As part of the extended Chatham’s 250th anniversary celebration, county leaders also wanted to celebrate the often less well known, but no less significant, parts of Chatham’s history — the history of its communities of color.
Following a Black History Month lecture by North Carolina Central University’s Dr. Charles Johnson, hosted by Chatham Community Library, county Project Manager Hilary Pollan asked library staffers if Johnson could be a part of the then-upcoming Chatham 250 celebrations.
From there, the four-part Chatham County History of Communities of Color virtual series was born, said library assistant Evette Evans.
“Over the next month or so, that initial discussion kind of progressed to the library co-sponsoring a historical lecture series with discussions or lectures that would chronicle the histories of people of color in Chatham County,” said Evans, who develops and implements programs for diversity and heritage for the Chatham Community Library. “It kind of got distilled down to that.”
The series, sponsored by the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution’s Deep River chapter, based on Pittsboro, wraps up this Friday with a lecture on Latino education experiences in Chatham public schools. Already, it featured an event on African American history in Chatham during last Saturday’s Juneteenth observance. The first of the lectures commemorated Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month in May, and the second focused on Chatham genealogy largely using library resources.
The feedback to the events has been “really positive” so far, Evans said, with anywhere from 40-100 people registering or attending the first two events.
“What we’re trying to do basically is to open channels of communication,” Evans said of the series. “Because with stronger communication, there is stronger understanding, there is far less hatred, there is far less misunderstanding, and there is more reaching out — and truly understanding that everybody is important to this general community of Chatham County.”
Chatham is 71.6% white, according to census data, 12.7% Black and 12.5% Hispanic. Other races and ethnicities make up less than 3% of Chatham’s total population.
In recent years, many Chatham officials have made an explicit commitment to inclusivity and diversity: the county approved an equal opportunity employment plan in April and recently performed audits on diversity and workplace culture. The county’s health board declared racism as an “ongoing health crisis” last August and the health department renewed a commitment to tracking and reducing health inequities in the county.
Still, like many communities, Chatham has also had to reckon with its own histories of racial violence, discrimination and disparities. Only one North Carolina county has more recorded lynchings than Chatham, with six victims: New Hanover, with 22, many of which are associated with the 1898 Wilmington Massacre. More recently, the county was divided over the 2019 removal of the Confederate monument which stood at the county’s historic courthouse for more than a century.
Despite progress, education and discipline inequities exist for Black and brown students in Chatham at higher rates than their white classmates. Hispanic residents make up 35% of the county’s total COVID-19 cases — a statistic even more glaring at the start of the pandemic — despite making up less than 13% of the total population.
Events such as the communities of color lecture series help continue to push conversations looking at both the county’s history and the future forward, Evans said.
That’s a theme expressed in Chatham 250’s mission statement, too: “Chatham 250’s mission is to celebrate Chatham County through diverse community centered events and activities that highlight Chatham’s uniqueness, rich history and promising future.”
And such efforts won’t end with the conclusion of the library’s series this week. Already, Evans is planning events to celebrate women farmers, National Hispanic Heritage Month, Native American Heritage Month and HBCU Awareness Month. Along with the county, she said the library is “making a really strong effort” to increase programming to facilitate better communication about and understanding of important issues.
“Doing this kind of thing is important, particularly in today’s world, where people seem to be inclined to not think the very best of one another,” Evans said. “I think programs such as this reach out to everyone and let everyone know they are individually and as a group important — that what they think, what they do, that their history and the contributions, especially people of color, have made are very important and are recognized.”
Reporter Hannah McClellan can be reached at hannah@chathamnr.com or on Twitter at @HannerMcClellan.