The Warren County Memorial Library will host the “Oasis Spaces: North Carolina Green Book Project, 1933-1966” exhibit through January 31st. The exhibit is made possible through a partnership with the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources as part of the North Carolina African American Heritage Commission.

The exhibit reflects the Heritage Commission’s research about “The Negro Motorist Green Book,” which identified business that in essence served as “oasis spaces” for African American travelers during the time of segregation. The book was both a travel guide and a tool of resistance designed to confront the realities of racial discrimination in the United States and beyond. It listed over 300 North Carolina businesses including restaurants, hotels, tourist homes, nightclubs and beauty salons.

“We are pleased to present this exhibit for the community to explore a part of history that has been overlooked,” said Library Director Christy Bondy.

Oasis Spaces: North Carolina Green Book Project / Submitted photo

The library has several programs planned that accompany the exhibit including film screenings, and a virtual visit with author, Calvin Ramsey.

The Green Book Project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

The Warren County Memorial Library is located at 119 S. Front St., Warrenton, NC.

For more information about the Green Book project, visit www.wcmlibrary.org.

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Warren County Parks and Recreation is offering a Holiday Kids Crafts program for ages 5-12. This program will be held at the Warren County Memorial Library on Tuesdays from December 6th to December 20th from 6:00pm to 6:45pm.

This program will provide instruction and all supplies to make 2-3 crafts per week. Registration is being accepted through December 1st.

The fee is $5 per child for the three-week session. Limited space is available.

Registration can be completed:
Online at warrencountync.com/345/Parks-Recreation
Monday through Friday 8:30am-5pm at the Parks and Recreation Office 113 Wilcox Street, Warrenton, NC 27589

For more information or register, please visit the county website or call the office at 252-257-2272.

Parks and Recreation encourages volunteers for this and other programs.

Please submit volunteer application and background check online at www.warrencountync.com/345/Parks-Recreation.

Image Credit: yellowsarah

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A partnership between Warren County Memorial Library, Warren County Schools, and the North Carolina Symphony will bring a morning of music and fun to Warren County students and families. Interested parties can stop by the library on Wednesday, August 10th at 10:00am.

This 30-minute program will feature NC Symphony bass trombonist Matthew Neff reading a book about music, talking about his instrument and how other instruments make their sounds – plus more surprises!

The North Carolina Symphony’s Music Discovery program, funded by PNC Grow Up Great and the Warren County Community Foundation, is geared for preschool and elementary-age children and their families.

Matthew Neff has been the bass trombonist with the North Carolina Symphony since January 2020. Prior to joining the Symphony, he was a member of the United States Navy Band in Washington, D.C., performing bass trombone in the Commodores jazz ensemble, brass quintet, and ceremonial band. During his years in Washington, he had an extensive freelance career and performed with symphonies across the Mid-Atlantic States. An advocate for music education, Neff has conducted master classes and clinics throughout the country and served as Adjunct Professor of Trombone at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, all while maintaining an active private low brass studio in his home. Neff is enjoying his new home in Raleigh with his wife, Tricia, and two of their four daughters.

For more information about this event and upcoming programs at the Warren County Memorial Library, visit wcmlibrary.org for event details and additional services offered.

All library programs are open and free to the public.

Call the library for more information at 252-257-4990.

The Warren County Memorial Library is located at 119 S. Front Street, Warrenton NC 27589.

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The final Liberating Series discussion is Saturday, June 11 at the Warren County Memorial Library and focuses on the descendants of the 1921 lynchings.

When the young Plummer Bullock and his older cousin Alfred Williams were lynched in Warren County in 1921, regional newspapers were quick to paint them as violent lawbreakers who were “brought to justice” by a mob of enraged white townspeople. The story that the papers told was both simple and familiar, wholly erasing the humanity of the murdered men while dwelling on the gruesome circumstances of their lynching. And within the flash of a news cycle, their stories had vanished from the public eye. To most white readers, they were just two more Black men killed in what, at the time, was a more-than-weekly happening somewhere in the South.

But in the Black communities of Warren County, the stories of Mr. Bullock’s and Mr. Williams’ murders were wrenchingly real and not easily forgotten. Folks knew Plummer Bullock for his forward-looking vision for Black possibilities in the county; many saw him as a future leader, not unlike his father, Reverend William Bullock. Dozens of local Black couples had been married by his father; even more had been touched by the impassioned eloquence of the reverend’s sermons. And everyone around the town of Norlina knew the outgoing spirit of Alfred Williams, a gregarious and much-liked railroad worker whose home had long been a community meeting-place. Suddenly, both were gone. And their killers were all still free—in many cases, overseeing the paychecks and workplaces of the bereaved kin and neighbors of the murdered men.

The stories of Mr. Bullock and Mr. Williams are but two in the long litany of stories of racial violence in Warren County. At the same time and for the same reason that those two were murdered, sixteen of their neighbors had been imprisoned, consigned to grueling labor on chain gangs and at the state Penitentiary. That’s sixteen more Black families torn apart. And that was only in 1921. The “unexplained” murders of Black men and deaths at the hands of local whites, including police officers, continued for decades thereafter in Warren County. Each act of violence marked another tear in the fabric of the African American community. And each was kept alive in the stories of community members, while the “authorized” sources of local history did their best to erase them from the historical record.

The “Descendants Stories” panel challenges this erasure, by bringing together a group of family members who have kept these stories alive. Members of both the Bullock and Williams families will be joined by descendants of those other 16 men, and of other victims of racial violence in the county. Together, they’ll discuss the ongoing impact of the trauma in their families’ lives, and offer their thoughts about the possibility of reckoning and repair.

