Warren County is inviting residents to help shape a new public art piece by voting for their favorite mural design.

The poll opens this Friday, April 4, during the Statewide Star Party and will determine the artwork that will adorn the Magnolia Ernest Recreation Center pool building. The mural will celebrate the history and legacy of Soul City, a pioneering planned community founded in the 1970s with a vision of Black empowerment and economic opportunity.

Residents can cast their votes online via the Warren County Government Facebook page or website, as well as in person at the Statewide Star Party on April 4 or at the Warren County Memorial Library. Voting will close on April 14, with the winning design announced via Facebook Live on April 17.

The mural is part of artist Max Dowdle’s Legacy NC project, an initiative aiming to create public murals in all 100 North Carolina counties. Each mural highlights local history and unsung heroes, weaving a visual narrative that connects communities across the state. The two designs up for consideration were developed through collaboration between Dowdle, a committee of Soul City residents and community leaders, and members of the Warren County arts community.

Beyond selecting the design, residents will have the unique opportunity to contribute to the mural’s creation. Community members are invited to take part in the painting process, further embedding local pride and participation into the project.

Details on how to sign up for the painting experience will be available soon on the Warren County Facebook page and website.

For the fifth year in a row and in its commitment to building literacy consciousness through book reading and storytelling, the Heritage Quilters Giving Circle, a diverse group of quilting artists from Warren and Vance counties, donated culturally-significant children’s books to the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.- Rho Tau Omega Chapter in Warrenton, NC for their annual African American Read-In program.

BOOKS DONATED:

AS THE SEAS RISE: Nicole Hernández Hammer and the Fight for Climate Justice
By Angela Quezada Padron

As a baby, Nicole survived an earthquake in Guatemala. She grew up in Guatemala’s beautiful jungles. Throughout her life, Nicole witnessed the power and wonder of nature. But she soon realized nature was in trouble. Her own community in Florida was struggling. And everyone needed to become resilient.

In this lyrical biography, readers will meet environmental scientist and climate activist Nicole Hernández Hammer and hear the message she’s spent her career sharing: As we look to the future, we can empower and protect our communities. But that will only be possible if we all work together—including the smallest of us.

AVAILABLE: Bookshop | Amazon

JERRY CHANGED THE GAME!: How Engineer Jerry Lawson Revolutionized Video Games Forever
By Don Tate

Before Xbox, PlayStation, or Nintendo Switch, there was a tinkerer named Jerry Lawson.

As a boy, Jerry loved playing with springs, sprockets, and gadget-y things. When he grew up, Jerry became an engineer—a professional tinkerer—and in the 1970s, he turned his technical know-how to video games.

Back then, if players wanted a new video game, they had to buy an entire new console, making gaming very expensive. Jerry was determined to fix this problem, and despite roadblocks along the way and having to repeat a level or two, it was never game over for his mission. Eventually, he leveled up and built a brand-new kind of video game console: one that allowed players to switch out cartridges! He also founded Video Soft, Inc., the first African American–owned video game company in the country.

Jerry’s tinkering and inventions changed the video gaming world forever. Today, gamers have access to hundreds of video games at the push of a button, all thanks to him. Game on!

AVAILABLE: Bookshop | Amazon

LUNCH LADY AND THE CYBORG SUBSTITUTE
By Jarrett Krosoczka

“Serving justice . . . and lunch!
“Hector, Terrence, and Dee have always wondered about their school lunch lady. What does she do when she isn’t dishing out the daily special? Where does she live? Does she have a lot of cats at home? Little do they know, Lunch Lady doesn’t just serve sloppy joes–she serves justice! Whatever danger lies ahead, it’s no match for LUNCH LADY!

AVAILABLE: Bookshop | Amazon

FLYING HIGH: The Story of Gymnastics Champion Simone Biles
By Michelle Meadows

A lyrical picture book biography of Simone Biles, gymnastics champion and Olympic superstar.

Before she was a record-breaking gymnast competing on the world stage, Simone Biles spent time in foster care as a young child. Nimble and boundlessly energetic, she cherished every playground and each new backyard.

When she was six years old, Simone’s family took shape in a different way. Her grandparents Ron and Nellie Biles adopted Simone and her sister Adria. Ron and Nellie became their parents. Simone was also introduced to gymnastics that same year, launching a lifelong passion fueled by remarkable talent, sacrifice, and the undying support of her family.

