Local exibit shows black history

History came off the walls and into the open Tuesday as students, town residents and friends celebrated the rich — and often unknown — stories of the past.

Storytelling, music, food, dancing and company marked the end of “Because We’re Still Here (And Moving)”, an interactive history project detailing the history of local black communities, particularly Chapel Hill’s Northside neighborhood.

The project was developed by local arts nonprofit Hidden Voices, a collection of community members devoted to enacting change through the simple act of sharing stories. Their latest effort is on display in the Student Union gallery until Friday.

“Hidden Voices hopes to bring underdeveloped voices into the forefront of the community,” said Kathy Williams, Hidden Voices performance director.

Since 2003, Hidden Voices has used story, song, memory and performance to shed light on the lives of diverse communities such as women in the prison system, illiterate adults and victims of domestic violence. Its founders believe in the power of memory to shape the present.

“If we don’t know where we’re from, we don’t know where we are going,” said Lynden Harris, director of Hidden Voices.

As students rent houses in the neighborhood and older residents move on, the unique history of Northside, the traditional center of the area’s black community, was at risk of being lost, Harris said.

“These are stories that were not being passed down to the younger generation,” she said.

So in early 2006, Harris, Williams and the organization teamed up with a UNC sociology class and local high school students and headed out into the neighborhoods armed with recorders, cameras and notebooks.

The stories the students recorded map out the history of Chapel Hill’s black community, from slavery to the construction of the University to the establishment of black-owned businesses on the west end of Franklin Street.

“It was a truly transformative experience,” said professor Judith Blau, who taught the UNC class.

An interactive theater performance was launched in February 2008, and an exhibit highlighting the project was installed in the Student Union as part of the 2009 freshmen orientation.

For members of the Northside community, Tuesday’s celebration was a chance to share memories.

“It’s the end of the era,” said longtime Chapel Hill resident Keith Edwards. “The community was a village that raised everybody’s child, but today that village is gone.”

To Harris and Williams, it’s stories like these that form the backbone of Hidden Voices’ mission.

“Lives can be transformed by bringing voices where they can be heard,” Williams said. “Becoming familiar with the story of where you are is part of living in a community.”



Contact the Arts Editor at artsdesk@unc.edu.