the beginning, uh, how things are to be done, then you caught up with that kind of thing.
1:01:43 Selah
Yeah.
1:01:44 Mrs. Rentrope
Uh, and that's, I, I know, uh, for one of the houses over there-
1:01:47 Selah
And you could lose your stuff
1:01:48 Mrs. Rentrope
... it's, it's, that, that is the situation-
1:01:51 Selah
Uh-huh
1:01:52 Mrs. Rentrope
... like that.
1:01:52 Selah
Yeah.
1:01:53 Mrs. Rentrope
So, um, and so a lot of work needs to be done on the house-
1:01:58 Selah
Mm-hmm
1:01:58 Mrs. Rentrope
... plus the way it's being kept right now, um, is not the best, but then somebody comes to build a $699,000-
1:02:08 Selah
Right
1:02:09 Mrs. Rentrope
... house, and I, I know, I know what that's gonna mean to my property in terms of itch- um, taxes.
1:02:19 Selah
Yeah, it's gonna make it go up.
1:02:21 Mrs. Rentrope
Um-
1:02:21 Selah
And the houses over there sometimes they don't even fit.
1:02:25 Mrs. Rentrope
No, that's it.
1:02:25 Selah
They, no, they don't.
1:02:26 Mrs. Rentrope
And that's a whole nother thing. Now, I think you asked me a question, something about, or maybe it's in my mind about this, the, the city of Durham.
1:02:35 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:02:35 Mrs. Rentrope
And that's one of the things that concerns me is that it's like any builder that comes in, comes to the city council, the city council is always wanting to build something to-
1:02:48 Selah
Mm-hmm
1:02:48 Mrs. Rentrope
... and have no regards for, uh, the neighborhood.
1:02:52 Selah
Right.
1:02:52 Mrs. Rentrope
It's always like, "This is progress. This is progress." But you're taking the history, and you're destroying it. And I, and I guess if you weren't-
1:03:04 Selah
Part of this
1:03:05 Mrs. Rentrope
... part of the neighborhood-
1:03:06 Selah
Yeah
1:03:06 Mrs. Rentrope
... then it doesn't matter to you.
1:03:07 Selah
Right.
1:03:08 Mrs. Rentrope
And then the people who, um, are most concerned, most of us, most of the time we just sit back and let it happen. Or our voices, we feel like our voices are not gonna be heard-
1:03:18 Selah
Mm-hmm
1:03:18 Mrs. Rentrope
... because we don't have the money, and we don't have the influence, and that's what, um, it seems like that's what directs our city council is the money and, and who this person is and influence. And, and, uh, even with our mayor, it's almost like always whatever development come in, we're gonna try to-
1:03:39 Selah
We'll, we'll, we'll just do it
1:03:40 Mrs. Rentrope
... we're gonna try to make it happen.
1:03:41 Selah
Right.
1:03:42 Mrs. Rentrope
Um, that's concerning to me.
1:03:44 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:03:45 Mrs. Rentrope
Is that, um, every people come in from all different places, and they think that Durham should be so, s- a certain way because this is what they want. And, um, it's like the history and what helps to preserve the history is destroyed.
1:04:06 Selah
Yeah. So how can we help preserve the history? Is there anything we can do?
1:04:13 Mrs. Rentrope
Well, the, for some of us, the best we can do, for one, is like hold on to what you have if you can.
1:04:19 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:04:20 Mrs. Rentrope
Um, and it comes with a price. For example, if m-my house needs repairs, for me to, for it to stay as part of the Stokes-Dale historical, um, uh, part or the preservation require the, what's required to keep it to f- for me to do repairs is very expensive.
1:04:49 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:04:49 Mrs. Rentrope
Because it has to be done within certain parameters. The windows that, uh, can't, uh, the windows have to be wood or something. I can't remember all. I went through a little part of it-
1:05:01 Selah
Mm-hmm
1:05:01 Mrs. Rentrope
... just to see. But that's expensive.
1:05:04 Selah
Yeah.
1:05:04 Mrs. Rentrope
And if you don't have the money to do that, which I don't, um, eventually, you know, would that force me to sell my house because I don't want it to go down. But if I sell my house, whoever got it is, is gonna either flip it, and it's gonna look nothing like it looked before, or they're gonna tear it down completely. Um, because I have a little bit of land. It's not much. But I've even gotten, um, a couple of poster cards to do, to put little houses in my backyard.
1:05:41 Selah
No.
1:05:42 Mrs. Rentrope
Um, but-
1:05:44 Selah
No
1:05:44 Mrs. Rentrope
... um, like I said, you know, some of the houses-
1:05:47 Selah
They're crazy
1:05:47 Mrs. Rentrope
... um, over there have been flipped or some have been completely torn down and rebuilt, um, or added to, to the point that it doesn't look like, you know, it's not, it's no longer part of the preservation. And I know you can do anything that you want to on the inside. It's the outside that has to be-
1:06:06 Selah
Right
1:06:06 Mrs. Rentrope
... preserved. But to maintain the outside does require a lot of money and requires certain things to be done certain ways, and that can be a deterrent. And I understand it's a catch 22. Um, if there was money available to help preserve that money available, and maybe there is, I don't know about it.
1:06:26 Selah
Right.
1:06:26 Mrs. Rentrope
If somebody knows of it-
1:06:27 Selah
Help me, help me out
1:06:28 Mrs. Rentrope
... yeah, can show me, direct me where, um, there is some money to help pre-pre-preserve, uh, what's outside. And a part of it is because I don't live in it, because it's rental property now, um, that's, um, that has been something that I have come, have been faced with in terms of, um-When I've looked into some resources is because it's, it's rental pro- property. Um, but it's, I'm tr- I don't know. And I'm not a realtor. This is-
1:07:02 Selah
Yeah
1:07:03 Mrs. Rentrope
... all two, this house and that house.
1:07:04 Selah
Yeah.
1:07:05 Mrs. Rentrope
This, that's all, that's, that's the only personal property, you know, I mean, that's the only real estate that I have.
