New Deal Resettlement Community

Near the intersection of state highway 561 and Community Center Road in rural North Carolina, just off to the right, sits three buildings that are pivotal to the history of this community of people, and, yes, to all of us who care about justice.  Originally, 18,000 acres were offered during the 1930s and 1940s as a part of Roosevelt's New Deal. The Tillery Resettlement Farm, one of 113 rural communities across the country, was occupied by 150 African American families and approximately 110 white families. Located in the Roanoke River Flood Plain, fraught with constant threat of flooding in the early days, these new landowners were game-changers.  They impacted the social, political, and economic landscape of what was once a plantation region.

There is much more to this history of this beautiful place than these pages can describe. Check this reference for more detail and perspective. Check this one out as well. And this one. 

Three buildings at this site are now more than 85 years of age and are in need of shoring up and restoration. The Tillery Community Center, The Curin' House, and the Remembering Tillery History House Museum have all weathered the storms of time.  We need to raise $65,000.  That's right.  Just $65,000 to support this community's restoration efforts.

Several families of the original resettlement still own and manage approximately 6,000 acres of the original land.  It is truly a historical place.

On a personal level, this was the place where Charla and I first met Gary Grant, BFAA President, and planned our collaborative effort to interview farmers and families who had been battered and bruised by the USDA and DOJ.  It was this spot that Charla and I celebrated at least two anniversaries and a place in which we have shared meals, danced, lifted up our voices, and discussed matters of importance to the community and to us.  It is the place where I interviewed black farmers and family members, a place where we sang Amazing Grace and cried as the stories unfolded. It is also the location of several Black farmer land loss summits. Other times we have visited because these people are our friends and family.

Please read through these materials and offer your support for the fund raising effort.  Your contributions via the Concerned Citizens of Tillery are tax deductible.  You can help keep the story being told for generations to come.

The fund raising event and the farm mural converge on what will be an amazing day at the Tillery Community Center on Saturday, November 12, 2016. This is where our hearts will be on this historic day. The list of speakers is amazing:  Drs. Spencer Wood and Katherine Charron, Michael Stewart, Evangeline Grant Briley, Gary Grant, and others. The mural by noted local artist Napoleon Hill will be unveiled.

Yes, there is much to digest in this post.  Others will follow. Thanks for your patience in reading.  It will be well worth your time and an encouragement to this community in rural North Carolina that mean so much to Charla and me and to the cause of justice.

The short verse?  Please go to www.cct78.org and contribute via the paypal link.  Charla and I have already contributed and will be listed as "Harvesting the Crops." I hope you will do the same.