Darnell Morris
Transcript
Emma Bussard: [00:00] All right, so it is May 10th, 2025, and we are at the Yancey Community Center. Yes, let's make sure I said that right. So tell me about your growing up here in Yancey County. Oh, I'm Emma Bussard, and you are?
Darnell Morris: Darnel Morris.
Emma Bussard: Thank you, Darnell,
Darnell Morris: You're welcome. Well, my family, my mom and dad had 11 kids, so I am the second oldest and the oldest son. And growing up, the older kids had chores to do. And I told my dad later on, he was much easier on the younger kids than he was on us. And we didn't have running water, so we had to go to the spring. And once we started school, we had to go before school and we had to go to the spring after school.
[01:08] And then we had to do, like, the firewood and all that. We had that to do. And during the gardening season, we had my dad in the garden. And then we had to, like, pick berries and just whatever needed to be done. And we did it. I guess he had a ready workforce of young people.
[01:36] But I think we were very close as a family. We still are. And...we lost one sister in 2020. But we usually get together on a holiday, at least I would say half of us usually get together every holiday or so.
[02:00] And we just play games, you know, tell stories, just reminisce. So my mom, she passed almost 40 years ago now. She passed at a young age. She had a kidney problem. And she was on dialysis for maybe four or five years. And then she just went down from there.And my dad passed in 2007.
[02:40] And I can say we were--I went to school, I guess it was Esmont Elementary School. My first three years. It was a wooden building. The beginning of my fourth grade, we moved into Yancey. And my third grade teacher from that old elementary school, she became a fourth grade teacher at Yancey.
[03:16] So I had her two years. Mrs. Phyllis Carter. And I had Miss Flossie Price in the fifth grade. And I always called her Mrs. Jean Hurst. But she actually got married later on and she was Miss Durrett in her sixth grade. But I called her Mrs. Harris all my life. Even--I would see her after I came back, et cetera. And I told her she was my favorite teacher of all time.
[03:52] I don't know why, but I just felt a connection with her. And in the seventh grade we had, I think, a science teacher, a math teacher, and an English teacher. So we, they sort of split it up.
[04:08] And from Yancey, I went to Burley. At that time it was a high school. And then, for eighth through the tenth grade. And in the tenth grade we were, they combined all of the kids in the county, so everyone went to Albemarle High School. And from there, my mom, she was kind of sickly, very sickly when I was, my last year in school.
[04:48] So I didn't go directly into college. I spent at least a year, a year and a half with my mom. But then she started to feel, or do better. And my guidance counselor from high school. She, she told me in high school I needed to go to college. And I told her I just couldn't. I didn't have it financially.
[05:17] And at the time I wanted to stay home with my mom. And even, she contacted me like a year or so later. And she said, "You know, you really do need to go to college." And she, I don't know how I got in contact with, uh, Steven Waters. He was the director of Upward Bound at the University of Virginia.
[05:46] And I talked with him, and he said, "I probably could get into schools at that late day from college."It was a junior college at that time. And Wilberforce in Ohio. And I just felt that Ohio was just, it just sounded so far away at the time. So, we worked on it, and I was able to get into Ferrum.
And, my, beginning of my second year at Ferrum, the dean of the business school at the University of Richmond, he was on the board of trustees at Ferrum. And, the dean of Ferrum called me, he said, "The dean, uh, from Richmond wanted to talk to me." And I couldn't imagine why he wanted to talk to me.
[06:43] And he said, "Have you decided where you're going to go to school next year?" And I said, "No, but I'll probably," well, I said, "I'll probably go close to home, University of Richmond. I may even try to get into Virginia Union." And, you know, the year passed, so he came back, I think it was February or March, to Ferrum.
[07:14] And he said, "Have you really thought about it? Have you decided where you're going to school?"
[07:22] And I said, again, I said, "It's probably going to be the University of Virginia, because I'm close to home." And he said, "Have you thought about the University of Richmond?" And, Richmond was a private school, of course.
[07:38] And I said, "I know I didn't have the finances to attend Richmond." So, he told me, "If I agreed to attend Richmond, he would make certain I had all the finances I need, whether it was scholarships, loans, work study, whatever I needed, he was going to make sure I got it."
[08:02] So, I told him, "If you can do that, then I'm going to the University of Richmond." So, that's how I got into the University of Richmond.
[08:12] And it was sight unseen. I hadn't seen the campus or anything. And once I got there, it's a beautiful campus, it really is. And I remember the first day, we had maybe twelve or thirteen transfer students from junior colleges.
