Welcome

From the Rock Wall brings together neighbors and friends in dialogue and debate about Black life—past, present, and future--in southern Orange County, North Carolina.  Following Mrs. Marian Cheek Jackson’s motto, “without the past, you have no future,” From the Rock Wall is all about finding guideposts in the past for achieving community justice now for the future. The hundreds of oral histories and related materials gathered here are a testament to our future.  And you are an essential part. Our history needs you.  Listen.  Witness.  Respond. Keep our history vibrant, strong, and moving forward.

To listen to the neighbors featured in our opening video, use the “people” tab to find Gladys Pendergraph Brandon, Chaitra Powell and Marvin Chambers, Kathy Atwater, Brentton Harrison, and Saundra Dockery. The audio is an excerpt from Reverend Troy F. Harrison's address to the Chapel Hill/Carrboro community at First Baptist Church as part of the NAACP Martin Luther King Day celebrations, January 2009. To hear more from Rev. Harrison, visit his memorial page on the Jackson Center website.

Video credit: William Paul Thomas
Background credit: Sarah Elizabeth Cornejo