1:07:10 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:07:11 Mrs. Rentrope
Um, uh, are these two, so I'm not into real estate.
1:07:15 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:07:15 Mrs. Rentrope
Um, but I do want to maintain, I wanna maintain-
1:07:19 Selah
Right
1:07:19 Mrs. Rentrope
... I don't have money to fix this house. My husband, th- his income is, is gone, you know? And even together, because he was not a, a high production, um, income person and neither was I, we're here. And there are things that need to be done to this house that-
1:07:38 Selah
Mm-hmm
1:07:38 Mrs. Rentrope
... you know, that the money isn't, isn't there to do it. Because I'm, my income is a little bit higher than, uh, most of the income requirements, so then I don't qualify for, uh, a lot of things.
1:07:54 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:07:54 Mrs. Rentrope
But, um, so for me it's a catch 22.
1:07:58 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:08:01 Mrs. Rentrope
Uh, it's, it's, it's that. But I love Durham.
1:08:04 Selah
Yes.
1:08:04 Mrs. Rentrope
I do not want to... Even though I lived in Cleveland, I don't want to live in... Where if my husband used to threaten me, he's from Alabama. He used to threaten me. We, we gonna move to Alabama. You gonna move.
1:08:19 Selah
We go, I ain't going to no Alabama.
1:08:21 Mrs. Rentrope
I, I, I, I'm not, I don't wanna live in Alabama.
1:08:23 Selah
Uh-uh.
1:08:24 Mrs. Rentrope
That, that he was from Tuskegee, that to me is a very depressing place.
1:08:29 Selah
Yeah. Uh-uh.
1:08:29 Mrs. Rentrope
Um, but, um-
1:08:30 Selah
I've been to Alabama once
1:08:32 Mrs. Rentrope
... I enjoy, I enjoy, I enjoy this neighborhood. I enjoy the fact that it's a mixed neighborhood in terms of ethnic, uh, in terms of age. Um, I mean, I don't know a lot of my neighbors and, and, uh, whatever, but I enjoy the location.
1:08:51 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:08:52 Mrs. Rentrope
Um, it's, and s- uh, c- really considering that I don't like to drive that much anymore.
1:09:00 Selah
Don't blame you.
1:09:01 Mrs. Rentrope
At least I'm close to, you know, I'm close to the mall, I'm close to downtown. I'm close to places that I go. I'm close to my friends. I'm not far from my other, my other house.
1:09:13 Selah
Yeah.
1:09:13 Mrs. Rentrope
Um-
1:09:14 Selah
It's all right here
1:09:15 Mrs. Rentrope
... I, I, I love, I love this neighbor- this area. And it's not a HOA.
1:09:21 Selah
Right. There's no HOA.
1:09:23 Mrs. Rentrope
No HOA.
1:09:23 Selah
No, they're so annoying.
1:09:24 Mrs. Rentrope
Um-
1:09:26 Selah
You can't do this, you can't do that
1:09:28 Mrs. Rentrope
... right.
1:09:29 Selah
This my place. Why can I... This my, this my, this mine.
1:09:32 Mrs. Rentrope
I know it, but I understand some of them take you to court, uh, or ch- or whatever if your mailbox is different or-
1:09:42 Selah
They be tripping
1:09:42 Mrs. Rentrope
... or your color is, is, is different. So I, I, I don't know. But I just, I love the proximity of this, I love this location. Um, and sometimes I wish I had a one story house.
1:09:55 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:09:56 Mrs. Rentrope
I like the rooms. I, I like rooms.
1:09:58 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:09:59 Mrs. Rentrope
Um, I'm a little old fashioned. I like a little box, box rooms. I don't like everything open.
1:10:04 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:10:05 Mrs. Rentrope
I said if there was a fire and everything is open, you got no place to go.
1:10:10 Selah
Yeah.
1:10:11 Mrs. Rentrope
Um, but we still ha- we have steps.
1:10:15 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:10:15 Mrs. Rentrope
Well, that keeps me in shape.
1:10:16 Selah
Yeah.
1:10:18 Mrs. Rentrope
But, um, one of the things too is that since I've been participating, uh, in the Durham Center, is that I participate in the senior games.
1:10:27 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:10:28 Mrs. Rentrope
And, um, I've partic- I cannot know how many years now, maybe eight.
1:10:33 Selah
Oh, wow.
1:10:33 Mrs. Rentrope
There was a little break in it because of COVID.
1:10:35 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:10:35 Mrs. Rentrope
But being that I was not athletic and that this is all new to me, it's been really fun, um, doing some of the things I've done. Um, I signed up this year, but I'm not sure how much I'll be able to do because of my ankle.
1:10:51 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:10:51 Mrs. Rentrope
Um, but, um, that's, it's, it's just fun and, and it's, I'm, I'm competitive. I'm not competitive. I don't know. I, I don't know. Um, I do enjoy, I mean, the fact that you can still do some things and, uh, be engaging.
1:11:10 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:11:11 Mrs. Rentrope
Just because you 70 or 80 don't mean that you dried up.
1:11:15 Selah
Right.
1:11:16 Mrs. Rentrope
And, um, you know.
1:11:17 Selah
You still need to move around.
1:11:19 Mrs. Rentrope
So, um, that's encouraging.
1:11:20 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:11:22 Mrs. Rentrope
So that senior game starts, I think April the 20th.
1:11:26 Selah
Oh, that's coming up.
1:11:27 Mrs. Rentrope
It's coming up.
1:11:28 Selah
Yeah.
1:11:28 Mrs. Rentrope
Yeah, so.
1:11:29 Selah
Is it a lot of people for it?
1:11:31 Mrs. Rentrope
I don't know who has-
1:11:32 Selah
Okay
1:11:33 Mrs. Rentrope
... signed up, but, um, the events that I signed up for mostly track and field.
1:11:37 Selah
Oh.
1:11:37 Mrs. Rentrope
Although I'm not sure how much I wanna do. And all of those, most of those are April the 20s- 21st at Hillside.
