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Person in the county’s record

Brenda Stephens

1952– · Dates from the Library of Congress · Library of Congress authority record ↗

The index holds 2 works for Brenda Stephens so far. Search further, by the Library of Congress heading: WorldCat · OCPL. If you know a source, tell us.

Search these 2 works Research sources View indexed works ↓

Life and Orange County connections

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 1 dated event in the chronology →

  1. Brenda Stephens becomes director of the Orange County library system Brenda W. Stephens, who had started her library career driving the county bookmobile in 1976, became director of the Orange County Library System in 1993. By the end of that year North Carolina Libraries identified her as director of the Hyconeechee Regional Library, and a 2025 profile calls her the first Black director of a regional library system in the state. People: Brenda Stephens Place: Orange County · Also mentions: Hyconeechee Regional LibrarySpectacular Magazine, "Libraries Leader Honored with Prestigious Order of the Long Leaf Pine," January 25, 2025

Indexed works

Works about or by Brenda Stephens. Each links to the institution that holds or provides it. Background reading appears below.

African Americans of Durham & Orange Counties

Bolduc, Jean · 2016

Jean Bolduc's 2016 collection of interviews with African American residents of Durham and Orange counties, presented as short biographies. The subjects are Floyd McKissick (1922-1991), the first African American admitted to UNC's law school, Walter Jackson, Brenda Stephens, Nate Davis, poet Jaki Shelton Green, Jackie Wagstaff, Diane Wright and Michelle Johnson, with a closing chapter on the Ku Klux Klan. 125 pages with illustrations.

Included because: Catalog heading in the OCPL record: Stephens, Brenda, 1952- -- Interviews.

✓ Held at OCPL · NC 975.656 BOLDUC Duke

African Americans of Durham and Orange counties : an oral history

Bolduc, Jean · 2016 · The History Press

Jean Bolduc's collection of oral history interviews with Black residents of Durham and Orange counties, published by The History Press in 2016, 125 pages with photographs and portraits. The narrators are the poet Jaki Shelton Green, civil rights lawyer Floyd McKissick, Walter Jackson, Nate Davis, Brenda Stephens, Diane Wright, Jackie Wagstaff and Michelle Johnson, and a closing chapter deals with the Ku Klux Klan. The interviews document Black life and race relations in the two counties across the twentieth century.

Included because: Catalog heading in the Durham record: Stephens, Brenda, 1952- -- Interviews.

NC Cardinal Duke Durham Wake Forest CH Historical Society UNC

Start at OCPL

Books in OCPL’s Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection whose titles, catalog subjects, or descriptions match this person. The Friends’ recommended starting points are labelled.

  • Foundational · NC 975.656 BOLDUC African Americans of Durham & Orange Counties: An Oral History Bolduc, Jean · 2016

    Jean Bolduc's 2016 collection of interviews with African American residents of Durham and Orange counties, presented as short biographies. The subjects are Floyd McKissick (1922-1991), the first African American admitted to UNC's law school, Walter Jackson, Brenda Stephens, Nate Davis, poet Jaki Shelton Green, Jackie Wagstaff, Diane Wright and Michelle Johnson, with a closing chapter on the Ku Klux Klan. 125 pages with illustrations.

Places in this person’s story

Buildings, schools, churches and other sites named in the dated events on this page, the most often named first. The map shows them all.

Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange, Orange County GIS, OpenStreetMap and a few other published sources named on each site’s page; town and community pins show approximate locations.

All places and the county map →

Research sources

Sources and research tools for this person. Research guide: Trace a family through historical records.

Records of the time

Collections and databases

  • NC LIVE: prepared search for Brenda Stephens Library card Search NC LIVE for this subject and Orange County. You can change the search terms. Sign in through your North Carolina library to access the materials.
  • Ancestry Library Edition In the libraryOrange County Public Library Census, birth, death and marriage records, and more, free on the public computers at OCPL libraries

Local help

More to discover

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Illustration by Caldecott Medalist Matthew Cordell, gifted to the Friends 2026