Old Chapel Hill Cemetery gazebo to be dedicated to social justice advocate

At 93, Rebecca Clark was a staple in the Chapel Hill community for years of urging local black residents to vote, advocating for social justice and striving to improve the condition of the town’s cemeteries.

When she died in January 2009, she left a legacy of 70 years of social justice and inclusion, said the Rev. Thomas Nixon of St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church in Chapel Hill.

The town will dedicate the gazebo that sits in the heart of the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery in Clark’s memory in a public ceremony at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.

“She was a strong advocate in the African-American community to get people to rock the boat,” former Chapel Hill Town Council member Jim Merritt said. “She often went door-to-door in the neighborhood encouraging people to vote and to fill out absentee ballots.”

According to a town news release, Clark even drove residents to the polls herself to ensure they could vote.

She helped garner votes for black candidates in two historic elections four decades apart.

In 1969, Clark worked on the Chapel Hill mayoral campaign of Howard Lee. He would become the first black mayor of a predominantly white Southern town.

And in 2008, she called on residents to vote for presidential nominee Barack Obama, Merritt said.

Later that year, she got to see Obama inaugurated as the first black president of the United States.

“Pretty much everyone in local politics came to Rebecca Clark at some time to get her endorsement, either official or unofficial,” Nixon said.

The gazebo was chosen to commemorate Clark’s legacy because of its place in the cemetery.

In 1985, some UNC football fans parked their cars in the black section of the cemetery before a football game, ruining several gravestones and inspiring Clark to fight for the cemetery’s protection and improvement.

Clark spent a lot of time at the cemetery, and the gazebo was one of her favorite spots, Merritt said.

“As people come there to visit loved ones, the gazebo will be there in her memory,” Nixon said.

The gazebo separates the black and white sections of the cemetery, Merritt said.

Although Clark advocated mostly for black residents, Nixon said her influence was widespread throughout the town.

“I don’t think her voice was limited to the African-American community,” he said. “There were so many people who were affected and touched within the community who benefited from her life over the years.”



Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.