Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading.
We have used your information to see if you have a subscription with us, but did not find one. Please use the button below to verify an existing account or to purchase a new subscription.
Your current subscription does not provide access to this content. Please use the button below to manage your account.
Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading.
Please purchase a subscription to continue reading.
Your current subscription does not provide access to this content.
Over the next several days, the oral history’s of several prominent people in communities throughout Alamance County will be documented for posterity as part of a joint project between the African American Cultural Arts and History Center, Elon University and King Academy.
The project is the brainchild of Jane Sellars, who spearheaded a similar project in the past.
"We hoped to continue our partnership," said Elon University geography Professor Sandy Marshall. "It began a few years ago with Ms. Jane Sellars. We were hoping to continue our partnership, but after Ms. Jane's passing, there was a moment of pause. When Ms. Jane's daughter took over we were glad to collaborate again."
This is the first time the project has done this many oral histories back-to-back. Between 12 and 16 people will be interviewed during the course of this project.
Shineece Sellars, who took over as AACAHC executive director in July, said staff from Elon University approached her to do another oral history project.
“I’m excited to see how these are going to turn out,” Sellars said, adding that she hopes to partner annually with Elon to pursue this project. “This is not our first time doing this but we are doing it differently than it's been done before.”
The project, which runs from Wednesday to Monday, entails a series of recorded interviews conducted by Elon students who come from a number of different departments, according to Sellars. Participants are asked to go into detail about their lives in Alamance County.
“Either they are community members … native or they have participated in some sort of organization in the community that has benefitted the community,” Sellars said.
Documenting history is part of the AACAHC primary mission, according to Sellars. She hopes to add the recorded oral histories to her organization’s collection.
Faiger Blackwell, owner of Blackwell Funeral Home and one of the participants in the projects, believes it’s a worthwhile effort.
“It’s a wonderful way to preserve the history of Alamance County and the surrounding area,” Blackwell said. “I’m grateful to be chosen to speak.”
Blackwell said that while he didn’t know what he planned to talk about, prior to his interview, he knew he did want to touch on history, particularly as it pertained to voting.
“I want to talk about voting and the sacrifices that were made to get people the right to vote,” Blackwell said.
Sellars has high ambitions for the project.
“Hopefully we will be able to display on a larger platform in the future,” Sellars said. “We haven’t decided yet, but there are a couple of ideas that are floating out there.”
Sellars suggested that, based on some ideas she has seen from other museums, she could do some sort of installation.
“Essentially we can put all the interviews together … so we can hopefully display them at some time at our location,” Sellars said. “It could be some snippet. It could be an event.”
This article originally appeared on Times-News: AACAHC spearheads effort to memorialize local oral history
