Emma Dupree

Emma Dupree (July 4, 1897 - March 12, 1996) was an herbalist and traditional healer (sometimes called a "granny woman") in Falkland and Fountain, Pitt County, North Carolina.

Background Emma Dupree's parents, Pennia and Noah Williams, were formerly enslaved people. They had eighteen children, with the seventh child being Emma Dupree. Born July 4, 1897, Emma Williams Dupree grew up on the Tar River and was known as the "woods gal" for her penchant for roaming the woods for herbs, and she was known collectively in her community as "that little medicine thing." Emma told an interviewer in 1979 that her mother remembered being "on the porch of the old Wooten's farm home when freedom came. She was 16 when Mr. and Mrs. Wooten walked out on that porch and told her she was 'as free as they were, but they loved her just the same.'"

Emma was married for one year to Ethan Cherry, a farmer. She divorced him and remarried another farmer, Austin Dupree, Jr., who was born in 1892. Emma and Austin moved to Fountain, NC in 1936 and had five children, whose ages in the 1930 U.S. Census are indicated in parentheses: Lucy (12), Herbert (9), John (5), Doris (3), and Mary (1). They remained married until his death at age 98. She died at home, at 3313 N. Jefferson St, Fountain, on March 12, 1996.

Awards and recognition (1984) Dupree was awarded the Brown-Hudson Award by the North Carolina Folklore Society, recognizing her as an individual who contributed significantly to the transmission, appreciation and observance of traditional culture and folklife in North Carolina. (1992) Dupree received the North Carolina Heritage Award, lifetime achievement recognition for outstanding traditional artists in North Carolina.