[08:33] And he told us, he said, "Well, you guys, you really have to work hard to stay at the University of Richmond."
[08:43] And I think, "Well, why did I come here if it's like--if it's going to be like this?" But, I didn't find it any more difficult than Ferrum College. So, in fact, the first year there, I made A's both semesters. And I think I was honored and like one of the top--I was one of the top accounting students there.
[09:14] But, I remember when my dad dropped me off, he told me, "If you don't do well, don't feel bad, just come home." And I was going like, "I think I'm going to do all right," you know, I'm thinking. And then the last year, I said, "My junior year I made all A's." So, he told me, he said, "Well, don't feel it, that you have to make all A's. Have some fun."
[09:43] And I said, "Oh, I am having fun."
[09:45] I said, "It's not like I'm working. My classes, I try to do all morning classes." And then the afternoon, I had the afternoon to play or to do homework, you know, study or whatever. So, it was really--it really was a really fun time for me. I didn't feel like it- I was overly taxed or anything like that. So, yeah.
Emma Bussard: [10:12] I'll interrupt you for one second. I'll move this. Just a little bit. Okay. There we go. Can I ask you one question about your experience going off to Richmond?
Darnell Morris: [10:26] Uh-huh.
Emma Bussard: How was that different, like leaving Yancey County, you know, leaving this community? Like, was that--what was that transition like?
Darnell Morris: [10:34] Well, see, Burley was all black school. And then when I attended Albemarle, it was maybe 15, 20 percent black. So that happened in the transition. And then when I attended Ferrum, it was pretty much the same situation. Ten of, maybe 15 percent of the students were black at Ferrum. And once I got to Richmond, the percentages probably were maybe a little lower. But I mean, the environment was pretty much the same to me.
[11:22] In fact, I was the first black student at the University of Richmond Business School. So I always tell him, in fact, I met my best friend. He came in the year after I did. And we are still best of friends today. But I told him, if I hadn't done as well, he wouldn't have been able to get into the university. I would just tease him like that. But no, he did well as well.
[11:55] But I made some great friends. And I have maybe five, six people I'm still close to from the time I was at the university. Yeah. So, and I have my junior year, no, my senior year, I roomed with J. Inge. He's white. And we talked quite a bit. And he told me that his grandfather was actually in the KKK.
[12:29] But we really, you know, we talked, and we became really good friends. And his parents, they said they were happy that he was rooming with me. They said he made the best face of his life when he was rooming with me. And he said, "I'm not going to be a kid."
[12:50] But a funny story, not last year, November '23, he married his college sweetheart. And I thought they were going to get married when they were young, but he married someone else and she married someone else. And they both divorced. And he said, "At her dad's," but they remained friends and so on. So he attended her dad's funeral.
[13:29] And he said, "They reconnected at her dad's funeral and they started talking again." And they invited me to the wedding last November. And it was just so funny. Because the minister said, he said, "Well, most of the time the parents give the daughter away." But in this case, the kids are giving--her kids gave her away. So it was really nice and sweet.
Emma Bussard: [14:03] Yeah. I'm sure a trip down memory lane.
14:05 --> 14:06
Darnell Morris: Yeah. And her dad was actually--he was the professor of finance at the University of Richmond. I didn't have him for anything. But he was really--like one day he saw me and he just said, "Well, you should know if you need anything, just come to me, talk to me."
[14:30] His name was Dr. Pops. I hadn't met him before. He just walked up and--
Unknown: How much time do y'all have left?
Emma Bussard: Five minutes.
Unknown: Okay. Perfect. We want to get started with the program and they want you to hear the beginning of it.
Darnell Morris: Okay.
Emma Bussard: [14:47] All right. We'll come out in five.
Darnell Morris: But he was very, very nice and I told him if I had known he would pass, I would have made sure I went to his final services. And like I said, we connected and I have--they are now living in Roanoke and they invited me down, but I haven't been down yet to see them.
[15:13] And I've been having a little problem, I guess, with my leg. That's why I haven't really been down.
Emma Bussard: Yeah.
Darnell Morris: But my next--well, she's not the next in line, but she's my next sister. She also attended the University of Richmond
Emma Bussard: [15:34] Wow.
Darnell Morris: She came in the fall of the year I completed.
Emma Bussard: [15:42] Did your family stay around this area or did a lot of them move out?
