Cape Fear Committee on African American Heritage

Conceived in March of 2019 as an ad hoc committee at first, the Cape Fear Committee on African American Heritage (CFCAAH) formally came together at its first meeting in June to lay the groundwork for how it will operate. Now, the Museum of the Cape Fear Historical Complex Foundation, Inc., the non-profit advisory board for the museum, has created the committee as a standing committee to ensure that the Museum of the Cape Fear "collects, preserves and interprets the history and heritage of African Americans in the Cape Fear Region." Community supporters saw a gap in services in this regard and they eagerly stepped forward to be involved.

Advising the museum on events, organizations and programs in the African American community with which to partner and/or support, the CFCAAH’s primary purpose is to establish and maintain engagement with the African American community. It is maintaining a database of African American sites to preserve and promote throughout the region. Subcommittees work in areas of programming, involving youth, publicity & marketing, and exhibits & collections. The committee is active in continually developing ideas to increase public engagement and involve local youth.

Following its initial meeting, it became obvious that the new committee could also serve a similar function for the NC Civil War & Reconstruction History Center (NCCWRHC). The following six months, the need for greater communication between the NC Civil War & Reconstruction History Center and the African American community was highlighted in the local press. “The History Center is a vital project that the African American community will gladly support as long as it accurately and truthfully presents the Civil War and Reconstruction time period,” said Haddock, the committee’s first chair.

Mac Healy, the chair of the History Center Foundation Board of Directors, also saw the need for such a committee. “The understandable mistrust by African Americans toward how this time period has been handled in the past has made us more sensitive to the importance of direct engagement,” said Mac Healy. “Furthermore,” Healy continued, “since we have remained committed to an accurate portrayal of the history of all North Carolinians leading up to, during and after the war, it is important that we have a means to help keep us true to the African American experience locally and statewide. The Cape Fear Committee on African American Heritage will do just that.”

“False narratives about each other can weaken our capacity to work together. A lack of an honest and accurate portrayal of the social dynamics of the past leaves a void that can be filled by all sorts of distortions,” says Haddock. “These distortions jeopardize the current and future state of race relations and our community cohesiveness. The CFCAAH is needed to add the African American perspective, as broad and varying as it may be,” Haddock concludes.

Consisting of "everyday citizens" from Cumberland County School teachers, college students and current university history faculty to a recipient of the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, several retired citizens ― civilian & military, staff from the History Center Project and the Museum of the Cape Fear, the Museum Director and a retired professor of sociology from Fayetteville State University, made up a diverse group in thought, appearance and age while maintaining a healthy male/female balance. As a joint committee between the Museum and the History Center, the CFCAAH realizes that the truth of our past will involve discomfort. If we keep our attention on how we relate to each other today, disturbing stories from the past can be just that ― in the past. This committee’s work will help us toward a future that is more inclusive of authentic African American voices.