Curator Michael S. Williams talks about the legacy of longtime New Hanover County educator Ernest Adison Swain and the responsibility he felt to be a role model.

Mr. Swain (1915 - 2007) served in Brunswick and New Hanover County Schools, working in the latter as principal at James B. Dudley, Peabody, and William H. Hooper Elementary Schools. Swain felt he should be a role model and was careful about how he dressed. He wore a suit and tie every day because "...little boys, little children like to see you like that." He was a member of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, and the local chapter organized a merit scholarship in his name at UNCW in 2005.

Ernest A. Swain oral history interview: Duke