Upcoming Events
Watch for a new date for:
Orange County Community Remembrance Coalition Historical Marker Unveiling Ceremony for Washington, Daniel & Thomas Jefferson Morrow
Orange County Historic Courthouse
104 East King Street, Hillsborough, NC 27278
Past Events
Friday, October 4th, 2024
NCCADP WALK for COMMUTATION
Mt. Bright Baptist Church
211 W. Union St., Hillsborough
NCCoalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (NCCADP) supporters are walking 136 miles to raise awareness of the 136 lives at risk of execution in North Carolina and to call on Governor Roy Cooper to eliminate that risk by commuting death sentences. NCCADP’s Walk for Commutation will begin in Winston-Salem on September 26th and end in Raleigh on October 10th, which is World Day Against the Death Penalty. The walkers are coming through Hillsborough on Friday, October 4th and OCCRC and Mt Bright Baptist Church are hosting an event that we are calling, “Joy of Abolition.” We’ll greet the walkers with a community potluck, followed by a showing of “Racist Roots” and a conversation with Reverend Dewey Williams on the joy of working to end the death penalty.
Very aligned with the work of OCCRC, the NCCADP walking route will start that day at High Rock Road and Cedar Grove Road, at the lynching site of Cyrus Guy. More information on the work of OCCRC will be available via a looping slide show at that evening’s event.
The route comes through Hillsborough around lunchtime and then continues on towards Durham. The landing site for the day’s walk will be Piney Grove Baptist Church. We’ll be arranging car and van shuttles to bring folks back to Mt. Bright and our event.
Tuesday, July 2, 2024
Program to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the passage of the Civil Rights Act
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination in public accommodations and other public places and established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The act prohibited discrimination in public places, provided for the integration of schools and other public facilities, and made employment discrimination illegal. It was the most sweeping civil rights legislation since Reconstruction. Along with the 1965 Voting Rights Act and the Fair Housing Act in 1968, the Civil Rights Act helped establish the legal foundation of equality among all Americans.
Click here to view a video of this event.
Sunday, February 18, 2024, 2:00 pm
Manly McCauley Historical Marker Unveiling Ceremony
Saturday, December 2, 2023, 2:00 pm
Flyleaf Books
725 Martin Luther King Blvd.
Chapel Hill, 27514
By Hands Now Known by Margaret A. Burnham
Community Book Read and Author Presentation
In By Hands Now Known, Margaret A. Burnham, challenges our understanding of the Jim Crow era by exploring the relationship between formal law and background legal norms in a series of harrowing cases from 1920 to 1960. From rendition, the legal process by which states make claims to other states for the return of their citizens, to battles over state and federal jurisdiction and the outsize role of local sheriffs in enforcing racial hierarchy, Burnham maps the criminal legal system in the mid-twentieth century South and traces the unremitting line from slavery to the legal structures of this period and through to today. Drawing on an extensive database, collected over more than a decade and exceeding 1,000 cases of racial violence, she reveals the true legal system of Jim Crow, and captures the memories of those whose stories have not yet been heard.
Margaret A. Burnham is the founding director of the Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project at Northeastern University and has been a staffer for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, a civil rights lawyer, a defense attorney, and a judge. A professor of law, she was nominated by President Biden and confirmed by the US Senate to serve on the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board. She lives in Boston, Massachusetts.
Preceding this conversation with the author in December, there will be two facilitated discussions of the book in November.
The first will be at the Chapel Hill Public Library on Wednesday, November 1, from 6:00 – 7:30 pm with Lloyd Kramer, Director of Carolina Public Humanities; the second will be at the Orange County Library in Hillsborough on Sunday, November 12 from 3 – 4:30 pm with Orange County Commissioner Sally Greene.
In partnership with the Northern Orange County branch of the NAACP, Justice United, and Carolina Public Humanities.
To order a copy of the book (and receive a discount as a member of OCCRC) go to https://www.flyleafbooks.com/communityread-dec2023 . You can reserve seats when ordering a book. Otherwise, seating is on a first come basis.
Friday, September 15, 2023, 6:00 pm
Binkley Baptist Church, Chapel Hill
Screening of “Four Little Girls” by Spike Lee, with discussion following.