1:11:45 Selah
Oh.
1:11:46 Mrs. Rentrope
Um-
1:11:46 Selah
That's so interesting.
1:11:47 Mrs. Rentrope
But, um, then I have one event, it's at Lyon Park.
1:11:51 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:11:52 Mrs. Rentrope
The cornhole, which I don't do very well, but-
1:11:54 Selah
I'm not good at cornhole either
1:11:55 Mrs. Rentrope
... and there, and there are people who are, uh, who are really good at it.
1:11:59 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:11:59 Mrs. Rentrope
But I'm, I'm out there.
1:12:00 Selah
And that's, that's all that matters. I'm just, look y'all, I'm just here.
1:12:04 Mrs. Rentrope
Mm-hmm.
1:12:05 Selah
I'm out here.
1:12:06 Mrs. Rentrope
Yeah.
1:12:07 Selah
Well, this has honestly been really, really great. Um, maybe we could just get one last thing.
1:12:13 Mrs. Rentrope
Mm-hmm.
1:12:14 Selah
Um, if you could describe this community legacy in one word or feeling, what would it be?
1:12:18 Mrs. Rentrope
This community?
1:12:20 Selah
Um.
1:12:21 Mrs. Rentrope
Durham community?
1:12:22 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:12:22 Mrs. Rentrope
Or where my house is?
1:12:24 Selah
Where your house is.
1:12:25 Mrs. Rentrope
Where it is. Um, see, I've not lived there since 1987.
1:12:39 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:12:40 Mrs. Rentrope
I moved, moved over here in 1987.
1:12:42 Selah
You can describe this one too.
1:12:43 Mrs. Rentrope
Um, I still have connections over there. I still know some people who are, are living there. And actually as, as it relates to like the seventh street and whatever, I'm, that's how I am connected with that neighborhood over there. And I care for that neighborhood. Um-We've, um... I've done, uh, some things with the Fifth Street group, um, some things with preservation, but, um... So I love, I love the neighbor- because for me, the memories are so good. I mean, everything wasn't, you know, good.
1:13:26 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:13:26 Mrs. Rentrope
There were some things that I wish never happened. There were some things that when I think about, it can bring a little sorrow-
1:13:36 Selah
Mm-hmm
1:13:36 Mrs. Rentrope
... whatever. But over- overall, um, pe- friends that I grew up with, we're still friends now. I mean, and not many people can say that you have, you got friends that you've had for over 70 some years.
1:13:54 Selah
Yeah.
1:13:54 Mrs. Rentrope
And, um, family-
1:13:55 Selah
Friendships don't last now
1:13:56 Mrs. Rentrope
... yeah, and c- and family connections and, um, a, that kind of thing. Um, so for me, I have real good memories of growing up on Price Street, Price Avenue. There used to be a club called the Price Street Neighborhood Club.
1:14:14 Selah
Price Street Neighborhood Club?
1:14:15 Mrs. Rentrope
Yeah.
1:14:16 Selah
What, what was y'all doing in there?
1:14:18 Mrs. Rentrope
Well, it was d- when somebody got sick, uh, people came together, they'd bring food, they'd take up a little collection, give them a card, they'd visit. Uh, for Halloween, even though I don't celebrate Halloween anymore-
1:14:33 Selah
Right
1:14:34 Mrs. Rentrope
... um, for Halloween, they would block off the streets, and they would put together a Halloween party for all of the kids, and people came from other neighborhoods and participated. Um, it was, it was a, it was a neighborhood.
1:14:50 Selah
It was a neighborhood.
1:14:50 Mrs. Rentrope
People did things together, and people watched out for each other. People cared about each other. Um, and so I have real good memories of those. Uh, I remember the Lincoln Hospital, when it didn't have any air conditioning- ... we used to sit on, um, um, um, s- a family that I'm still a part of.
1:15:13 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:15:13 Mrs. Rentrope
You know, some are deceased now, and they lived on Masset right across from the hospital. We used to, we used to sit on a, on the, on their porch, and we could hear conversations going on- ... in the hospital. Uh, there used to be a training, Lincoln was a training for a lot of the doctors from the Philippines. Um, and, um, we used to watch people go and come, and like I said, you know, that's where I was born.
1:15:43 Selah
Yeah.
1:15:43 Mrs. Rentrope
Um, I remember, um, Duke had a separate entrance for Black people.
1:15:49 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:15:50 Mrs. Rentrope
Um, and you could go to the clinic, but you had to come in a certain door.
1:15:54 Selah
Oh, wow.
1:15:55 Mrs. Rentrope
Um, so for me, like I said, with, uh, the neighborhood I grew up in on Price Street, which is part of the Fifth Street corridor, um, I have lots of good memories, and I'm trying to maintain my house. Um, and like I said, that can be a struggle, but I, to me, that's part of history, and as long as I can, you know, I, I am, um, going to, to keep the house.
1:16:29 Selah
Yeah.
1:16:29 Mrs. Rentrope
Even though I've thought so many times about selling.
1:16:32 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:16:33 Mrs. Rentrope
If I sell it, then I can-
1:16:33 Selah
Don't sell it
1:16:34 Mrs. Rentrope
... I can get out of debt.
1:16:35 Selah
Yeah.
1:16:37 Mrs. Rentrope
But, um, then I come back, you know.
1:16:39 Selah
And you don't have, you won't have the house.
1:16:41 Mrs. Rentrope
I, I'm well and all of that, but I don't have the memories.
1:16:44 Selah
Mm-hmm. Yep.
1:16:47 Mrs. Rentrope
And, and just for the preservation of the neighborhood.
1:16:50 Selah
Yeah.
1:16:51 Mrs. Rentrope
Because once you sell it, somebody's gonna come in-
1:16:55 Selah
Mm-hmm
1:16:55 Mrs. Rentrope
... who don't have that history or the care for that history-
1:16:59 Selah
Mm-hmm
1:16:59 Mrs. Rentrope
... and they're going to flip it.