From her athletic early childhood to the height of her success as an Olympic champion, Flying High is the story of the world’s greatest gymnast from author Michelle Meadows and illustrator Ebony Glenn.

AVAILABLE: Bookshop | Amazon

CLAUDETTE COLVIN: I Want Freedom Now!
By Phillip Hoose and Claudette Colvin

Montgomery, Alabama 1955. Fifteen-year-old Claudette Colvin is tired. Tired of white people thinking they’re better than her. Tired of going to separate schools and separate bathrooms. Most of all, she’s tired of having to give up her seat on the bus whenever a white person tells her to. She wants freedom NOW! But what can one teenager do?

On a bus ride home from school one day, young Claudette takes a stand for justice and refuses to get up from her seat—nine months before Rosa Parks will become famous for doing the same. What follows will not only transform Claudette’s life but the course of history itself.

In the words of Claudette Colvin herself, as told to acclaimed nonfiction writer Phillip Hoose, this empowering, heroic story illustrates how one simple act of courage can create real and lasting change.

AVAILABLE: Bookshop | Amazon

KETANJI: Justice Jackson’s Journey to the U.S. Supreme Court
By Kekla Magoon

Ketanji Brown Jackson is no stranger to overcoming obstacles. When a high school guidance counselor told her she should set her sights lower than Harvard, she decided to go to Harvard for college and law school.
When she became a public defender and saw inequalities in the justice system, she used her legal skills to advocate for people who needed help, but couldn’t afford an attorney.
Ketanji’s path to the Supreme Court was unique: She’s the only current Justice to have been a public defender and one of a few who went to public school. Her story is powerful and heartening, and it’s a lesson in overcoming adversity by being true to yourself.

AVAILABLE: Bookshop | Amazon

TEN LIVES, TEN DEMANDS: Life-and-Death Stories, and a Black Activist’s Blueprint for Racial Justice
By Solomon Jones

Told through the powerful stories of Black lives that were ravaged by racism, this manifesto holds 10 demands to rectify racial injustice

Told through his perspective as an activist, acclaimed commentator Solomon Jones tells the stories of real people whose lives and deaths pushed the Black Lives Matter movement forward. He explains how each act of violence was incited by specific instances of structural racism, and details concrete and actionable strategies to address crimes committed by our “justice” system.

These stories and strategies are a critical resource for social justice activists looking to further their anti-racist education. These 10 demands form an actionable plan that is necessary to repair our racist past, change the racist present, and bring justice to the future

AVAILABLE: Bookshop | Amazon

BUTTER: Novellas, Stories, and Fragments
By Gayl Jones

Gayl Jones, who was first edited by Toni Morrison, has been described as one of the great literary writers of the 20th century and was recently a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in fiction. This new collection of short fiction is only the second in her rich career, and one that displays her strengths in the genre in many facets. Opening with two novella-length works, “Butter” and “Sophia,” this collection features Jones’s legendary talents in a range of settings and styles, from the hyper-realist to the mystical, in intricate multi-part stories, in more traditional forms, and even in short fragments.

Her narrators are women and men, Black, Brown, Indigenous; her settings are historical and contemporary, in South America, Mexico and the US; her themes center on complex identities, unorthodox longings and aspirations. She writes about spies, photographers, playground designers, cartoonists, and baristas, about workers and revolutionaries, about environmentalism, feminism, poetry, film and love, but above all about our multicultural, multiethnic and multiracial society.

AVAILABLE: Bookshop | Amazon

Jereann King Johnson places a Heritage Quilters gift label in one of the donated books. / Crystal Myrick (Warrenist)

During a brisk Saturday afternoon, several gathered inside a well-heated tent at the Heritage Cultural Farm for their first Black History Month program. The program featured a documentary showing that reflected African American figures and stories that have yet to reach mainstream recognition. Herman and Veronica Alston, co-owners of the Heritage Cultural Farm welcomed everyone and treated the attendees with homemade chicken soup and sausage biscuits from their friend, Larry Andrews. Andrews, a Franklin County resident enlightened attentive listeners with a compilation of Dr. MLK speeches, intertwining familiar and lesser known speeches (watch below).

For those looking for a little retail therapy, the Country Store on the property was open and filled with products derived from North Carolina producers.

The next event is scheduled for Saturday, March 1st featuring the Heritage Quilters. The local artisan group will speak about the history of quilting.

The Heritage Cultural Farm is located at 102 Clint Street in Warrenton, NC.

VIDEO: Larry Andrews recites Dr. MLK speeches