Bryant Headen and Friends -- An Oral History
Bryant Headen, Sr., the first African American police officer in Asheboro, N.C., talks about his experiences during segregation the Civil Rights era. He is joined by his wife Carrie Headen, community member Robert Freeland, former police colleague Bobby Brewer, and Brewer's wife Joan. Also community historian Mary Rush and County History Librarian L. McKay Whatley, Jr., of the Randolph County Public Library. The interview took place at the Asheboro Public Library, February 28, 2020.
Eldora Allen on Educational Integration in Randolph County
Retired educator Eldora Allen reflects on her experiences as a student when Asheboro, North Carolina, schools were integrated in the 1960s in a talk at the Randleman Public Library, February 4, 2020.
John McGlohon: Photographing the Hiroshima Bombing
At a Friends of the Library event on August 11,2016, former Asheboro fire chief and city council member John McGlohon talks witnessing and photographing atomic bombing of Hiroshima, on August 6, 1945, Japan. McGlohon's comments begin at 08:35.
McGlohon's photographs can be viewed here.
Asheboro in the Movies
From 1936-1942, H. Lee Waters visited small towns in central North Carolina and surrounding states, and filmed local citizens. The resulting movies were shown in local theaters before the main features. Duke University obtained and digitized his collection. Watch them below!
One of H. Lee Waters' films featured Asheboro's African American community circa 1940. Asheboro resident Thomas Rush is leading an initiative to identify people who appear in the film; view the identifications to date here. If you can identify anyone else, please contact us (please provide the individuals' names and the time code at which they appear in the film).
Rise, and Fight Again: A Photographic Journey through the American Revolution
A talk by Ross Holt delivered at the Asheboro Public Library on March 13, 2025, telling the story of the Revolutionary War in our area in terms of the regiments, legions and companies that fought here, using photographs Holt has taken at Guilford Courthouse and House in the Horseshoe reenactments over 35 years.
All Roads Lead to Johnstonville
Local historian Ryan Beeson explores the origin and settlement of Johnstonville, Randolph County's first county seat. Situated at the junction of two important, colonial era byways -- the Indian Trading Path and the Cape Fear or Old Moravian Road, Johnstonville thrived for a few short years until the county seat was moved to a more central location that would become Asheboro.
The Lytle Family
A WGHP Fox8 special report on the Lytle family, which traces is origin to the children of early Randolph County planter Thomas Lytle and a woman he enslaved. Lytle emancipated the children, but their children and grandchildren remained enslaved. Through the generations, as family members scattered across the country, some of the Lytle descendants have come to identify as Black, and others as white. Recent genealogical research has brought together and bonded the diverse members of the family.
From Worth Farm to Center City Garden:
The Evolution of the "Lawn of Asheboro, N.C."
Library Director Ross Holt traces the history and genealogy of the Jonathan Worth farm in the middle of old Asheboro, which is soon to become the David And Pauline Jarrell Center City Garden. Find the presentation script, with citations, here.
Katie Snuggs and the Civil Rights Era in Asheboro
Katie Snuggs, the first African American woman elected to the Asheboro City Council, talks about her experiences in Asheboro during the Civil Rights era in a talk at the Asheboro Public Library on February 27, 2020.
From Hill Town to Strieby with Margo Lee Williams
Author, genealogist and historian Margo Lee Williams talks about her book From Hill Town to Strieby, about the unique history and influence of a small African American community in southwestern Randolph County that traces its origins to the 1840s.
Growing Up in Post-Civil Rights Asheboro
Authors Mark Kemp (Dixie Lullaby: A Story of Music, Race, and New Beginnings in a New South, 2004) and Thomas Rush (Reality's Pen: Reflections on Family, History & Culture, 2012), talk about growing up in Asheboro, N.C., in the 1970s.
