Opening Our Future is a community history project documenting the people, places, and events that should be remembered for their part in the African American struggle for civil rights in Chapel Hill.

This work is in tribute to those who were, in the words of Harold Foster, “disobedient to those who told us to be obedient, but obedient to our own consciences.”

The Civil Rights timeline was created in 2018 with the history makers, storytellers, educators, and other members of the Historic Civil Rights Commemorations Task Force. 

Background:

In September, 2017 Mayor Pam Hemminger charged the Historic Civil Rights Commemorations (HCRC) Task Force with the creation of a timeline that identifies people, places and events “significant in the town’s Civil Rights struggle so that they may be commemorated in historical context by the Town, including the sit-in at the Colonial Drugstore and the Lincoln High Students (‘Chapel Hill Nine’) whose actions ignited the integration movement in Chapel Hill.”

This initiative created a model for ongoing community engagement in collaboration with local government.

Taskforce Members:

A printable, text-only version with descriptions of key moments.

A list of books, articles, oral histories, and archival material used to create the timeline.

A digital version featuring both images and text. File is 40MB.