Items

• Interview: Armstead, Bryson C. Sr., 2013

  Bryson C. Armstead, Sr. was born on December 21, 1923, in Haddonfield, New Jersey. He graduated from Memorial High School and worked for Campbell’s Soup before World War II. During the war, Bryson joined the US Navy and served as a steward’s mate. After the war, he pursued college and graduate education on the GI Bill. He received BA in social science from St. Augustine's College in Raleigh, NC, and a master's from Glassboro State College (now Rowan University), and pursued additional graduate work at Temple University in Philadelphia. He taught elementary schools for 35 years and retired from the Philadelphia School District in 1986. He lived for many years in Lawnside, NJ, and served as a Lawnside Borough Councilman for 9 years. He served on the Board of Education in Lawnside as well as in Camden. He was a lifetime member of the NAACP and Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. His community spirit was exemplified through his tireless efforts for more than thirty years to restore and maintain Mount Peace Cemetery, a historic black burial ground, in Lawnside. Mr. Armstead's interview primarily focuses on his early life in Camden County, World War II military experience, and his education following the war. It appears that a second oral history session was planned, but did not take place. Mr. Armstead passed away in 2014.
• Interview: Wilson, Clarence, 2011

  Clarence Wilson was born in Virginia and migrated to the North during the Great Depression in the 1930s, initially relocating to Pennsylvania and later to New Jersey. During the Great Depression, Wilson worked in the Civilian Conservation Corps, serving in a segregated unit. In the 1942, Wilson was inducted into the military where he served as a truck driver in the segregated 263rd Quartermaster and 3404th Quartermaster Truck Companies and was among the first waves of American soldiers to land in North Africa. Wilson participated in US military actions across North Africa, Sicily, and Italy until the war ended in 1945. After his honorable discharge, Wilson raised a family and worked in the chemical industry until his retirement.