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Receive Final Report and Consider the Recommendations of the Historic Civil Rights Commemorations Task Force.
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Staff: |
Department: |
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Molly Luby, Special Projects Coordinator |
Library |
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Florentine Miller, Deputy Town Manager |
Manager’s Office |
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Jerry Neville, Traffic Engineering Technician |
Public Works |
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Susan Brown, Executive Director for Community Arts & Culture |
Library |
Overview: On September 27, 2017, Mayor Pam Hemminger formed the Historic Civil Rights Commemorations Task Force. The purpose of the task force was to create a timeline that identified people, places and events which should be memorialized in order to remind everyone of the struggle for civil rights that African Americans endured in Chapel Hill in the 1960s.
The purpose of this item is to provide the Council with the task force’s findings and recommendations, included in the attached report.
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Recommendation(s): |
That the Council adopt the resolution to accept the task force’s report, dissolve the full task force, authorize the Task Force Chapel Hill Nine Subcommittee to continue to develop a recommendation for a historical marker, and authorize the Town Manager to review the reports and recommendations and discuss next steps. The subcommittee will bring a recommendation report for Council’s consideration in Fall 2018.
Key Issues:
• The task force developed a timeline of people, places, and events significant in Chapel Hill’s Civil Rights Movement that encompasses the decade from 1960-1969. The timeline is placed in historical context with introductory remarks prepared by task force member Dr. Reginald Hildebrand and concluding remarks prepared by task force members Megan Stanley and Danita Mason-Hogans.
• The task force formed two subcommittees: a working group, tasked with research and drafting the timeline; and the Chapel Hill Nine Subcommittee, tasked with developing recommendations for appropriate and timely commemorations. Between November and June, members met a total of 13 times, with subcommittees reporting and requesting input and approval from the full task force on their work.
• The task force developed multiple channels for public feedback, interaction, and conversation with the aim of creating an inclusive historical document. In so doing, the task force developed a process for collecting community history that is inclusive, collaborative, and transparent.
• The task force report contains both the Chapel Hill Civil Rights Timeline as well as recommendations for next steps, including:
o Consider how to make the timeline publically available and accessible to the community. Suggested placement includes on the Town website and on display at Town Hall, the Library, Hargraves Community Center, and other public locations TBD.
o Participate in a community commemoration event to take place on or around February 28, 2019 to honor the young Chapel Hill residents who initiated the early sit-ins in February, 1960.
o Authorize the Chapel Hill Nine Subcommittee to draft language for a marker commemorating the early sit-ins in Chapel Hill and the Chapel Hill Nine, the first young people arrested in Chapel Hill for demonstrating against segregation.
o Consider how to engage the community in conversation around this local history, which may include a series of community conversations involving history makers, community members, and scholars of the Civil Rights Movement.
o Consider recommending Harold Foster to the Town Naming Committee for inclusion on the Peace and Justice Plaza.
Fiscal Impact/Resources: No fiscal resources are required to review the report and discuss next steps. If additional resources are required to implement recommendations, staff will work to identify funding and return to the Council with a request for a budget ordinance amendment.
Council Goals:
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Create a Place for Everyone |
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Develop Good Places, New Spaces |
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Support Community Prosperity |
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Nurture Our Community |
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Facilitate Getting Around |
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Grow Town and Gown Collaboration |
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Attachments: |
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• Resolution |
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• HCRC Task Force Council Presentation |
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• HCRC Task Force Report and Recommendation |
A RESOLUTION TO ACCEPT THE REPORT OF THE COUNCIL TASK FORCE ON HISTORIC CIVIL RIGHTS COMMEMORATIONS, AUTHORIZE THE TOWN MANAGER TO DISCUSS NEXT STEPS, AUTHORIZE THE TASK FORCE SUBCOMMITTEE TO PREPARE RECOMMENDATIONS FOR COUNCIL ON HISTORICAL MARKERS, AND DISSOLVE THE FULL TASK FORCE (2018-06-13/R-6)
WHEREAS, the Mayor established the Council Task Force on Historic Civil Rights Commemorations on September 27, 2017; and
WHEREAS, the Task Force was charged with preparing a timeline of important people, places, and events significant in Chapel Hill’s Civil Rights struggle so that they may be commemorated in historical context by the Town; and
WHEREAS, the Task Force conducted research, consulted living history makers, and engaged in community conversations in order to fulfill the task force’s charge; and
WHEREAS, the Task Force developed guiding values for collaborative community engagement in local history work; and
WHEREAS, the Task Force has provided a report of its work which includes a contextualized timeline of the Civil Rights Movement in Chapel Hill from 1960-1969 for the Council’s consideration.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Council of the Town of Chapel Hill that the Council accepts the report of the Historic Civil Rights Commemorations Task Force.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Task Force Chapel Hill Nine Subcommittee is authorized to prepare a recommendation report on a historical marker for Council’s consideration in Fall 2018.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Council thanks Task Force members and Task Force Chair, Ken Broun, for their commitment and contributions. Other Task Force members include Donna Bell, Town Council Member; Nancy Oates, Town Council Member; Sally Greene, former Town Council Member; James Britt, Chapel Hill Nine family member; Reginald Hildebrand, retired UNC professor; Dianne Jackson, NAACP representative; David Mason, Chapel Hill Nine Member; Danita Mason-Hogans, Chapel Hill Nine family member; OJ McGee, UNC Black Caucus representative; Mae McLendon, St. Paul’s AME representative; Jim Merritt, Chapel Hill Nine Member and former Town Council Member; Cecelia Moore, UNC Historian; Megan Stanley, Marion Cheek Jackson Center representative; Albert Williams, Chapel Hill Nine Member and former Town of Chapel Hill firefighter.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Council finds that the Task Force has fulfilled its charge, its work is deemed complete and the Task Force is dissolved.
This the 13th day of June, 2018.
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The Agenda will reflect the text below and/or the motion text will be used during the meeting. |
presenter
PRESENTER: Molly Luby, Special Projects Coordinator
RECOMMENDATION: That the Council adopt the resolution to accept the task force’s report, dissolve the full task force, authorize the Task Force Chapel Hill Nine Subcommittee to continue to develop a recommendation for a historical marker, and authorize the Town Manager to review the reports and recommendations and discuss next steps. The subcommittee will bring a recommendation report for Council’s consideration in Fall 2018.