Joseph Jackson Holly, Jr.
June 29, 1918 - January 23, 2019

Joseph Jackson Holly Jr., born in 1918, discusses growing up in St. Mary's County during the 1920s and 1930s. He went to the one-room segregated Red Gate School until the seventh grade. He was married 75 years to Elizabeth Brooks Holly, who passed in 2015. They had eight children. He played guitar in a band for fun. He was a member of Our Lady’s Chapel in Medley’s Neck, the church he has attended his entire life. He worked a couple of farm jobs before settling at the ice plant, where he worked for 32 years. Mr. Holly reminisces about meeting the Pope in person and the feeling of having a Black president, President Obama.
Joseph Jackson Holly Jr. was interviewed by Janice Walthour on July 6, 2016 at the USCT Interpretive Center, for the Unified Committee for Afro-American Contributions Oral History Documentation Project.
Resources:
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Obituary written by the family, [from Mattingly Gardiner Funeral Home, PA; https://mgfh.com/book-of-memories/3704869/Holly-Joseph/index.php accessed November 17, 2025]

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