By Judaea Ingram
Special To The Carolinian
RALEIGH, N.C. – Black history is often preserved through photographs, documents and artifacts, but a new exhibition at North Carolina State University is looking beyond individual objects to focus on the communities and stories behind them.
“Community Stories: Sustaining North Carolina Black Heritage” is currently on display at the Gregg Museum of Art & Design in Raleigh, bringing together historical photographs, contemporary images, artwork and materials from community partners to explore the experiences of Black communities across North Carolina.
The exhibition opened July 2 and will remain on display through Feb. 27, 2027. Admission to the Gregg Museum is free and the museum is open to the public Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The exhibition is organized around stories of dignity, belonging, safety and imagination within Black communities throughout the state.
Rather than presenting Black heritage as something confined to the past, the exhibition examines how Black North Carolinians have continued to build and uplift their communities across generations.
The collection includes historical photographs, contemporary images, artwork from the Gregg Museum's collection and ephemera contributed by community partners.
Among the featured pieces is a handmade guitar created by North Carolina artist Freeman Vines. Vines is known for creating guitars from reclaimed wood, including wood connected to the history of a 1930 lynching in eastern North Carolina. His work has become part of a larger conversation about memory, history and the ways artists can preserve stories through their work.
Other photographs and materials highlight Black families, entrepreneurs, artists and community spaces.
One photograph featured in the exhibition shows Willie Otey Kay with her sisters during the 1950s. Another documents Freedom Books, a Raleigh bookstore and community space where family and education were central to its identity.
Together, the pieces demonstrate that preserving Black heritage involves more than documenting major historical events. It also means preserving everyday experiences.
Family photographs can show how generations lived and connected. Business records can demonstrate how Black entrepreneurs created opportunities for their communities. Artwork can preserve memories that may not exist in written records. Those stories help provide a fuller picture of Black life in North Carolina.
The exhibition was developed through a collaborative curatorial process involving the Gregg Museum, NC State students, historians, community members and the North Carolina African American Heritage Commission. The team included Meredith Osborne, Ajamu Dillahunt-Holloway, students from an African American Public History course, members of the North Carolina African American Heritage Commission and other community historians and cultural leaders.
That collaborative approach is an important part of the exhibition's purpose. By bringing community members and historians into the process, the exhibition places Black communities in the role of helping tell and preserve their own histories.
The approach also recognizes that heritage is not simply something inherited from previous generations. It continues to develop through family, entrepreneurship, art, culture and community relationships.
The Gregg Museum is presenting the exhibition as part of “Grounded at the Gregg,” a series of exhibitions and programming centered on wellness, Black Southern heritage and community togetherness. The larger season connects historical and contemporary perspectives while encouraging visitors to consider relationships between land, ancestry, memory and community.
The exhibition's timing also provides an opportunity for visitors to think about what is remembered and what can be lost when community stories are not preserved.
For North Carolina's Black communities, those stories can provide connections between generations. A photograph can introduce a family member. An artifact can reveal a profession or tradition. A work of art can carry memories of a place or experience that might otherwise disappear.
“Community Stories” brings those pieces together to show that Black heritage is not a single story. It is made up of thousands of individual experiences, families, communities and traditions that continue to shape North Carolina.
For visitors, the exhibition offers an opportunity to encounter those stories in one place and consider how they can be carried forward.
“Community Stories: Sustaining North Carolina Black Heritage” is on display through Feb. 27, 2027, at the Gregg Museum of Art & Design, 1903 Hillsborough St. in Raleigh. Admission is free, and the museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