1:17:00 Selah
Turn it upside down.
1:17:01 Mrs. Rentrope
And they're gonna flip it. They're gonna... You know, it's gonna be a totally different house.
1:17:06 Selah
Yeah.
1:17:06 Mrs. Rentrope
And so I thank God for those people who have ho- held onto or holding onto, um, even, uh, some of this, even though some of it is, is rental, uh, the people who are the landlords, um, have not tried to distort, uh, some, most of them have not tried to distort the neighborhood. They have, they are keeping it-
1:17:31 Selah
Mm-hmm
1:17:32 Mrs. Rentrope
... you know, as it, as it is.
1:17:36 Selah
Okay. One last thing, and then we can wrap this up.
1:17:39 Mrs. Rentrope
Okay.
1:17:40 Selah
What was your favorite memory?
1:17:41 Mrs. Rentrope
My favorite memory?
1:17:42 Selah
Do you have a favorite memory?
1:17:45 Mrs. Rentrope
Oh, I got so many memories. But just playing in the street, and then also Lincoln Hospital used to have what they called Mayday, and they had a, a Mayday pole. And so we would dress up, and, uh, somehow we got to participate in the Mayday pole. And we would go around and wrap the pole. We had a little production that, that we would do, and that was on the grounds of the, uh, hospital.
1:18:12 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:18:12 Mrs. Rentrope
Um, as I said, really my, my favorite is the, the people.
1:18:19 Selah
Right.
1:18:19 Mrs. Rentrope
And the camaraderie, the, the closeness, um, and the things that somebody described, like the chicken coop.
1:18:29 Selah
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
1:18:30 Mrs. Rentrope
The iceman and the milkman, and, um, just people loving each other, caring for each other-
1:18:36 Selah
Yeah
1:18:36 Mrs. Rentrope
... being there for each other. I have thought about this. Um, right across the street from me was a family of, they ended up being, I think, nine children.
1:18:47 Selah
Wow.
1:18:47 Mrs. Rentrope
But all nine of them weren't, weren't living on, on Price Avenue.
1:18:52 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:18:52 Mrs. Rentrope
But the father, um, had a dry cleaner, and he had one of those work trucks. And on Saturdays or Sundays, it depends, 'cause we weren't supposed to go to s- to the movies on Sundays-
1:19:05 Selah
You weren't supposed to?
1:19:06 Mrs. Rentrope
You weren't supposed... No, you weren't supposed to go to movies on Sunday.
1:19:08 Selah
Oh.
1:19:08 Mrs. Rentrope
You couldn't play cards on Sunday.
1:19:09 Selah
Why not? Oh, 'cause-
1:19:11 Mrs. Rentrope
That's, that's the Lord's day
1:19:12 Selah
... that's the Lord's, that's the Lord's day. Yeah.
1:19:15 Mrs. Rentrope
And we got out a little bit. Got out of that a little bit.
1:19:19 Selah
Uh-huh.
1:19:19 Mrs. Rentrope
But anyway, um, he, uh, he had this, uh, I guess it's called a utility van.
1:19:27 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:19:28 Mrs. Rentrope
And he used to take us to the drive-in, and he would open up the... Back doors open like a door.
1:19:35 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:19:35 Mrs. Rentrope
You know, the two doors. No seats in there. Only two seats are, are the driver's seat and the seat next to it. But with his his, his fair lane and, and the neighborhood child that went, we would always l- literally be laying on top of each other- ... in the drive-in and everything. And that, we just... That, that was, that was fun.
1:19:55 Selah
That was the time. Yep.
1:19:56 Mrs. Rentrope
That was, that was fun. But, uh, and like I said, the, um, people that you grew up with, that we maintain relationships. Um, and, and, and that, that is a good memory.
1:20:12 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:20:13 Mrs. Rentrope
You know?
1:20:13 Selah
Mm-hmm. Well, that's all I have for today. Thank you so much for talking to me and-
1:20:19 Mrs. Rentrope
Mm-hmm
1:20:19 Selah
... sharing your story with me. I really appreciate the time and everything, and this is going to help preserve the history, so thank you.
1:20:28 Mrs. Rentrope
All right. Thank you for letting me talk on and on. Sometimes getting off the subject, but I appreciate it.
1:20:34 Selah
No. No, I love getting off realm.
1:20:37 Mrs. Rentrope
I, I appreciate the opportunity to, to share.
1:20:40 Selah
No, thank you so much. You look so beautiful. All right. Mm-hmm.
1:20:46 Mrs. Rentrope
You wrote down dates that things, some things happened.
1:20:50 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:20:50 Mrs. Rentrope
Like when I graduated from, uh, college, when I graduated from grad school.
1:20:56 Selah
When'd you graduate?
1:20:57 Mrs. Rentrope
When I went to Bible school, some training I'd done.
1:21:00 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:21:00 Mrs. Rentrope
Some license, my employment. Um-
1:21:04 Selah
Can you tell me about your employment?
1:21:07 Mrs. Rentrope
Okay. Well, you wanna start at the beginning when I used to babysit? Oh, I've, uh, my employment, I, well, first of all, I got involved in civil rights.
1:21:18 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:21:19 Mrs. Rentrope
Uh, way back in, I think 1959 or, or so. I was still in junior high school. Um, but my... What was my first job? I, uh, other than babysitting and doing things-
1:21:31 Selah
Mm-hmm
1:21:32 Mrs. Rentrope
... like that, um, I finished grad school in 1969. I went to grad school from 1967 to 1969, and I was in Cleveland at this point.
1:21:46 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:21:46 Mrs. Rentrope
And, um, a-
1:21:47 Selah
Did you like Cleveland?
1:21:50 Mrs. Rentrope
Not really.
1:21:50 Selah
Yeah, that's real.
1:21:51 Mrs. Rentrope
It was a mistake on the lake is what I said. And then, um, it was during a lot of the riots-
1:21:57 Selah
Mm-hmm
1:21:57 Mrs. Rentrope
... when I f- when I first got there. And it was a lot of polarization and a lot of racial, racial things going on.
