MIGHTY

Stories from a Southern Town

History is ‘his-story.’ And until we start getting some publicity, it’s going to stay that way.

David Caldwell Jr.

I told her, proudly, that I was born and raised in Chapel Hill. I knew what was coming next: ‘Reeeeeaaaaallllly?! I didn’t know there were any Black people from Chapel Hill!

Cynthia Edwards-Paschall

“I have lived here all my life. My daughter grew up here. We went to school here. She went to UNC-Chapel Hill. … This is MY town!”

Pat Jackson

Mighty…

is inspired by the name of the mascot of Chapel Hill’s all-Black Lincoln High School, the Mighty Tigers. More than any other institution, Lincoln brought the local African American community together and continues to be a source of great pride and connection. Lincoln closed in 1967 when integrated Chapel Hill High was opened. The closeness of the Lincoln community as well as the pain of its loss echo in the words of those who tell their stories decades later.

Mighty…

aptly describes the communities and people of Northside in Chapel Hill. Living in a deeply segregated town and laboring for a university modeled on the plantation economy, African American residents nevertheless built strong networks of support and courageously fought against political, social and economic injustice. They have also fought back against being written out of the town’s history by passing their stories down through the generations.

Mighty…

celebrates the living legacy of the African-American communities in and around Chapel Hill and ones like them throughout the South. Thanks to the efforts of oral historians, local storytellers, and younger generations committed to rewriting the exclusionary and racist histories they have been taught, Black voices are being amplified, and as a result, the need for racial justice is receiving overdue attention in the public consciousness.

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