Darnell Morris: Well, my oldest sister's in Maryland. I'm back here in, I guess, one, two, three. Three of my siblings are in Albemarle, Greene County. Three of my siblings are in the Richmond area. One in North Carolina, and my youngest sister's in Texas. That's why I'm wearing this Texas range and stuff. Because usually I would go down to visit them twice a year.
[16:27] She had my niece, 2014. So after she was born, I'd go down for her birthday, and usually I'd go down the first week in June of that Memorial Day weekend. COVID stopped that. But I started again last year, so I'm hoping to get down to see them again.
Emma Bussard: [16:56] Sounds like you guys still are very close.
Darnell Morris: Yeah.
Emma Bussard: Yeah. And what brought you back to Yancey?
Darnell Morris: [17:03] Well, I was living in the D.C. area. My friends…They moved. Some went one way, some went this way. I was really thinking, "Well, where can I move?"
[17:21] And after a long conversation with myself, I just said, "I might as well move back home." I'd purchased land here in '91. And I said, "Well, if I don't move back, I'm going to sell the land." But if I move back, I'd already have land to build my house on, so I just decided to move back. Back here home.
Emma Bussard: [17:46] What did it feel like coming back?
Darnell Morris: It's, uh, well, I'm not, I don't feel like that I ever adapted to be a city. I always had my heart in the country, you know, like my best friend, he always tell me, he said, "Well, you know, you're so country."
[18:05] And he said, "I could not live in the E.C. district."
And I said, "Oh, it's so quiet here. You don't have to worry about, you know, crime. You don't have to worry about drugs."
I said, "It's just so quiet." And half the time, I leave my, I don't even lock my door, and all of them are going, they'll just freak out. But siblings come and they'll go, "Oh, you got to lock the door?"
[18:27] I said, "No one is going to do it." You know? And I, and I said, "You know, the air is cleaner. You don't have to traffic."
[18:36] It's just a more peaceful life for me.
Emma Bussard: What about the community? How would you describe the community here?
Darnell Morris: Well, it's laid back. And most of the people pretty much know each other, which is, which I think is a good thing. I mean, it's not, you know, we don't have the stores, shopping centers, department stores and that. But I tell them, I tell them, when I lived in Northern Virginia, I was maybe two miles from the grocery store. And it could take me fifteen, twenty minutes to drive there. I said, "Well, it's really, doing the grocery is no different."
[19:36] And shopping, usually I go to Richmond if I really want to shop. But sometime I go to D.C.But, and I love baseball. That I do miss. Because when I was living in D.C. I would go to maybe ten, fifteen baseball games a year. And the last few I've been to, sometimes I get to two games a year now. But I can see them on TV every day.Down here.
[20:17] So, I said, "At least I can." And I could see several teams on TV. So, it's not like I lost anything. And there is a bigger thrill for me to go to the game than it was when I could go, like, pretty much whenever I wanted to.
Emma Bussard: [20:36] That's very true. Well, I think we're about at our time. But if there's any last things you want to share?
Darnell Morris: [20:43] Well, I have a very good friend in Philadelphia. He and his family, I haven't been to see him, we haven't seen each other in maybe three years. Face to face. We do Facebook. And he is a big sports fan as well.
[21:06] And when I was living in Philly, I think we went to every football, baseball, basketball, game that we did. And he's also retired there. And he'll send me pictures on Facebook when he, he's like going around the country to the baseball games, et cetera. So, they are just great friends.
[21:34] And I just feel like, you know, I've met so many great people when leaving the area, but also, I still try to stay in touch with the good friends.
Emma Bussard: [21:46] And I'm sure you've got lots of friends in the community too.
Darnell Morris: Yes.
Emma Bussard: People who care about you.
Darnell Morris: Yeah. I said, "Why'd you come?" I have so many cousins around here. And all of them. Like on Sundays, I said, "Well, what are you doing?"
[22:01] "What am I cooking?" If they ask me, “Do you want us to cook for your daughter?" I said, "No, don't do anything." I said, "Well, if I need something, I'll ask you and then you can help me."
[22:14] But they still do a lot. They do. They really do. And they always checking on me, calling me to make sure I'm okay.
Emma Bussard: [22:36] The beauty of community.
Darnell Morris: Yes.
Emma Bussard: Yeah. Well, thank you so much for sharing with us today.
Darnell Morris: [22:31] You're very welcome.
Emma Bussard: I really appreciate it. Yeah. I'm going to turn the recording off.
Darnell Morris: [22:37] Okay.