Knox, Gladys L.
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Knox, Gladys L.
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Gladys Knox was a mother, grandmother, daughter and adored union cook, employee at Davidson College, located in Davidson, North Carolina where she was employed from 2007-2015.
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Gladys Knox was born in Mooresville, North Carolina. Growing up in a rural area, Knox and her ten siblings had to work picking cotton at Mooresville Field. She was paid for her labor before attending Mooresville Senior High School. According to an interview with Knox, her parents were not present in her life, but her grandparents' influence helped her develop a love for cooking.
By her own description, Knox loved her youth. Growing up in Jim Crow era, her childhood was filled with indoor activities and household tasks. Though Knox did not socialize much, she loved interacting with others. Her innate ability to get along with people led to her occupying jobs that allowed her to combine her love of cooking with caring for others. Knox worked at Davidson College from 2007-2015, alternating between the Union and Vail Commons, and spent summers working in housekeeping. Knox identified as a Black woman working in a predominantly white environment, but her experiences suggest that she worked in inclusive workplaces where she maintained her love and that of others.
Knox lived her life in the company of her family and God. Despite her hectic job schedule at Davidson, Knox never let her busy schedule get in the way of her care for her ailing grandma or her daughter and grandchild. Knox states that although she wishes she could have completed college to follow her dream of starting her own food company, life and the people in it have always treated her with kindness and fairness, and she hopes that this will continue.
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1954
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Interview with Gladys Knox, 2012, in Interviews with Davidson College Staff, Fall Semester 2012, Oral history interviews of EDU 340- Education in African American Society (RG 19), Archives and Special Collections, Davidson College, Davidson, NC
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Davidson College, Davidson College Directory, RG 4-3-3 Human Resources, Archives and Special Collections, Davidson College, Davidson, NC
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