Elwillie B. Jarrett

Location: Malloy/Jordan East Winston Heritage Center

Interview by Michael S. Williams
Video by Julia Wall

Carver Consolidated School, Class of 1965

Elwillie Byrd Jarrett remembers growing up off Carver Road in Winston-Salem, which "was considered country" at the time. It was in the county, so she attended Carver Consolidated School, the facility dedicated to African-American students living outside the city limits.

Jarrett said she received a good education because the teachers cared about them and "made sure they got what they needed." Particularly, she said math teacher David Lash encouraged her to be more involved in classroom learning and "brought things out of her" since she was normally a quiet student.

The lessons from those educators resonated with Jarrett, and she wishes she would have paid even closer attention while a student. "At the time, I did not appreciate a lot of things [teachers] did because I thought that [they] were being mean," she said. "That was back then, but now I appreciate it."