Renee Price is a co-founder of Free Spirit Freedom.

The marker at Coachman’s Quarters in Hillsborough reads “December 5 ’65.”

That’s not the day the 13th Amendment was ratified, not officially, but it was still a day of celebration for Orange County residents, former slaves, who were finally about to win their permanent legal emancipation.

North Carolina voted on December 4, 1865, to ratify the 13th Amendment, which enshrined a ban on slavery in the U.S. Constitution. (News of the vote reached Orange County the next day – hence “December 5” on the marker.) The amendment officially became part of the Constitution on December 6, when Georgia voted to ratify.

On Friday, December 4, and Saturday, December 5, the local organization Free Spirit Freedom is holding a pair of events in Hillsborough to commemorate the 150th anniversary of  the 13th Amendment.  There will be a program on Friday evening from 5-7 in the Whitted Building on West Tryon Street: local historians Peter Wood and Freddie Parker will speak; there will be music from Wanda Crisp; and Joseph McGill of the Slave Dwelling Project will deliver remarks as well. McGill will stay overnight in Coachman’s Quarters, a former slave dwelling on South Cameron Street; then on Saturday from 10 am to 1 pm the public will be invited to tour the building and hear from McGill.

Free Spirit Freedom co-founder (and Orange County Commissioner) Renee Price spoke Friday with WCHL’s Aaron Keck.

 

If you’d like to tour Coachman’s Quarters on Saturday, December 5, first go to the Hillsborough Visitors Center at 150 E. King Street to receive directions.