On Saturday, historians and patriots alike gathered at Clinton City Hall to celebrate the America 250 kickoff event, which featured numerous presentations from local history experts.
The event is the first in a line of yearlong events to take place in North Carolina, with each being dedicated to the state’s contributions to the foundation of the nation. During the event, many citizens crammed into Clinton City Hall to hear each presentation. In addition to historians, Pamela Brewington Cashwell, the secretary of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, spoke briefly at the start of the event.
“Our mission at the department is to enrich people’s lives in North Carolina through education about our natural and cultural resources,” said Cashwell. “We have over 100 sites across the state. That’s all of our state parks, history museums art museums, science museums. We’re in a lot of different places. Our goal is to tell the whole history of North Carolina. That’s why this event is so important.”
Cashwell is a member of both the Coharie and Lumbee Tribes. Though originally from Fayetteville, as a child Cashwell spent many summers in Sampson County, helping family members grow tobacco, cucumbers and more.
Later, Jack Fryar, local historian, author and publisher of Dram Tree Books, gave a presentation on Southeastern North Carolina’s role in the American Revolution. During his presentation Fryar spoke about how events that happened in the Southeast part of the state later shaped the greater part of the war.
“Civil War history in North Carolina tends to take pride of place when it comes to tourism and general public knowledge about American history,” said Fryar. “But, there is just as much Revolutionary War history here, maybe more, than the Civil War. I think the only reason we don’t know more, for example, Wilmington only has about four buildings left that date back to the colonial period. We have just as strong a claim on American independence as Boston, New York and anybody else.”
Nancy Chavis, director and curator of the Museum of the Southeast American Indian, did a presentation on the roles Southeast American Indian tribes played in the American Revolution. Last year, Chavis and others hosted a genealogy symposium to piece together ancestry of members of Native tribes in North Carolina. This was done through story telling that was pieced together into a cohesive timeline.
“We were curious about where the memories still live among American Indian people,” said Chavis. “Who still remembers their revolutionary ancestors who fought in the war? Who remembers those great stories? This symposium was designed to allow people to share those stories. Even if they were a little fragmented, we could then take those bits and pieces and marry them with similar events. We wanted to figure out what was our stake in this.”
After the kickoff this past Saturday, similar events in the vain of celebrating American heritage for the 250 anniversary of its founding will be held through out the year. To see the full list of events, visit https://sampson.ces.ncsu.edu.
To get the full recap of Saturday’s event, see Wednesday’s print edition of the Sampson Independent.