1:22:03 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:22:03 Mrs. Rentrope
I had shared this with somebody else. When I first went to Cleveland, for me, Cleveland was north.
1:22:09 Selah
Right.
1:22:10 Mrs. Rentrope
Even though it's east.
1:22:12 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:22:12 Mrs. Rentrope
But I, um... or east, whatever it is. But I, I considered it north, and I was very much aware of all the segregation and things that were going on in North Carolina, in Durham. Uh, and I thought, "Oh, I'm going to Cleveland. I'm gonna be out of all of this." Well-
1:22:29 Selah
Mm-hmm
1:22:30 Mrs. Rentrope
... my first, because of, I'm involved first in my... At first, I went to Cleveland. I knew nobody. My, my mother got my cousin, uh, her, really her cousin-
1:22:41 Selah
Mm-hmm
1:22:42 Mrs. Rentrope
... so it was my, my second or third cousin, he was adult, to drive me to Cleveland. And she came up with him, and they turned around and just went straight back.
1:22:50 Selah
Oh.
1:22:50 Mrs. Rentrope
They did. Well, we stopped in Tennessee-
1:22:52 Selah
Yeah
1:22:52 Mrs. Rentrope
... where my aunt was living at the time-
1:22:53 Selah
Mm-hmm
1:22:53 Mrs. Rentrope
... and then drove from Tennessee to, to Cleveland.
1:22:56 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:22:57 Mrs. Rentrope
And so I get dropped off with, uh, my little couple of suitcases, my trunk, and, um, and here, and here I am.
1:23:07 Selah
Yeah.
1:23:07 Mrs. Rentrope
No, um... Well, I was staying in a dorm.
1:23:10 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:23:10 Mrs. Rentrope
I was in a dorm, and I knew nobody.
1:23:14 Selah
Yeah.
1:23:14 Mrs. Rentrope
Never been to Cleveland before.
1:23:15 Selah
Yep.
1:23:16 Mrs. Rentrope
Knew nobody in Cleveland, so I get dropped off. And, um, I get involved almost immediately 'cause I went in August, and I got involved almost immediately. At this time, Carl Stokes, who was, uh, the first Black person, one of the first Black person to run for mayor, but he ran for mayor.
1:23:34 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:23:35 Mrs. Rentrope
At this point in '67, he did not win, but he was running.
1:23:38 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:23:39 Mrs. Rentrope
So I got involved in his campaign from the very beginning, and we had done some things, and I had been the only Black person, uh, in this particular group that was doing something. And so we still had on our Carl Stokes paraphernalia, and we went up to an area called Little Italy. Well, Little Italy was very polarized. It was also a place where Blacks didn't go and-
1:24:02 Selah
Yeah
1:24:02 Mrs. Rentrope
... we didn't, we didn't know.
1:24:04 Selah
Right.
1:24:05 Mrs. Rentrope
And so we went up there to eat, to get something to eat, and-
1:24:09 Selah
It was probably like what the-
1:24:09 Mrs. Rentrope
... and the restaurant would not serve us because-
1:24:11 Selah
Yeah
1:24:12 Mrs. Rentrope
... I was with them, and we all had on all this Carl Stokes stuff.
1:24:15 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:24:16 Mrs. Rentrope
And so that was my introduction to Cleveland.
1:24:18 Selah
Yeah.
1:24:19 Mrs. Rentrope
And it went downhill-
1:24:20 Selah
From there
1:24:20 Mrs. Rentrope
... faster than from there.
1:24:22 Selah
Yep.
1:24:22 Mrs. Rentrope
'Cause it, it, it was a lot of things, racial things that were going on in Cleveland. Uh, once I finished, uh, grad school, it was in a two-year program. I got married in, in, uh, 1968.
1:24:34 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:24:35 Mrs. Rentrope
And, um, finished grad school in 1969. Um, I still, I didn't have any children until 1971, I think.
1:24:45 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:24:47 Mrs. Rentrope
Um, and the agency where I went... Well, um, the, uh, when I finished grad school, it wa- I met, uh, a lot of pe- 'cause there was only 10 Blacks in my program, in, in, in my s- in the, uh, program-
1:25:01 Selah
Mm-hmm
1:25:01 Mrs. Rentrope
... I was in, in the year that I was in, and it was probably 10-... in, in the year ahead of me. It was a two-year program. And one of the, um, one of the Blacks in the two year... Well, all, we all just kind of got to know each other, you know. And so one of them, uh, got a job, and he was a year ahead of me. So he, he got a job at this agency called Friendly Inn Settlement House, and he, um, when I finished school, which was a year after he did, he wanted me to come on, uh, in a position called urban generalist, which is what he had created, was... It was like assistant director-
1:25:40 Selah
Mm-hmm
1:25:41 Mrs. Rentrope
... assistant program d- uh, program director all combined. And so, um, he, um... So I came on as the urban generalist, and he left couple years later, and I applied for the director, and I became... He was the first Black director, and I became the first Black female director of, um, of Friendly Inn. And, um, like I said, in the beginning when I was going in grad school, there were riots. It was when Dr. Martin Luther King was killed, and that was riots. And I actually quit s- quit school, caught myself, quit school-
1:26:21 Selah
Mm-hmm
1:26:22 Mrs. Rentrope
... when Dr. King was killed, and I came back. But I had-
1:26:25 Selah
Dang
1:26:25 Mrs. Rentrope
... people who were concerned about me. Um-
1:26:27 Selah
Yeah
1:26:28 Mrs. Rentrope
... uh, Howard Fuller was the one that, uh, got me to go to grad school.
1:26:34 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:26:34 Mrs. Rentrope
And when I had, um, just dropped out, and that was actually my first year, um, he encouraged me to, uh, return-
1:26:42 Selah
Yeah
1:26:43 Mrs. Rentrope
... back, and, and so did some of my instructors.
