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This is our Call! This is our Birthright!

Oral histories of life in Northside ring with reference to the “pillars of this community”: church, family, school. The church is repeatedly hailed as a place of gathering, a place of freedom, a place of renewed faith, and consequently a place of community. The churches pictured here served as a hub for civil rights action and continue to enrich and enliven hundreds of lives as pillars in this community.

Renowned, national activist, James Farmer, speaks at a civil rights gathering at First Baptist. Rev. Manley, pastor at First Baptist for sixty-six years, sits in the background.

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Golden Glazed St. Joseph’s by Karen Cheney, Chapel Hill High School.

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Crowd gathers to prepare for a march in front of St. Joseph C.M.E. Church at the corner of Rosemary and Roberson.

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Dr. Reginald Hildebrand, a professor of African-American Studies at UNC and long-time member of St. Paul’s A.M.E., stands in front of his church and the new Greenbridge development, 2010.