WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.212
Well I was born and grew up in Henderson, North Carolina.

2
00:00:04.212 --> 00:00:08.157
It's in Vance Co. It's about fifty-five miles north of Raleigh.

3
00:00:08.157 --> 00:00:13.200
ell it was a wonderful place in which to grow up.

4
00:00:13.200 --> 00:00:15.878
You'll notice that I don't like to end a sentence in a preposition.

5
00:00:15.878 --> 00:00:21.430
Back in the 1950s when I grew up there

6
00:00:21.430 --> 00:00:24.746
I thought it was the greatest place in the world,

7
00:00:24.746 --> 00:00:32.756
and then later as I left and had a chance to live in other places I realized that while it was a good place to grow up

8
00:00:32.756 --> 00:00:40.904
it didn't offer a lot of the things that I certainly have enjoyed since I've been at NC State and lived in Wake County.

9
00:00:40.904 --> 00:00:45.754
But, you know, it's a small town, and not only that but,

10
00:00:45.754 --> 00:00:52.853
as you would know, back in the 1950s it was a segregated society

11
00:00:52.853 --> 00:00:57.865
and so all the African Americans went to separate schools, separate churches,

12
00:00:57.865 --> 00:01:02.844
and I think about that a lot now because that's such an important,

13
00:01:02.844 --> 00:01:06.645
or what we try to emphasize with our students here at NC State,

14
00:01:06.645 --> 00:01:16.502
the value of welcoming everybody regardless of your race, your gender, your sexual orientation, or any disability that you may have.