1:26:46 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:26:46 Mrs. Rentrope
Encouraged me to return, to return. And I eventually did go back-
1:26:50 Selah
Mm-hmm
1:26:50 Mrs. Rentrope
... and finished, um, uh, finished, finished grad school. And in Cleveland, ended up staying a whole lot more years.
1:27:01 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:27:02 Mrs. Rentrope
Um, and then when I came back to Durham, uh, to Chapel Hill, I mean, to Durham area to North Carolina-
1:27:10 Selah
Mm-hmm
1:27:11 Mrs. Rentrope
... um, the person who had been dean of the gra- of, of, I would say, Case Western Reserve University School of Applied Social Sciences, and Dr. John Turner had been dean. I think he was the first Black dean. And, uh, he, um, he came, he left Case Western Reserve and came to Chapel Hill, became, I think he was the first Black dean of the School of Social Work in Chapel Hill. Anyway, um, we, he, he had made con- we had made contact with, with each other. When I came back to North Carolina and was trying to apply for a job, um, at this point I had a master's degree.
1:27:51 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:27:52 Mrs. Rentrope
I had worked, I think, nine years in Cleveland.
1:27:55 Selah
Oh, wow.
1:27:55 Mrs. Rentrope
And I came back and applied for a job, and I was told I wasn't qualified.
1:28:00 Selah
Ooh. What the?
1:28:03 Mrs. Rentrope
And I said, "Now, wait a minute."
1:28:05 Selah
Right. What you mean?
1:28:07 Mrs. Rentrope
I, I have a master's degree.
1:28:09 Selah
Right.
1:28:09 Mrs. Rentrope
I have nine years experience.
1:28:10 Selah
Right.
1:28:11 Mrs. Rentrope
Um, and-
1:28:12 Selah
How am I not qualified?
1:28:13 Mrs. Rentrope
And this is working at Department of Social Services.
1:28:16 Selah
Right.
1:28:17 Mrs. Rentrope
Yeah. How am I not qualified?
1:28:19 Selah
How am I not qualified?
1:28:19 Mrs. Rentrope
And what it was was that, um, at Cleveland, um, at the School of Applied Social Sciences, you get a MSSA instead of a MSW. You get a Master of Science in Social Administration instead of a Master of Science in Social Work.
1:28:33 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:28:33 Mrs. Rentrope
Which is equivalent.
1:28:34 Selah
Yeah.
1:28:35 Mrs. Rentrope
And so, uh, back during those times, North Carolina required what they call a means test to work in a public agency like Department of Social Services, and the means test had nothing to do with your job.
1:28:49 Selah
Right.
1:28:50 Mrs. Rentrope
It had something to do... It was like, who was the pre- what, what was, uh, who was the president- ... and what was this and all of this.
1:28:56 Selah
So what that got to do with what I'm finna be doing now?
1:28:59 Mrs. Rentrope
So anyway, um, they, they wouldn't even... I took the test, and they wouldn't even grade my test.
1:29:07 Selah
Mm.
1:29:07 Mrs. Rentrope
And they said because I was not qualified to even take the test in the first place. So I went to Dr. Turner and I said, "Help." I said, "I don't understand-"
1:29:15 Selah
Right
1:29:15 Mrs. Rentrope
... "what is going on." At, at that time, Case Western Reserve School of Applied Social Sciences was the third, uh, had the third highest ranking school of social work in the country. And I said, "I've graduated from this high ranking school of social work, and they tell me that I'm unqualified to take this job at Department of Social Services?" So Dr. Turner said, "I am going to get, uh, someone to, uh, help you." He said, "Her name is Hortense McClinton." I said, "Hortense McClinton?"
1:29:46 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:29:47 Mrs. Rentrope
"I know her."
1:29:48 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:29:49 Mrs. Rentrope
Ms. McClinton had been my play school teacher- ... at WD Hill, and I did not know that she had a master's degree in social work.
1:29:58 Selah
Yeah.
1:29:58 Mrs. Rentrope
I did not know any of that-
1:29:59 Selah
Yeah
1:29:59 Mrs. Rentrope
... when I was growing up. But come to find out, Ms. McClinton was the first Black faculty person hired on UNC's campus, and had been my play school teacher.
1:30:12 Selah
Wow.
1:30:12 Mrs. Rentrope
So anyway, when-
1:30:13 Selah
UNC Chapel Hill?
1:30:14 Mrs. Rentrope
Uh-huh.
1:30:15 Selah
Mm.
1:30:15 Mrs. Rentrope
So anyway, when Dr. Turner said, told me he was gonna ask her to help me, and then she called, and we reconnected, and what it was was that the North Carolina did not recognize a MSSA as being equivalent to a MSW. And so we got all that straight, and I got hired at Durham County DPS.
1:30:35 Selah
Yes. Yes.
1:30:36 Mrs. Rentrope
Um, but I was only there a year-
1:30:39 Selah
Mm-hmm
1:30:39 Mrs. Rentrope
... when I got riffed. Um, that is, that I was on a grant, and the grant ran out and was not renewed. So, uh, a friend of mine who was also riffed, there were several of us who had, were on this grant and was riffed, and, and he had applied for a job at UNC.
1:31:01 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:31:01 Mrs. Rentrope
And then he decided he was gonna go back to Maryland, 'cause he had been in Maryland before w-And he was gonna go back to Maryland, and he told me about this position where there were several positions at UNC. And so I decided to apply for, um, a, a couple of them, but the one I really wanted was one on maternal and infant health.
1:31:23 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:31:23 Mrs. Rentrope
I mean, uh, women's and children's services.
1:31:25 Selah
Right.
1:31:26 Mrs. Rentrope
So I applied for that position, and it was really, um... I, I don't know how to say... I mean, I know how to say it, but it was really something because the person who was in that position who was leaving had been in grad school with me.
1:31:43 Selah
Mm.
1:31:43 Mrs. Rentrope
And I had not had any contact-
1:31:45 Selah
Yeah
1:31:45 Mrs. Rentrope
... with her since then, all these years. And she was in a, the program a year ahead of me.