PANELISTS:
JAMES ANDREWS
Family of Henry Andrews

REV. DR. MACEO FREEMAN
Family of Alfred Williams

OCTAVIO JONES
Family of Plummer Bullock

DIANA OWENS
Family of Plummer Bullock

SANDRA WILLIAMS
Family of James and Jerome Hunter; also Alfred Williams

MODERATOR:
TAMMY EVANS
Assistant Professor of English, Louisburg College and long-time Warren County resident

The “Liberating Futures” series is a collaborative project of The 1921 Project, the Warren County Branch of the NAACP, the Warren County African American Historical Collective, UNC’s Descendants Project, and UNC’s Humanities for the Public Good Initiative.

This event is free and open to the public.

Cover: A 1874 map of Warren County. (Image provided by the N.C. Collection at UNC)

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Readers of all ages are invited to dive into the depths of good books this summer as Warren County Memorial Library kicks off “Oceans of Possibilities,” the county’s summer reading program.

This year’s program will run from Monday, June 13th until Wednesday, August 31st.

Warren County Memorial Library staff (l-r) David Spence, Tiffany Macklin, Terry Alston, Sterling Cheston (: Crystal Myrick/Warrenist)

Summer reading offers an opportunity for participants to engage in literacy in fun and interesting ways while helping them form a lifelong reading habit. Reading during the summer months can make the difference between summer setbacks and summer success, leading to better academic performance when kids and teens return to school.

The 2022 summer reading program is open to everyone – preschool through young adult – with programs, prizes, storytimes, a reading club, and more. Everyone who registers for summer reading will receive a summer reading bag filled with goodies. Each bag will contain a summer reading calendar, activities such as word searches, information and brochures from local community organizations, and small prizes. Participants will also find a special library coupon contained within their summer reading bag. This coupon can be redeemed for a free book during your next library visit. Registering for summer reading will automatically enter you into the prize drawing that will be held during the finale.

Registration for “Oceans of Possibilities” begins on Monday, June 13th at 10:00am with the kickoff event featuring a live program by the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. Subsequent programs will be virtual, hosted on the library’s Facebook page or Zoom.

Be sure to tune in to the library’s Facebook page on Wednesday, August 31st at 11:00am to watch the summer reading finale, which will include prize drawings for all of the summer reading prizes.

Prizes up for grabs for Summer Reading Program winners (: Crystal Myrick/Warrenist)

While there are no programs designed specifically for adults, the team at Warren County Memorial Library encourages them to complete a summer reading challenge Bingo sheet by accessing library resources – in print or electronically – to find their summer reads. Having trouble finding the perfect book? Give the library a call to received specialized recommendations catered towards your own specific tastes.

Those without internet access at home are invited to stop by the library where staff will help you use a library computer – or your own device – to access all of the available virtual events.

For more information, including login information for the Zoom programs, please call the library at 252-257-4990, pick up a summer reading calendar at the library, or visit the library’s website, www.wcmlibrary.org. All programs are free of charge.

For More Information about the Library or to Access eResources: Go to www.wcmlibrary.org for event details and additional services offered. All library programs are free to access. Call the library for more information at 252-257-4990.

Warren County Memorial Library is located at 119 S. Front Street, Warrenton NC 27589.

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Five years ago on this day, Warrenist was born in front of an audience that filled the Warren County Memorial Library community room to its capacity.

Organized as a company “introduction,” The Women of Soul City was a program that included a documentary showing of Soul City followed by an all-female discussion panel that featured the influential voices of Jane Ball-Groom, Wilhelmina Kearney, Magnolia Jackson, and Ihsan Abdin, and moderated by Dr. Charmaine McKissick-Melton, the daughter of Soul City founder, Floyd McKissick’s.

The Women of Soul City (l-r): Wilhelmina Kearney, Jane Ball-Groom, Ihsan Abdin, Dr. Charmaine McKissick Melton, Magnolia Jackson, and Congresswoman Eva Clayton ( Crystal Myrick/The Warrenist)

Congresswoman Eva Clayton graciously closed the program with her own remarks about McKissick and the development and vision of Soul City.

Watch The Women of Soul City below:

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Exactly one year ago today, local government officials, artists, and entrepreneurs shared their encouraging words, greetings, and their talents to take part in the Fallin’ for the Holidays Virtual Festival.

After a nine-month period of uncertainty, sadness, and separation, for two hours on a Sunday evening, the Warren County community and beyond came together to celebrate the holiday season with music, spoken word, cooking segments, crafts, and messages from our family and friends from afar.

Prior to its airing, I promised a surprise guest would do the introduction. If you haven’t watched it yet, I won’t spoil it here.

Special thanks again to our participants: Jalon + Jada Mills, Stephen Misenheimer (Warren County Cooperative Extension), Mary Bullock (Warren County Memorial Library), Chef Ryan Grimm, Denise Allen (Sweet Delights Cookies), Jane Ball Groom, Thomas Park, Brandon Foster, Heritage Quilters, Carlos Bardales (sponsored by the Warren County Arts Council), and Santa Claus! Yes, I got an exclusive with St. Nick himself.

Holiday Greetings from Stephanie Wheeler, Christian Nwachukwu, Vee Wess, Oita Cheston Coleman, and Brooke Simpson!

Watch it for the first time or relive the moment by clicking the play button below:

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