Co-sponsored by Chapel Hill/Carrboro NAACP Youth Council and Binkley Baptist Church.
Friday, September 15, 2023, 6:00-8:00 pm
Passmore Center, Hillsborough
Screening of two short films on the Children’s Crusade, and a “living room chat” with community youth and elders, moderated by Leoneda Inge, renowned reporter and podcast hostirls” by Spike Lee, with discussion following.
Saturday, September 16, 2023, 2:00-4:00 pm
(TBD) in Chapel Hill
Creative arts program honoring the 4 Black Schoolgirls, with dance, spoken word, poetry and music performances by our local youth.
These events are a collaborative effort of Spirit Freedom (formerly Free Spirit Freedom), the James Cates Scholars, Bridging the Gap, the Local History Stewards, and the Northern Orange NAACP.
Tuesday, September 19, 2023, 6:30 pm
Chapel Hill Public Library
Langston Hughes’s 1931 visit to Chapel Hill: The Scottsboro Case and Legal Lynching
OCCRC, Carolina Public Humanities, and the Chapel Hill Public Library will host NCSU English Professor Dr. Jason Miller to discuss Langston Hughes’ most famous anti-lynching poem, which he debuted in Chapel Hill during his 1931 visit to Orange County. His appearance was so controversial that police were stationed outside the door of his public reading. Though he wrote nearly three dozen anti-lynching poems between 1919-67, none equaled the immediate or lasting impact of “Christ in Alabama.” This multimedia presentation documents and contextualizes the most unforgettable moment in Hughes’s lifelong national campaign against American lynching culture. Special guests include NC Poet Laureate Jaki Shelton Green and spoken word artist Nick Courmon.
Sunday, August 6, 2023, 3:00 pm
Orange County Public Library
Lessons from North Carolina: A Discussion with Gene Nichol
In partnership with the Northern Orange County branch of the NAACP, and the Orange County Public Library, OCCRC is hosting a discussion featuring UNC professor of law Gene Nichol.
With inspiration and aspiration, Professor Nichol shines a spotlight on the enduring war against democracy, equality, and truth waged by the Republican-controlled General Assembly in his new book, Lessons from North Carolina: Race, Religion, Tribe, and the Future of America. Acknowledging the racist biases that have run persistently through North Carolina’s political history, the discussion will place special focus on the strategies that today’s activists should be deploying to achieve necessary change.
Saturday, May 6, 2023, 1:00 pm
Battle Courtroom of the Orange County Courts, Hillsborough
Scene of the Crime: Albion Tourgée and the “Invisible Empire” in Orange County
Albion Tourgee (1838-1905) is a nationally important civil rights figure, a former Union solider who came to North Carolina after the Civil War to help realize the promise of democracy for the state’s newly emancipated Black population.
Tourgée’s career intersects with the Orange County stories of Washington and Nelson Morrow. As a judge for the district that included Orange County, he would likely have presided over their trial and would certainly have afforded them a fair trial. A fear of Tourgée’s evenhanded justice, historians believe, was one of the factors that motivated the Klan vigilantes to abduct the men from jail.
There is good reason to credit this theory. Tourgée, a white man from Ohio, staked his entire career on fighting for racial equity for Black Americans. He participated in the Constitutional Convention that drafted North Carolina’s progressive 1868 Reconstruction Constitution. In his later career he is best known for representing Homer Plessy in Plessy v. Ferguson.
This program is designed to shine a light on Tourgée, connecting his local role as advocate and judge with full scope of his remarkable career.
Keynoting the program will be Deborah-Patrice Hamlin, whose expertise on Tourgée is reflected in the dissertation she wrote under the direction of John Hope Franklin. Other speakers will include Fourth Circuit Judge Jim Wynn, NCCU professor emeritus Freddie Parker, and retired state judge Robert N. Hunter. Moderating their conversation will be Sally Greene.
Co-sponsoring organizations include the BronzeTone Center for Music and History, Carolina Public Humanities, and the District Bar of the 18th Judicial District of North Carolina, Orange and Chatham Counties.