1:31:51 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:31:51 Mrs. Rentrope
And with, um, the person who had hired me as urban journalist as at Freeman and Seligman House, and she was leaving. And so when I called to talk to the person who was in that position, and then we started talking, we recognized we knew each other.
1:32:06 Selah
Small world.
1:32:07 Mrs. Rentrope
Small world.
1:32:07 Selah
Yep.
1:32:08 Mrs. Rentrope
So I ended up-
1:32:08 Selah
Yep
1:32:09 Mrs. Rentrope
... getting po- I did get the position.
1:32:10 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:32:11 Mrs. Rentrope
And she ended up going on working on her PhD. Um, and I ended up staying there 30, uh, I think it was 32 years.
1:32:20 Selah
Wow.
1:32:21 Mrs. Rentrope
Or I had 34 years, I think. I think 30... I stayed there 32 years.
1:32:27 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:32:27 Mrs. Rentrope
And then I had, um, the year at DSS and then my sick time and stuff added up to me having 34 plus years, um, with the state. But, um, it's just things... I, I don't think things happen by chance.
1:32:41 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:32:41 Mrs. Rentrope
And things, they, they do happen, and they're coincidental to what appears to be coincidental, but God has a plan for us.
1:32:49 Selah
Yep.
1:32:49 Mrs. Rentrope
And sometimes we work outside His plan, um, we don't always do His plan.
1:32:54 Selah
Yep.
1:32:54 Mrs. Rentrope
But there, when we do do it, He just opens the door for us that no man can close, and close the door that no man can open, so. When I got over UNC, there was a lot of discrimination over there, but God saw me through and, um, I'm here to tell about it. Um, so but I was telling you that, yeah, I had, um, I did attend a summer institute-
1:33:19 Selah
Mm-hmm
1:33:19 Mrs. Rentrope
... of supervision at Smith College, and that's, that was since after I started at UNC.
1:33:24 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:33:24 Mrs. Rentrope
I was sent there. I attended a management li-leadership institute through the School of Business at UNC. Um, I think I said I graduated, I also graduated from Hosanna Bible College. I was... went there five years part-time while I was working full-time. And, um, uh, ended up, uh, with my grandson in 1994 and still, um, was working full-time, had him and in Bible school.
1:33:56 Selah
Busy lady.
1:33:57 Mrs. Rentrope
Huh?
1:33:57 Selah
Busy lady.
1:33:58 Mrs. Rentrope
Busy lady. Um, and I was a licensed clinical social worker, um, licensed by the state of North Carolina after licensure became in effect. Um, but my y- as my first job professionally-
1:34:14 Selah
Mm-hmm
1:34:15 Mrs. Rentrope
... which I got way away from what you asked.
1:34:17 Selah
That's all right.
1:34:18 Mrs. Rentrope
My first job professionally, um, was... Well, my husband at the time had, uh, he, he had a grant for a community project called CCAP, and but I didn't get paid.
1:34:33 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:34:34 Mrs. Rentrope
But the, my first job professionally after I got my graduate degree was at, uh, Freeman and Seligman.
1:34:42 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:34:42 Mrs. Rentrope
And, uh, I came there as an urban journalist, and that was in 1960 s- 1969, um, to 1973. And then I became director in 1973, and I was just there two years, '73 to '75. And I told you I was first Black female director, um-
1:35:07 Selah
Yep
1:35:07 Mrs. Rentrope
... for me. And Dave, the person who was in front of me, was the first Black person, um, there. And, um, I was a field instructor at the School of Applied Social... I mean, at, um, uh, yeah, through the School of Applied Social Science. Once I was working, then I became a field instructor and adjunct professor here at School of Social Work at, uh, UNC and a clinical supervisor.
1:35:31 Selah
Is that school still over there?
1:35:33 Mrs. Rentrope
Uh-huh.
1:35:33 Selah
At UNC?
1:35:34 Mrs. Rentrope
Uh-huh. School of Social Work. Michael Jordan, his family made a big contribution and yeah.
1:35:43 Selah
Hmm. I'll have to check it out.
1:35:43 Mrs. Rentrope
And since then I've, I've done like some presentations and teaching and training and, uh, I have a lot of affiliations, uh, with the National Association of Social Workers, National Association of Black Social Workers, the American Association of Christian Counselors, the American Association of Black Christian Counselors. Um, done a lot of attendance in conferences and workshops. I, I'm really a, a, I enjoy learning.
1:36:10 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:36:11 Mrs. Rentrope
I try to learn something new every day.
1:36:14 Selah
That's wonderful.
1:36:15 Mrs. Rentrope
Even how minor it is.
1:36:16 Selah
Yeah.
1:36:17 Mrs. Rentrope
Um, and, um, I, I, I try to be a servant as well.
1:36:23 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:36:23 Mrs. Rentrope
And I think I told you that I was president of my class-
1:36:26 Selah
Mm-hmm
1:36:26 Mrs. Rentrope
... of Hillside High School from 2008 to present. I volunteer down at the Durham Center since 2008. Now I've served on, uh, numerous community, um, advisory boards in the hospital and s-citywide. And, um, I'm involved now. I have several prayer groups that I'm involved. One is the Durham Ministers in Prayer. Um, one is, we call it Pastors' Wives Praying Together.
1:36:52 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:36:52 Mrs. Rentrope
Uh, I go to my church on Monday nights most of the time, unless, uhUh, we have intercessory prayer there. Um, my husband and I started a prayer group when we had our church.
1:37:04 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:37:04 Mrs. Rentrope
We had, uh, Tuesday and Thursdays we prayed at noon. We had people who would come to our prayer group who, who didn't come to attend our church.
1:37:12 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:37:12 Mrs. Rentrope
And when we closed our church, there were some people who, uh, wanted to continue the prayer.
1:37:18 Selah
Yeah.
