New BCC `Breaks' Into History

View more photos from the ground breaking.

As shovels penetrated the soil and African percussion pounded away at the morning's celebration, Linda Sutton felt the urge to dance.

"This was such an incredible (occasion), I just felt the ground needed to be danced on," the 1995 UNC graduate said. "There were so many tears and frustration in trying to make this happen ... My dance was to honor all those people."

Those tears and frustration culminated Thursday morning when UNC administrators, officials, students and families gathered to celebrate the long-awaited groundbreaking of the freestanding Sonja H. Stone Black Cultural Center.

Sutton said she found herself overwhelmed with emotion, like so many of the more than 200 in attendance, after witnessing the initial stages of the center's construction. The podium was a living portrait of UNC leadership, with Chancellor James Moeser, Provost Robert Shelton and UNC-system President Molly Broad, among others, all honoring the dedication that made the new BCC a reality. "With this spirit and dedication this ... will be a center of pride at UNC," Shelton said.

Student Body President Justin Young opened his speech with a resounding yell and greeting and expressed his excitement about the center's potential. "The BCC is not going to be a place just for black students -- it's for all students," Young said.

Chapel Hill Mayor Rosemary Waldorf told the audience that the BCC's mission will build a bridge between UNC and the community.

Waldorf recalled her childhood in Chatham County. "Everything was so separate, and I didn't understand it," she said. But Waldorf said that occasionally she gains the sense progress is being made. "I have that sense today."

Speeches shifted to artistic portrayals of emotion as the Ebony Readers provided dramatic readings and the Opeyo! dancers graced the stage with fluid, interpretive dance.

The center was named after Sonja Haynes Stone, who committed herself to 17 years of service to the African & Afro-American studies curriculum at UNC.

Her legacy echoed in the words of her daughter Precious, who shared her gratitude with the audience. "This investment in the future will reap marvelous rewards for years to come," she said. "My mother would be exceedingly proud today."

After the ground was blessed and shoveled, BCC interim Director Harry Amana was nothing but elated. "So many people (are) just coming up, saying how good they felt," he said. "It's kind of a gem in the University's crown -- and you can see that in the turnout."

Hortence McClinton, who became UNC's first black faculty member in 1966 at the School of Social Work, shared Amana's jubilation. "It's a day I wondered would ever come," she said.

McClinton said she hopes all future students, not just blacks, will utilize the new facilities and share with their children the cultural knowledge offered. "At least they will try to give their children a broader background than what they would have," she said.

And Amana encouraged students to take advantage of what the center aims to offer. "You're so lucky."

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.