Saturday, April 29, 2023, 1:00-4:00 pm
Battle Courtroom, Orange County Courthouse,106 Margaret Lane, Hillsborough, NC
Soil Collection Ceremony
Join us in commemorating Cyrus Guy, Daniel Morrow, Jefferson Morrow, Washington Morrow and Wright Malone – all victims of racial terror lynching in Orange County in 1869. Our time together will include proclamations, a libation ceremony and a presentation to families of the victims. The event will be graced by poets Jaki Shelton Green and Cortland Gilliam who will be reading their poetry written for this occasion. Dancer Jasmine Powell will performing as well. A reception after the ceremony will be catered by Bouquet Garni.
For more information on the lives and murders of the these men, go to our “Those We Honor” page.
Tuesday, March 28, 2023, 7pm – 8 pm, followed by Q & A
Whitted Building, 300 W Tryon St, Hillsborough, NC
North Carolina Freedom Park: Celebrating Freedom and the African American Experience
Envision an inspiring, 45-foot-tall, illuminated sculpture reaching towards the sky from the center of downtown Raleigh – a “Beacon of Freedom,” the centerpiece of North Carolina Freedom Park – a one-acre park that honors the African American experience and struggle for freedom in North Carolina. Join the Orange County Community Remembrance Coalition on Tues., March 28th at 7 pm in Hillsborough to learn about this new landmark currently being constructed in North Carolina’s Capital.
An idea conceived 20 years ago by the Paul Green Foundation, North Carolina Freedom Park is based on the visionary design of the late Phil Freelon (renowned architect of Washington DC’s Museum of African American History & Culture), and will include 20 inspirational quotes from North Carolina leaders (the “Voices of Freedom”) artfully inscribed along the walls of five walkways leading to the Beacon. A concept benefiting from the wisdom of the late Dr. John Hope Franklin (who served as the founding chair of the Freedom Park Advisory Board), and with the support of the Mellon Foundation’s “Monuments Project,” Freedom Park is being constructed by the socially conscious Holt Brothers Construction Company.
All are invited to join us on Tuesday, March 28th to learn about Freedom Park’s inspiration, purpose, and development, as well as how the Park will inspire and benefit all North Carolinians. Registration and more information at https://humanities.unc.edu/FreedomPark
Thursday, November 10, 2022, 7:00 – 9:00 pm
Operation Readi-Rock, listen to the program here: Operation Readi-Rock
In November 1990, the Town of Chapel Hill Police Department led an unconstitutional raid on an entire block of Graham Street. Join Orange County Community Remembrance Coalition and the Chapel Hill Public Library, along with eyewitness panelists, for a community conversation about the events of that day.
About Operation Readi-Rock
Beginning at 9:00 p.m. on 16 November 1990, Chapel Hill law enforcement, assisted by the special response team of the State Bureau of Investigation, executed a search warrant on the one hundred block of Graham Street in Chapel Hill. The raid, known as “Operation Readi-Rock, “was conducted to locate and identify a small number of individuals suspected of drug trafficking and culminated from several months of surveillance on Graham Street. In executing the warrant, officers, and agents, many outfitted in camouflage and black masks, surrounded and sealed off the block. According to plaintiffs, they ordered all people congregating on Graham Street and inside a club known as the Village Connection to either lie face down on the floor or stand against a wall with their hands up. During the raid, sixty to one hundred people were searched and detained until one of three detectives who could identify the targets of their search determined they were not one of the individuals being sought. 38 people who were among those searched brought a lawsuit against the Town of Chapel Hill and the individuals who authorized this raid. Many plaintiffs claim they were fully searched during the raid. Many also complained that officers failed to identify themselves, leading them to believe they were being robbed or attacked. Others reported injuries at the hands of officers. All of those detained were African-American and many stated that whites were allowed to leave the area during the raid. During the raid officers seized approximately $700.00 to $2,000.00 in cash, $1,000.00 to $2,000.00 in cocaine, and some weapons. Several arrests were made but none were prosecuted.