1:37:18 Mrs. Rentrope
So, uh, we did. We just do it on Thursdays, and then we meet in the home of, um, one of the persons in, in Cary. But-
1:37:27 Selah
Mm
1:37:27 Mrs. Rentrope
... a- after COVID, uh, we just meet... Well, during COVID of course we didn't.
1:37:32 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:37:32 Mrs. Rentrope
We, we did telephone. And after COVID, what we decided is that we'll meet one month, one week out of the month-
1:37:41 Selah
Out of the month
1:37:41 Mrs. Rentrope
... in person and every... and the rest of the time we do it by telephone. Although we haven't had a in person for a while due to certain things going on. Um, I was part of the adolescent, what is it? North Carolina Adolescent Parenting, uh, Pregnancy Program, um, one of the original, um, members on that. And, um, I've been on the advisory committee of the State Employees' Credit Union, the Pittsburgh Street branch. Uh, the m- members of the Uni- member of the Unity in the Community for Progress organization-
1:38:17 Selah
Mm-hmm
1:38:17 Mrs. Rentrope
... which is, uh, had been part of the Fifth Street group. Um, as a church, we had a group of, uh, churches. Was, at one point we had about 14, um, called God's Generals, and we were small churches then. We did things together, things that we couldn't do individually, like, uh, having people to come in and do, uh, workshops and do things, um, in the community that, um, together we could do it, but individually, because we were small churches, we, you know, didn't have the finances or whatever to do it. So it's just I, I stay busy. Like I said, um, I'm still in- uh, involved in my church. I'm involved in, um, the community, um, and various things. And I, I guess I do enjoy, um, being busy.
1:39:10 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:39:11 Mrs. Rentrope
I don't enjoy doing housework. I don't enjoy cooking that much anymore-
1:39:17 Selah
Mm-hmm
1:39:18 Mrs. Rentrope
... 'cause it's like, mm.
1:39:20 Selah
It's hard sometimes.
1:39:21 Mrs. Rentrope
Yeah.
1:39:21 Selah
It takes too much.
1:39:22 Mrs. Rentrope
Yeah. But, um, I, I do. I, I'm a people person-
1:39:26 Selah
Mm-hmm
1:39:27 Mrs. Rentrope
... so I like being out. But I want to be somebody to help somebody.
1:39:33 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:39:33 Mrs. Rentrope
I want to be a servant and, um, and I believe I do that to some extent.
1:39:40 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:39:40 Mrs. Rentrope
And I believe that I can do it and still do things for myself. I'm not-
1:39:45 Selah
Yeah
1:39:46 Mrs. Rentrope
... peoples, a lot of people ask me why, um, I'm in this or in that or in that, but it's 'cause I enjoy it.
1:39:52 Selah
Yeah.
1:39:53 Mrs. Rentrope
And people have different things that they enjoy.
1:39:55 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:39:56 Mrs. Rentrope
And I don't enjoy some of the things they do.
1:39:58 Selah
Some of the, some of the things you enjoy. Yeah.
1:40:00 Mrs. Rentrope
Yeah, so.
1:40:01 Selah
I enjoy what I enjoy.
1:40:02 Mrs. Rentrope
Yeah.
1:40:03 Selah
Yeah.
1:40:04 Mrs. Rentrope
So anyway.
1:40:05 Selah
Yeah.
1:40:05 Mrs. Rentrope
Life is good. And my favorite song is The Goodness of God by CeCe Winans.
1:40:10 Selah
Okay.
1:40:11 Mrs. Rentrope
I don't know how she do it, but that's, that's my, that's my favorite is The Goodness of God. And I love that song. It's my ringtone. I mean, it's not my ringtone, it's my alarm. Um-
1:40:21 Selah
CeCe Winans good. Now I like CeCe Winans.
1:40:23 Mrs. Rentrope
Yeah. Yeah.
1:40:24 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:40:24 Mrs. Rentrope
I did get to see her when she came this way.
1:40:26 Selah
Oh, really?
1:40:27 Mrs. Rentrope
Years ago. Yeah. She came to, um, I forget what they call it, Pastor Thompson's church. Uh, ooh.
1:40:38 Selah
Steve, Steve... Ooh, not Stephen Furtick?
1:40:41 Mrs. Rentrope
No, no, no. Right here off of, um-
1:40:43 Selah
The World Overcomers.
1:40:44 Mrs. Rentrope
The World Overcomers, right. Um-
1:40:46 Selah
Oh, uh-huh
1:40:47 Mrs. Rentrope
... I saw her when she came-
1:40:48 Selah
Mm-hmm
1:40:49 Mrs. Rentrope
... um, there s- a few years back, and I was on my feet the whole time she was there.
1:40:54 Selah
Okay. I know that's right. Okay.
1:41:00 Mrs. Rentrope
I know I've talked a lot, but thank you.
1:41:01 Selah
I've, and I loved every minute of it. You just don't know. I really appreciate this. This means more than you know. Yes. Okay. Well, I guess you, you can take your mic off and-
1:41:15 Mrs. Rentrope
Okay, yeah. Turn, turn it off
1:41:16 Selah
... yes, ma'am.
1:41:18 Mrs. Rentrope
Turn, turn, turn.
1:41:20 Selah
I'm gonna turn this off. Yeah, let's turn this off.
1:41:23 Mrs. Rentrope
We can talk how we wanna talk now.
1:41:27 Selah
So what are the rest of your pl- what is, what do you have going on the rest of the day?
1:41:31 Mrs. Rentrope
Oh, well, like I said, I'm involved in a lot of things, so one of the things, um, I'm with my, my high school, but my h- our high school has a alumni association.
1:41:42 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:41:43 Mrs. Rentrope
And, uh, well, I'm first vice president of our alumni association.
1:41:48 Selah
Mm-hmm.
1:41:48 Mrs. Rentrope
And we are planning a big event in, uh, May.
1:41:52 Selah
Okay.
1:41:52 Mrs. Rentrope
So I actually am chair- chairing that, um, event, so I got a lot of stuff to-
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