Born on January 18, 1934, 91-year-old Archie Harding grew up on the family farm just east of Washington, North Carolina. The family had no tractors in those days, so they used mules to plow and work the land. He attended one of the six Rosenwald Schools in Beaufort County, where he had to walk two and a half miles each way to and from school. The school had no electricity and relied on a wooden/coal stove that the students would stoke for heat during the winter months. He went on to graduate from P.S. Jones High School.