Wray Gunn, longtime resident of Sheffield, Mass., Chemist, Director of Quality Control for Nelco Metals, later part of Pfizer, was born in Atlanta and lived part of his childhood in various places in the South. He talks about segregation, moving North, living in Lee and Stockbridge, Mass., attending UMass, being invited to play with the St. Louis Browns, but going to college instead. Actively involved, with his wife, Cora Portnoy Brown, in restoring the Clinton AME Zion Church in Great Barrington, Mass., the church he attended since moving North. Wray is a descendent of Agrippa Hull, who lived in Stockbridge before and after his service during the Revolutionary War. Talks about brothers, David Jr and St. Clair Reed and their escapades, about subtle forms of segregation, such as that found in housing. W.E.B. Du Bois. Subjects: Atlanta; Henderson; SC, UMass Amherst; St. Louis Browns; Segregated movie theaters in the South; being one of a few Black students in his classes; captain of baseball team at UMass; Sports; Chemistry; German POWs later at UMass. Clinton AME Zion Church; Nelco Metals.
Copyright held by the Housatonic Heritage Oral History Center (Berkshire Community College. Requests to publish, redistribute, or replicate this material should be addressed to Special Collections and University Archives, UMass Amherst Libraries.
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