This fall, two active organizations in the community are celebrating their 75th anniversaries: the Chapel Hill-Carrboro NAACP and the League of Women Voters of Orange, Durham and Chatham Counties.
In Chapel Hill and Carrboro, the NAACP chapter is known for being a critical voice in local activism – helping organize rallies, events and working with youth members to do significant outreach.
The Chapel Hill-Carrboro NAACP rallies on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2016, with its Youth Council helping lead the way. (Photo by Joey Devito).
Anna Richards, who is a member of the organization and formerly served as president, recently spoke to 97.9 The Hill about the local NAACP. She said she believes it’s important to acknowledge the Black community’s activism in Chapel Hill long preceded the chapter’s founding. But in the era it began, there was much happening when a group of community members met at the Hargraves Center and formally created the local branch.
“75 years ago,” said Richards, “we just celebrated the Journey of Reconciliation which happened in Chapel Hill in the spring. And then the branch was organized in October of 1947. It’s kind of an interesting thread when you think of the servicemen returning from World War II, they had experienced things abroad that they were not able to experience when they came back home. So, it was very much a time of change and people wanting more and starting to push for more.”
To mark that occasion, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro NAACP will hold several events throughout the month of October. There will be a unity event celebrating the African Diaspora, as well as a tour of the community’s Black historical sites.
Anna Richards with the Chapel Hill-Carrboro NAACP speaks at the Orange County Summit at the Whitted Building in Hillsborough in October 2019.
Richards said, however, the month will lead up to a special gala on October 22 at the Sheraton Hotel in Chapel Hill.
“Doors will open about 6:30 and the program will start at 7,” she said. “We’re going to have a celebration – it’s the diamond anniversary celebration. We will not be having a freedom fund dinner this year, so this gala will take the place of that. And we’ll have some special awards and recognition that night, and dinner and dancing.
“It’s really a party,” Richards added, “it’s not going to be your regular old chicken dinner banquet.”
Protesters kneel in West Franklin Street to honor George Floyd during an event organized by the Chapel Hill-Carrboro NAACP in June 2020.
The next day, on the branch’s Founding Day, Richards said the NAACP will also host a gathering at the Hargraves Center to build toward the future.
“We want to have a community conversation about what the future looks like,” she described. “What we can do as a community to come together, to get to a place where we can realize what we hope and dream and everybody in the community can thrive.”
During that same October stretch, the League of Women Voters for Orange, Durham and Chatham Counties will be in full-swing for election season. The local chapter, which works with the national group to provide voting information, will be compiling details on all candidates to share ahead of early voting and Election Day.
Jennifer Rubin, the president of the chapter, told 97.9 The Hill how the national organization continues to try and help voters on the local levels.
“I guess the thing that we do is continue to provide information, try to get people linked up and empowered with the information they need about candidates and about issues. That’s really our objective – and trying to counter misinformation and disinformation.”
Jennifer Rubin (right) of the League of Women Voters of Orange, Durham and Chatham Counties poses with 97.9 The Hill’s Aaron Keck.
In addition to raising awareness ahead of elections, Rubin said the local chapters help gather details on local races for a popular tool run by the national chapter’s education fund: vote411.org.
“If you want to know where you vote, when you vote, when early voting starts and ends, what your precincts are, who’s on your ballot, you can go to vote411.org and find out all that information. That’s an important tool, it takes a lot of time to contact candidates, fill out forms and get them to respond to questions that are all on the website so you can compare candidates. It’s a big undertaking any time there’s an election.”
Members of the League of Women Voters of Orange, Durham and Chatham Counties pose with Vote411.org information during primary planning 2022. (Photo via the League of Women Voters of Orange, Durham and Chatham Counties.)
The effort is a far cry from when the local chapter began with 33 members in Chapel Hill in 1947. On September 15, the League of Women Voters will hold an event to celebrate its 75th anniversary. The public is invited to join their ceremony honoring the initial work of the chapter and reaffirming its commitment to empowering voters and protecting democracy.
Rubin said the gathering will also feature a special guest.
“We’re hosting,” she said, “the President of the League of Women Voters of the United States: Deborah Turner will be with us. She’s a very impressive person and is going to talk about what the League can do and what organizations and the general public can do to support election integrity.”
To learn more about the organizations’ respective 75th anniversaries, visit the Chapel Hill-Carrboro NAACP website and the League of Women Voters of Orange, Durham and Chatham Counties website.
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