300 Years of Greensboro History

Wednesday, July 28 2010 by Jessica Jones | Send to a friend

Greensboro Historical Museum

David Brower: The city of Greensboro has a colorful history. It was home to both slave owners and Quaker abolitionists who were part of the Underground Railroad. Greensboro was also known for its huge textile mills, and of course it was the center of a national civil rights movement. All that history is included in a new exhibit that opened yesterday at the Greensboro Historical Museum. Jessica Jones reports.

Jessica Jones: “Voices of a City: Greensboro, North Carolina” is an 8000 square foot multimedia exhibit that begins in the 1700s and ends in the present day. The city’s history is told through the narratives of people who lived it. Stroll through one section about the Civil War, and you’ll hear an actor read the story of Ede, an enslaved woman who fought to keep her family together.

Actor: When I learned I was to be sent live with young Mr. Caldwell, more than a hundred miles away from my husband and children, I became distraught. I decided to take my youngest, my baby, and hide in the woods.

Turn around and you’ll see a depiction of a riot in Greensboro from the same era. A woman named Nancy Mangum was so angry about what happened she wrote a letter to the governor.

Actor: Governor Vance, I have threatened for some time to write you a letter. A crowd of we poor women went to Greensboro yesterday for something to eat, as we had not a mouthful of bread in my house. What did they do but put us in jail?

“Voices of a City” weaves narratives like Nancy Mangum’s into a multifaceted presentation of Greensboro’s history. The exhibit includes more than four hundred objects and 500 images and videos. Museum curator Susan Webster says it took four years for staff to decide what should be on display.

Susan Webster: We involved teachers, educators, specialists in fields, folks who’ve worked in the community in different forums, interviewed people, even down to asking people what they would like to see by doing talks in the community.

Webster says the museum staff worked hard to present history through a multitude of perspectives. After all, Greensboro residents financed it through a five million dollar bond passed in 2006. And yesterday afternoon, residents finally got to walk through it. Mayor Bill Knight spoke at an official ribbon-cutting ceremony in the museum’s lobby.

Bill Knight: I am very pleased to welcome you here today, and I hope well I’m not going to say I hope, I hope you will enjoy your visit, and as I will, come back time and time again. I’m a history buff and I can’t get enough of it.

Upstairs, dozens of people were walking through 'Voices of a City. " Catherine Clapp Dickerson was staring at a display that included a Civil War era rifle manufactured by her great-great grandfather, George Washington Clapp.

Catherine Clapp Dickerson: For me it’s just exciting to come and see my family history. You know obviously these were not people that I knew personally but to know that my great-great grandfather had his hands on this- this was his.

Dickerson says it makes her feel connected to the community.

Dickerson: It’s just very exciting to hear our story told, and know that it’s one small piece in this whole story, and how you know everybody in here can probably claim, you know this is my family, this is my story.

That was true for Burlington resident Clinton Harvey. He says seeing a big neon Blumenthal’s sign brought back memories. His great-grandmother used to tell him how she defied segregation by shopping at the department store.

Clinton Harvey: She was fair-skinned African-American, so she could pass for white, and she did go into that store, and she did buy those things. And so you know just listening to her stories- it’s amazing, I was like okay, I see what she was talking about now.

“Voices of a City” will become a permanent exhibit at Greensboro’s Historical Museum. Staff members say they’re thrilled to have an exhibit that’s a reflection of the city they live in. Jessica Jones, North Carolina Public Radio, WUNC.