Edited introduction to the book Shared Stories: African Americans in North Mecklenburg Volume 1

This book is part of a larger project intended to capture and share the history of African Americans in North Mecklenburg and South Iredell counties. This history is found in the everyday lives and stories of individuals and families. The interview excerpts and photographs included in the book document just some of the important contributions African Americans have made across their communities and the varied experiences they have had over generations. Some stories overlap, some contradict one another. The purpose of putting them together here is to illustrate the complexity of history and to let voices speak for themselves, each with its own perspective and based on its own experience. Besides each being a testament to the realities of life in North Mecklenburg, these stories also open diverse avenues to think about what it means to possess a "shared history," and how such a framework might aid a community not just to relate to itself but also in its attempts to move forward as a whole.

The stories within are grouped into three general areas: education, social life and neighborhoods, and businesses & working. The majority of excerpts in the book originate from interviews conducted in 2016 and 2017 through funding from a National Endowment for Humanities Common Heritage grant. Additional material was sourced from oral histories housed in the Davidson College Archives and Special Collections.

This book is titled “Volume One” with hopes that more people will be encouraged to contribute more interviews and stories to create volumes 2 and 3, and as many more as necessary. In this way, we can contribute to the creation of an even more complex historical mosaic and instill a deeper understanding of local history. 

The project was supported by Davidson College, the Town of Davidson, the Davidson Historical Society and Smithville Community, Inc. Thank you to advisory committee members Marvin Brandon, Castella Conner, Karen Houston, Edna Johnson, LaGretta Neal, Brenda Tapia, and Darrell Van Pelt. Additional support was given by Ernest Jeffries, Tracy Mattison Brandon, Ron Potts, and Bee Jay Caldwell. Special thanks to all those who helped with the interviews and those who shared their stories, documents, and photographs.

To access full versions of these and more interviews with their transcripts and other digital materials and exhibits, visit Digital Davidson.