Subject: Lakeland Heritage Weekend 2007

An oral history interview conducted with Fannie Douglass during Lakeland Heritage Weekend 2007. Mrs. Fannie Douglas was born on April 15, 1919 in Garner, North Carolina. Her parents were Freeland Winters and Bettie Winters. In 1939, Mrs. Douglas was living in Raleigh, North Carolina with her mother. Her father had passed away by this point. It was here that she met her future husband, James Douglas of Hamlet, North Carolina. After they were married, they moved up to Lakeland and lived with James's aunt. While in Lakeland, Mrs. Douglas did"house work." She referred to this as "day work" and stated that this is really all that women in Lakeland could do at the time. James Douglas was a truck driver. In 1921, Mr. and Mrs. Douglas moved into their own home in Hyattsville, Maryland. They lived there for twelve to eighteen months, before moving back to Lakeland. During World War II, James Douglas went into the army and served there for two and a half years. Mrs. Douglas's most notable community involvement was in the church. She was first a visiting member of First Baptist Church. Currently, she is a member of Embry AME. In her years at Embry, she has served on the Usher Board, has been president of the senior choir, a missionary, and church treasurer. According to Mrs. Douglas, the most disappointing time in Lakeland was the Urban Renewal Project. She stated that she warned community members to not allow them to come in as they would just destroy the community. As a result, many people needed to move out because their homes were destroyed. She also mentions waking up one morning and seeing her yard flooded. While Mrs. Douglas was not specific as to what Lakeland did to make sure this never happened again, she did say that this was the first and last time that Lakeland experienced a flood of this magnitude. Mrs. Douglas currently has one daughter by the name of Betty Wright and one grandson by the name of Robert Clifton Peters, who currently resides with Mrs. Douglas.