1955-1979

Students, preachers, lawyers, teachers and even some public officials and business leaders are credited with bringing about dramatic changes in the community through the civil rights movement.

A lot of people also give credit to a barber: Sippio Burton of Burton's Barber Shop on Murchison Road.

Burton served as president of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People from 1959 through 1966, one of the most turbulent periods of the civil rights movement. His wife, Sadie Burton, also was a longtime leader in the NAACP.

Sippio Burton, who experienced inequalities as a black soldier in the segregated Army during World War II, went about his civil rights work in a steady, nonconfrontational way. He supported student protesters and pushed for more black representation in local government.

Over the years, his small brick barber shop became a required stop for local political candidates, black and white. He was credited with promoting unity in the community.

"This is our country. We're proud of Fayetteville," Burton said. "This city has come a long way. We've worked hard to improve Fayetteville, but we still have a long way to go."

A nurse by profession, she proved to be an astute businesswoman who continues to enrich the community through her charitable foundation.

Florence Rogers was a 1904 graduate of the Highsmith Hospital School of Nursing. She married James M. Rogers, a co-founder of Rogers and Breece Funeral Home. He died in 1931.

In 1932, Florence Rogers bought 300 acres at $18 per acre - land that she and others later developed into Eutaw Village Shopping Center and nearby neighborhoods. In 1941, she donated 6 acres to be used for Bragg Boulevard, which divided her property. She also gave 6acres for Eutaw Community Church.

When she died in 1961, she left most of her estate, which totaled more than $1.1 million, for the establishment of a foundation "devoted to the good of mankind."

The Florence Rogers Charitable Trust has grown over the years, with assets of more than $5 million. It contributes to dozens of community organizations each year. The trust gave the land for the Fayetteville Museum of Art behind Eutaw Village.

One of the biggest business success stories in the county's history - the real-estate and development career of J.P. Riddle - began in the working-class neighborhood of B Street where he grew up during the Depression.

From that hardscrabble beginning, Joseph Palmer Riddle Jr. went on to amass a fortune in the post-World War II building boom. He and his companies built thousands of homes. With business partner Tom Wood, he began developing a 600-acre tract of farmland in the late 1960s.

That land became the site for apartment buildings, restaurants, offices and retail businesses. And with the sale of a 90-acre parcel at the intersection of Morganton Road and U.S. 401 Bypass, that old farmland became the site for Cross Creek Mall. It changed the retail landscape of the county.

J.P. Riddle kept building and developing as the Skibo Road area around the mall became one of the busiest retail centers in the state.

He also gave millions of dollars to charity. He donated the land for a county baseball stadium, which was named J.P. Riddle Stadium.

Franklin Douglas Byrd Jr. retired in 1972 after 26 years as the superintendent of Cumberland County schools.

In addition to his role as an educator, he had served as a construction superintendent in the fast-growing school system: During his tenure, he oversaw the building of 41 of the county's 51 schools, including Cape Fear, South View, Pine Forest and Douglas Byrd high schools.

He had seen the school system grow from 8,850 students and 257 teachers in 1946 to 32,000 students and 1,353 teachers in 1972.

Like his counterpart in the Fayetteville city schools, Superintendent Reid Ross, F.D. Byrd Jr. also ushered the county schools through integration.

Byrd had a 41-year career in the local schools, starting as a teacher at Seventy-First. He also was a Navy veteran of World War II, a charter member of Snyder Memorial Baptist Church and one of the original trustees of Methodist College.

This farmer and businessman from Seventy-First Township became a pillar of Cumberland County government through decades of service.

John McNatt "Mack" Gillis served for 33 years on the county Board of Commissioners, from 1950 to 1988. He was known as a fiscal conservative and as an advocate for farmers and others who lived in rural areas.

In 1940, Gillis became one of the founding directors of the Lumbee River Electric Membership Corp., which provided electricity to residents of Seventy-First Township and elsewhere.

He was a member of the N.C. Cotton Growers Association for more than 50 years and served on its board of directors. He was elected to the Cumberland County Agricultural Hall of Fame, where the Gillis Room honors him and his brother, the late Malcolm Gillis Jr.