Jaye Vaughn
Janice “Jaye” Vaughn, born in 1959, grew up in a middle-class family in Charlotte, North Carolina, the oldest of four children. When she entered fifth grade, she was one of seven Black children who integrated a Charlotte elementary school. She attended fully integrated schools in Charlotte throughout high school.
Jaye Vaughn graduated from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, in 1981 with a degree in radio, television, and film. Her first career job was in broadcasting as a salesperson. She spent some years in New York City, studying broadcast engineering at the Center for Media Arts. She came out as a lesbian there at age 25.
When Jaye Vaughn returned to North Carolina circa 1993, she moved to Durham; and in 1994, she started Cedar Chest, an organization for lesbians of African descent. Two years later, with an Astraea grant, she added another organization to meet the needs of lesbians of color who were not of African descent, the Center for Non-White Lesbians in Durham.
Both organizations ended in 1998 when she left North Carolina to move to Hawaii with a partner. Jaye Vaughn tried to revive Cedar Chest later on upon her return to North Carolina, but she had to let it go when she went back to college for a nursing degree from East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina.