HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 01-21-2025 ; 12-5 - Information Item - Memorandum – Update on Civil Rights Trail Marker Program 1
COUNTY OF ORANGE
DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT, AGRICULTURE,
PARKS AND RECREATION
MEMORANDUM
To: David Stancil, Director
From: Peter Sandbeck, Cultural Resources Coordinator
Date: December 4th, 2024
Subject: Update on Civil Rights Trail Marker Program
The NC African American Heritage Commission launched this program in 2021, with a goal
of erecting a total of 50 markers statewide by the end of 2023. Program rules stipulated
that a minimum of 10 of those 50 were required to be in Tier 1 or 2 counties, leaving only
40 remaining markers to be distributed among all other counties.
In 2022, the Historic Preservation Commission members discussed the program and
determined that the events of greatest importance to the county's Civil Rights movement
took place in Chapel Hill, which was the scene of a race riot in 1937, along with several
major protest marches that took place on Franklin Street between 1961-64. These marches
were the culmination of over two decades of community organizing by local activists and
the Chapel Hill NAACP.
A Civil Rights Trail Marker was awarded to honor the Hargraves Community Center in
Chapel Hill, built in 1940-42 as a much-needed recreation center for Black youth. This center
was the scene of a number of important events associated with the local Civil Rights
movement and its achievements, starting soon after it was built. The new marker at the
Hargraves Center was dedicated in June 2023, as a result of hard work by many in the
community: https://chapelboro.com/news/chapel-hills-hargraves-center-officially-added-
to-statewide-civi I-rights-tra i I
The program website contains additional information: https://aahc.nc.gov/programs/nc-
civil-rights-trail/nc-civil-rights-virtual-trail/hargraves-community-center-1942
Given the limited scope of this program, obtaining a marker for the Hargraves Center was a
significant achievement. Looking ahead, there is interest in creating our own Orange County
local historical marker program, which could be used to highlight other important Civil
Rights leaders and events, such as the massive walkout of Hillsborough's Central High
School students who marched from school over to the Old Courthouse in April 1969, to
express their frustration over the slow pace of school integration in the county.
Environment, Agriculture, Parks and Recreation
PO Box 8181/306-A Revere Road
Hillsborough, NC 27278
(919) 245-2517