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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCommision on African American Heritage History and Culture Minutes January 14th Page 1 NEW HANOVER COUNTY MANAGER’S OFFICE NEW HANOVER COUNTY COMMISSION ON AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY, HERITAGE & CULTURE (NHCAAHHC or Commission) Virtual Meeting via Microsoft Teams th January 14, 2021 – 4:00 PM Committee Members Present: (Virtually) - Marcus Lacewell, Linda Thomas, Christopher Eaton, Tracion Flood, Bernice Johnson, Manuel Lloyd, Deborah Maxwell, J’vanete Skiba, Sandra Oglesby , and Brenda Fong Ex-Officio –Jan Davidson, Historian Absent: Angela Gaines, Cynthia Pershia, Stephanie Walker (Excused), Linda Thompson, Chief Equity & Diversity Officer, Tomeka Jarreau, Administrative Specialist Staff Present: Travis Corpening, Diversity & Equity Specialist I.Call to Order– Travis Corpening called the meeting to order at 4:20 pm. Quorum established. II.Approve Agenda –Brenda Fong motioned to approve the agenda; Bernice Johnson, seconded. Motion passed unanimously. III.Approve Minutes IV.Public Comments – J’vanete: Establish this year’s direction of the commission: Streamline toward projects for teams for the next couple of years. Sandra and Stephanie Sea Breeze and Shell Island/ memorial and marker to support those efforts. Foundational pieces distributed before being present. Focus on cemetery/Black resorts and collaborate after that. Produce document on black history in the county. Present information via county website or social media page particularly for people coming in for the summer. Hone in on something that we can complete. Brenda Fong: recommended putting information into the hotel industry. Providing information to the community. Jan: develop plan to research the people buried in the cemetery, history and preservation. Create building block and work together, how much the commission can do. Deborah Maxwell: use social media to educate the public of the existence of the commission. What progress can be made this year with the new leadership in Washington? Does the county do funding? Travis: How deep is the historic designation, what needs to be done? It will probably be possible but may take 2 years to complete to get national designation. Historic designation and markers are two different things. (Shell Island and Sea Breeze) J’vanete; what can we do to keep the sanctity of this area and highlighting the area is incredibly important to Wilmington. Eaton: the community of Sea Breeze is well aware of what is going on their attention is geared toward Page 2 the Freeman cemetery. Travis: the commission should do the research. How do we get started? Travis: work on local marker project/historic project will take longer. Eaton: Freeman cemetery should be acknowledged as an historic site. Eaton: Authors and paranormal experimenters have called to go into the cemetery; we do not want this cemetery to have that type of exposure. Travis: contact about the marker type we want on the cemetery. Eaton: We do not know how many people are buried there. Travis: meet with Joe Finley regarding ground penetrating radar (GPR), $35,000. Eaton: community may be willing to grant easement as long as it is preserved. Families buried across the street also therefore the community may not be pro (tourism). Will the community be willing to grant county easement (multiple properties). J’vanete: we do not want to traumatize families or make the cemetery an attraction. Can we have a representative or family member speak about what they are comfortable with. Sandra: marker will be huge; descendents were republicans and will draw people. Travis: we need to find out what it takes to get the marker, by next meeting and we can have citizens join our meeting. V. Old Business– A. Committee Reports (Chairs) - a. Cemetery – No update. b. Education – No update. c. Outreach – No update. d. Research – No update. B. Committee Next Meeting Dates a. Not Stated VI. New Business A. No update. B. No update. VI. Announcements A. No update. VIII. Adjourn– Meeting adjourned at 5:05 p.m.