Thursday, August 18, 2022, 6:30 – 8:30 pm
Racist Roots
Chelsea Theater
In August, North Carolina will mark sixteen years since our last execution, yet there are 136 people sentenced to death in our state. To observe this milestone, please join us on Thursday, August 18th, 6:30-8:00 PM, the actual anniversary of the last execution, for the premier Chapel Hill screening of the newly released film Racist Roots . This short film, created by the Center for Death Penalty Litigation, exposes the death penalty’s deep entanglement with slavery, lynching and racism. The film, and a panel discussion to follow, will highlight the diverse voices that are central to the movement to end North Carolina’s death penalty — and remind us why we must work together to ensure that state-sponsored executions are never again carried out in our name.
This event will take place at the Chelsea Theatre (1129 Weaver Dairy Rd Suite AB Chapel Hill, NC 27514). Panelists include writer and researcher Seth Kotch, Ph.D and Dawn Blagrove, Executive Director of Emancipate NC. Both Kotch and Blagrove are featured in the film. The panel will be moderated by James Williams, retired Chief Public Defender for Orange and Chatham counties. James also serves as the chair of the NC Commission on Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Criminal Justice System and was recently recognized for his tireless racial equity work as this year’s winner of the NC Advocates for Justice Annie Brown Kennedy Award.
Co-sponsored with the Chapel Hill/ Carrboro NAACP and the Center for Death Penalty Litigation. This is a free event, but online registration is required and space is limited. An online livestream of the event will also be available. Per Chelsea Theater COVID policy proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test within the past 48 hrs will be required and masks will be optional. Please register at racistroots.eventbrite.com.
Friday, May 20, 2022, 2:00 – 4:00 pm
The 1947 Journey of Reconciliation: A Long Road to Justice
View a recording of this event at: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IZevllcDz0A
Hillsborough Courthouse (Mural Courtroom)
Commemorating the 75th year anniversary of the “First Freedom Ride” and the legal travesty that followed. This free, dynamic event will include:
- A keynote address by author & professor Gene Nichol (UNC-CH School of Law): “The Journey: Courage, Hate and the Unending Struggle for the Promise of America”
- Attorney James Williams will discuss the role of Black lawyers in challenging Jim Crow in transportation
- Poet, artist and performer CJ Suitt will provide an artistic interpretation of of the courthouse proceedings
- Vocalist & educator Mary D. Williams will perform Freedom Songs from the Long Civil Rights Movement
This is event is FREE and open to the public. Registration is not required, but is requested to help us prepare for attendance numbers.
LISTEN TO OCCRC’S JAMES WILLIAMS DISCUSS THIS EVENT ON THE AARON KECK SHOW
For the location of the Orange County Courthouse in Hillsborough, directions/map, & parking information, click here. (Please note that downtown Hillsborough can be busy on Friday afternoons, so plan your arrival and parking options accordingly. Additional parking is available throughout downtown Hillsborough; click here for details.) Sponsored by Orange County Community Remembrance Coalition, Humanities for the Public Good, an initiative at UNC-CH’s College of Arts & Sciences.
Tuesday, April 19, 2022, 6 – 7:15 pm
The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story– Community Book Read & Panel Discussion
IN PERSON OR VIRTUAL ATTENDANCE OPTIONS & QUESTION SUBMITTAL
Limited in-person seating (for up to 50) is available at Flyleaf Books (752 M.L.K. Jr Blvd, Chapel Hill, NC 27514).
The panel will address the history presented, the debate in K-12 education concerning the material, as well as what the divisive rhetoric surrounding the Project tells us about how Americans experience, discuss, and process the history of racism in America. The panel discussion will be moderated by James E. Williams, Jr. with panelists:
- Dr. Deborah Stroman | UNC-CH Dept. of Health Behavior, Director of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in Research Program
- Dr. Brian Gibbs | UNC-CH School of Education
- Dr. Rodney Trice | CHCCS Chief Equity & Engagement Officer
Sponsored by Orange County Community Remembrance Coalition, Carolina Public Humanities and Flyleaf Books. Promotional support provided by Young Americans Protest (YAP!) & The Campaign for Racial Equity In Our Schools.
View a recording of this event at: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gD8lKVBqvDs
March 12, 2022, 2:00 – 5:00 pm
Hidden Voices presents “Right Here, Right Now,” stories and songs from men living on death row and their families.
