"Remembering Tillery..." A New Deal Resettlement Historic Community Guide
Remembering Tillery is a historic community guide put together by the Concerned Citizens of Tillery History Committee in 1995. It is a collection of a selected number of historic sites of interest to current and former Tillery residents and to Scholars of African-American and Southern history. The tour sites were chosen by the Remembering Tillery Historic Committee for their important contribution to the development of the Tillery Community over the past 100 years. While this Guide is not comprehensive, it is an important first step toward remembering, reclaiming and preserving the diverse histories of this community.
This Guide is but one of the components of the 1995 "Remembering Tillery... A New Deal Resettlement Celebration." CCT also sponsored a history exhibit which features photos and documents collected from current and former Tillery residents. The exhibit was housed in the William Taylor and Madeleine Smith Taylor Homeplace, former settlers on the Roanoke Resettlement Farm. The exhibit was open from August 19, 1995 until September 16, 1995. In addition to the exhibit, CCT produced a one-act play that opened on September 16, 1995, based on stories collected from Tillery residents. On September 2, 1995, CCT conducted history workshops in which members of the history committee lead discussions in the practical uses of the Tillery history.
The 1995 Celebration was simply the first step in a five-year long project that seeks to uncover the rich and significant history of our community. The long-term goals of the Remembering Tillery Project are to collect interviews, photos and documents so that they be preserved in a museum. The museum will be open to the public so that interested persons may research family descendants or do academic research on African-American life in Halifax County. The information collected will also be used to conduct workshops and seminars on the significance of the Tillery community's history as an African-American landowning community.
"Remembering Tillery... A New Deal Resettlement Historic Community Guide" features historical documents, photographs and stories...
This Historic Guide, 1st Edition is respectfully dedicated to William Taylor and Matthew Grant who were honored as Community Life Achievers by the Concerned Citizens of Tillery April 22, 1995.
"Remembering Tillery..."A New Deal Community Historic Photo Exhibit
In April 1986, Concerned Citizens of Tillery (CCT) began to look at the rich cultural history that has made Tillery a sustainable community when Duke student Cornelius Yanke, wrote a History Honors Thesis entitled "Tillery, North Carolina: One Hundred Years of Struggle in a Black Community."
In 1993, the "Behind The Veil" project collected more than 80 "oral histories: of Tillery residents to document the struggle of African Americans through the Jim Crow era and the Civil Rights Movement heightening and deepening CCT's interest in Tillery's history. The project became the book Remembering Jim Crow which includes Tillery resident the story of Lillie Fenner of the Dawson community.
CCT continued to explore Tillery's past when Oral Historian Chris Stewart came to live in Tillery for three years (1993 - 1996). Under her leadership, a History Committee was established including CCT Executive Director Gary R. Grant, Chairperson and Dorothy White Cannon, Marcus D. Tillery, PhD., Evangeline Grant Briley, Bukeka Crawford, and CCT Intern Ned Smock. Through the committee's efforts the fascinating history of the Tillery community and the three divisions, descendants of whites, descendants of slaves, and the "new people" of the Resettlement Era, became better understood.
In 1995, the committee held the opening of the "Remembering Tillery...A New Deal" Historic Photo Exhibit in the former home of the late William W. and Madeline Smith Taylor, Farm Lot #12, Conoconnara road. More than 700 visitors attended the exhibit opening August 31 - September 2, a995. Over 3,000 people from across the country saw the exhibit during its three year run.
CCT continued to dream of a permanent home for the exhibit, and in 2000, through the efforts of Gary R. Grant and Theresa Harvey and family, the old Louis and Glendora Thomas House was donated to CCT. Thanks to CCT, the History Committee, and Open Minded Seniors (especially its late president Clarence Fenner) the house was moved from Farm Lot #34, Highway 561 west of Tillery to the Tillery Community Center Grounds in 2001. Under the leadership of our own Sita Dollie Redding Student of History, renovations were completed in time for the CCT's 25th Anniversary in 2003 and the original photo exhibit was reopened.
The Center for Documentary Studies At Duke University
The CDS teaches, engages in, and presents documentary work grounded in collaborative partnerships and extended fieldwork that uses photography, film/video, audio, and narrative writing to capture and convey contemporary memory, life, and culture. CDS values documentary work that balances community goals with individual artistic expression. CDS promotes documentary work that cultivates progressive change by amplifying voices, advancing human dignity, engendering respect among individuals, breaking down barriers to understanding, and illuminating social injustices. CDS conducts its work for local, regional, national, and international audiences.
