The Chapel Hill-Carrboro chapter of the NAACP will host an event on Saturday, August 24, examining the history of the Reconstruction period and the early 19th century.

The event, which is also co-hosted by the Orange County Community Remembrance Coalition, is titled ‘Reconstruction, Redemption and the Ongoing Struggle for Freedom’ will run from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. at the Chapel Hill Public Library. A group of scholars, historians, and law experts who have studied the period will engage in a broad conversation about North Carolina’s history during the Reconstruction and Jim Crow era. A keynote speaker, UNCG director of graduate studies and history professor Mark Elliott, will wrap up the program in the afternoon.

Anna Richards, president of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro NAACP, said in a conversation with WCHL’s Aaron Keck she’s excited for the event.

“It’s a real opportunity to hear different points of view and to learn something,” Richards said. “It’s going to be an awesome day, and I’m so looking forward to it.”

The event is the first the town is holding in honor of its bicentennial anniversary. The program, called Chapel Hill 1819, has many more upcoming events leading up to November 20, the date North Carolina’s general assembly first assigned commissioners to Chapel Hill 200 years ago.

‘Reconstruction, Redemption and the Ongoing Struggle for Freedom’ will be held in the library’s Meeting Room B and will serve light refreshments. Organizers suggest attendees bring their own food for lunch.

More information on other Chapel Hill 1819 events happening at the library this year can be found here.