Panel discussion following the performance, moderated by NC Representative Vernetta Alston with panelists
- Attorney Jon Powell, professor at Campbell University, Raleigh, NC, and director of the Restorative Justice Clinic
- Andre Smith, activist, meditation teacher, father of a murdered son, and volunteer at Nash Correctional Institution
- Lynden Harris, Executive Director, Hidden Voices
View a recording of this event at: https://m.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=1013884096150202
Sponsored by Orange County Community Remembrance Coalition, The Center for Death Penalty Litigation, and the Chapel Hill/Carrboro NAACP
February 10, 2022, 6:00 – 8:00 pm
Film screening, “Lessons of the Hour,” a re-enactment of the last major speech of Frederick Douglass, in celebration of Black History Month
- Carrboro Century Center
- Free and open to the public
- Masks are required
Panel discussion following the film, moderated by James E. Williams, Jr. with speakers
- Dr. William Sturkey, UNC History professor specializing in the history of race in the American South
- Greear Webb, UNC student and activist, a warrior for justice who cares deeply about bridging North Carolina’s racial divide
- Barbara Foushee, Town of Carrboro, Town Council Member
The program will be streamed on Carrboro social media channels and will also be available via the Town of Carrboro YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/CarrboroNC. For updates check: www.townofcarrboro.org.
Sponsored by the Town of Carrboro and the Orange County Community Remembrance Coalition
2019-21 Events
November 5, 2021
Community Reading: Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America by Gilbert King
Discussion moderated by James E. Williams, Jr. with panelists
- Dr. Deborah Stroman
- Dr. Freddie Parker
- District Court Judge Hathaway Pendergrass
Sponsored by the Orange County Community Remembrance Coalition and the Northern Orange NAACP
May 15, 2021
Webinar: A “Reign of Terror” in North Carolina: From Wyatt Outlaw to Ku Klux Klan, Testimonies of 1871/72
April 13, 2021
Webinar: Celebrating The 60th Anniversary of the Freedom Riders
March 27, 2021
“Haunted: An American Tale”
Sonny Kelly, Arts Center
October 3 – 29, 2020
The Light of Truth: October 2020 Virtual Series Honoring Ida B. Wells
October 3, 2020
- Keynote – Nikole Hannah-Jones, with Ron Nixon, Topher Sanders. Moderated by Dr. Malinda Maynor, Dr. Joseph Jordan
October 8, 2020
- History of Racial Terror
Presented by Paris Miller-Foushee, Dr. Seth Kotch, students from Middle Creek High School, Raleigh Charter High School, Matt Scialdone and Melani Winter
October 18, 2020
- Dramatic Reading of “Miss Ida B. Wells” by Associate Professor Kathryn Hunter-Williams and actress Rasool Jahan
October 22, 2020
- Life and Work of Louis Austin
With panelists Dr. Jerry Gershenhorn, Dr. Brett Chambers, Cash Michaels, moderated by James E. Williams, Jr.
October 29, 2020
- #BlackOutLoud UNC documentary screening
Followed by Q&A with artists, producers, students: De’Ivyion Drew, Cortland Giliam, Jerry Wilson, moderated by Renee Price.
August 6, 2020
African Americans and the Ballot: A Continuing Struggle for Freedom
In honor of the 150th anniversary of the 15th Amendment and the 55th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965
February 24, 2020
The Romey Lynchings
Documentary screening and discussion
January 16, 2020
“Wilmington on Fire”
Film screening and discussion with the producer
January 2020
In Person—Hillsborough
From Slavery to Freedom: The Power of Music
November 16, 2019
Chapel Hill
Soils Collection and Libation Ceremony
September 11, 2019
Flyleaf Books
Stony the Road Book Discussion
September 9, 2019
Chapel Hill Public Library
Just Another Lynching: An American Horror Story by Jeghetto
August 24, 2019
Chapel Hill Public Library
Reconstruction, Redemption, and the Ongoing Struggle For Freedom
August 11, 2019
Varsity Theatre
“The Long Shadow” Screening
May 6, 2019
Varsity Theatre
“Rigged” Screening
March 10, 2019
Varsity Theatre
“Strange Fruit” Screening
February 2, 2019
Passmore Center
Lynching and Racial Terror
January 8, 2019
UCCH
OCCRC Formation Reception