They [my father and my mother] went to Washington High School, which Ligon is the extension of Washington.  I don't think either one of them actually finished high school.  But, believe it or not, to me they were very educated because my upbringing and raising was excellent.  I was really raised by a great aunt and my father, because as a young child, my mother and father had divorced, and were separated.  So I had a great aunt, and, ah, so even though we grew up at Chavis Heights, at that particular time, she wanted us to have the very best education, so she sent us to St. Monica's Catholic School.  So I went to Catholic school from first grade to eighth grade and prior to that I did go to Kindergarten right here in Chavis Heights.  And, so the first year I came to Ligon, I was a ninth grader.  I lived with my younger brother and my first cousin and all of us went to Ligon.  There were no grades below ninth grade, so it was Ligon Junior Senior High School.  Although you would call ninth grade High School, we called it J. W. Ligon Junior Senior High School when I came here.

I am the oldest of six children.  My mother had me and my brother with my biological father and she's remarried now, so I have two half brothers and two half sisters.  And, believe it or not, I just lost my younger brother that attended here just last November.  He was an outstanding athlete here; he died at forty-eight years old.  His name was Charles Adcock, Jr., and he was an outstanding quarterback. I guess the athletic ability is kind of inherited in our family because a lot of us that were educators went into the physical education field, and ah, I was a tennis champion when I was here, and a majorette, and my brother played tennis and basketball and, we were just very much involved in activities, but basically sports.  I attended Fayetteville State and was a majorette there and was one of the first females on Fayetteville State’s tennis team, and I received the most athletic trophy among males and females when I graduated from Fayetteville State. I graduated in 1971 and even here at Ligon, first of all we were a 4A school so we were very prominent and we were champions in all sports across the board.

So I loved school, a lot I guess, because I became a teacher, and I'm still teaching physical education and still pursuing and just enjoying being a teacher, and I guess from day one I've always wanted to be a teacher.  I didn't realize I wanted to be a physical education teacher as a young person, but that was on the top of the chart as a career for me.

I attended Ligon from, well I graduated in 1967 so go four years back from then.  I didn't have to go far to get to Ligon, I just walked, but of course I had friends who came from all over to attend here.  They didn't come from as far as they do now, because this was a neighborhood school practically.

I inherited my great-aunt's father's book writing abilities, as I have published my own book entitled 'The Expressions of Alicia'.  I write poetry and I have my second book coming out called 'The Greatest Love: The Light', which I have the copyright on that coming out as well.  The theme of my poetry is children’s poetry, and I want a person reading the poetry to see me in the poems.  My poetry as well as everything that I do expresses my experiences here at Ligon because we had excellent teachers and we were like on big family.  They stayed on us about our grades and about being leaders and they kept in contact with our parents.  I have always loved Ligon.  You know, I have always considered Ligon a magnet school because it had such an excellent education program.  Oh, believe it or not, I was actually a part of one of the first Gifted and Talented programs in the state here at Ligon. Muriel Allison, Ms. Miriam Allison, she was my language-arts teacher at that time.  You know, I don't remember ever having books with names already in them..

A typical day at Ligon was very busy, especially if you were involved.  I was an officer in my homeroom every year.  I don't remember exactly what I was.  A secretary or something like that.  But I was an officer, I was on the tennis team, I was a majorette, and I was in drama. Oh!  I had forgotten this.  I was also in the music club, but for dance.  I was a dancer.  Each day we had our four basic classes and we also had a foreign language.  I was never good at math but I was always in the advanced classes because I was in the accelerated program.  I was elected co-chair of our twenty-year class reunion.  There were about 250 people in my graduating class and, you know, we had all of them back for a talent show and a parade.

I liked the teachers the most because they taught us and trained us.  Ms. Miriam Allison was the person that made the most impact on my life because she not only was a great teacher, but she gave us life-skills as well.

I have always been taught, people are people, you take people for their worth, and that's all, regardless of race, color, or creed, I've just never had to go through those types of changes.  As much as I know there's a lot of prejudice in the world, and there's been a lot against us as a race, but I've just tried to rise above that . . . I did interact with people of other races, and that has always been positive for me as a person.

The principal when I was here, H. E. Brown, he was another one who wanted the best for us.  I remember when I had an interview for a scholarship, and I'll never forget how Mr. Brown came and picked me up and took me to my interview because we did not have transportation.  And I actually ended up winning the scholarship.  Still today the principal sets the tone for the school, and I guessed this rubbed off on the teachers.  I hope this interview shows you that Ligon was number one, and you should take pride in it being your school.

Alicia Adcock was interviewed on April 1, 1999 by Halley Thompson and Austin Duke, at 706 East Lenoir Street, Raleigh NC, 27601. Written by Austin Duke.