Black history exhibit opens

A new UNC exhibit works to capture the struggles and triumphs of Southern black history.

The display includes such diverse items as a pair of 19th century slave shackles and a journal from the first black female student at UNC.

The exhibit, “We Shall Not Be Moved: African Americans in the South, 18th Century to the Present” is on display in Wilson Library and runs through Feb. 5.

Performance groups, including the Ebony Readers/Onyx Theatre will perform at a reception today to commemorate the exhibit.

Biff Hollingsworth, the collecting and public programming archivist of the exhibit, said he is excited about the opening reception and activities for the exhibit.

“We’ll have some spoken word pieces, and we’ll be talking about the exhibit and letting people enjoy it,” he said.

The exhibit was created in part because of the relevance of black history to the University community.

“The African American community, particularly on a local level, was so key to the founding and the building of the University, but a lot of people don’t know that history,” said Holly Smith, the Overholser archival fellow who helped organize the exhibit.

The display materials come from the Southern Historical Collection of the library, a collection that contains about 24 million items.

To raise awareness of the exhibit, the collection is hosting a series of programs including a lecture, film screening and a tour of campus highlighting black historical landmarks on campus.

The archivists said they hope that visitors will connect to the exhibit.

“For everyone who comes to the exhibit, each item will hopefully start a conversation with someone they’re viewing it with,” Hollingsworth said.

It took nine months for the collection staff to create and organize this exhibit.

“Collecting the materials was a challenge, but it was a welcome challenge because we had so much compelling material,” Smith said.

She said that the entire community, not just scholars, can benefit from the exhibit.

“We hope this creates some good connections and bonds with people who might not have traditionally come to archives,” Smith said.



Contact the Arts Editor at artsdesk@unc.edu.