Chapel Hill’s ‘I Was Still Singing’ Documentary and Exhibit Captures the Town’s History Through the Work of Its Black Women Residents

Late last Saturday afternoon, the last day of Chapel Hill’s “I Was Still Singing” pop-up exhibit, Vivian Foushee, Lillie Penny Atwater, Theresa Watson, and Rashii Purefoy walk through the gallery at 109 East Franklin street. They are here to visit a project that celebrates their own historic accomplishments.

The physical exhibit on Franklin Street was as simple as it was powerful and moving. The gallery’s four walls were lined with portraits of the 28 women at the center of the project – close up shots of their faces. Many of them smile at the camera; some of them look wistfully to the side. 

The women listen to the interviews recorded in the documentary, which is projected on the back wall, and talk to their family members who joined them. Every so often, they hear their own voices flitter through the room from the speakers. Foushee, who spent her life in Chapel Hill doing social work and working in the desegregation movement, takes a photo in front of her portrait with her family, holding hands.

Simultaneously, young Chapel Hill residents explore the exhibit as well, writing cards to the women and learning about the history that made the town they live in what it is. 

The Juneteenth special project was open last week at the gallery located right beside Epilogue Books. And while the physical exhibit has closed, a digital exhibit is still available online, highlighting the contributions of Black women throughout Chapel Hill’s history. The goal of the exhibit is to educate and inspire local people and to honor the women who have contributed so much to the Chapel Hill community.

The virtual exhibit divides the work of these women into three groups, each labeled with a different part of Chapel Hill’s spirit that has been healed by these Black women, and accompanying binders tell their stories through detailed timelines. 

“Body” chronicles the work of Black public healthcare advocates and Black nurses who worked to improve access to healthcare in Chapel Hill’s Black community, desegregate hospitals, and break barriers for Black women in medical academia. Lillie Perry Atwater is among those nurses celebrated and profiled.

“Mind” celebrates the work of Black women in organizing quality education for Chapel Hill’s Black community, from the creation of the first public school in Chapel Hill in 1866 to  the women leading public school desegregation in the 1960s, to the work of Coretta Sharpless, principal of Northside Elementary, and other Black educators today.

“Soul” commemorates the history of community organizing and resistance to white supremacy that is as old as the history of Black life in the South. It celebrates organizing across generations, from Rashii Purefoy who provided dance opportunities to young Black children with her  Ebone Soul Strutters dance class, to Stephanie Terry, co-founder of Organizing Against Racism Orange County and Chatham County, who fought for the removal of Confederate monuments in Chapel Hill.

Molly Luby, Special Project Manager at the Chapel Hill Library, says the project originated with the women themselves. Many of them worked on a local task force started by Mayor Pam Hemminger in 2017 to document the local history around civil rights. The women then reconnected and worked with Luby to document their written and oral histories. 

The project was originally scheduled to culminate with an in-person exhibit in March 2020, including a panel discussion with the women, the cultivated documentaries, and photographs. It wasn’t until this June, though, that Luby and her subjects were finally able to see their work come to life.

Many of these women have known each other for most of their lives. They greet each other like old friends at the exhibit, and Luby says many meet at the Chapel Hill Library every month, still. Their work and power is rooted in friendships and solidarity.

“The work that they do really is about community building, and has been for generations. They worry because they see that the community is not as tight in subsequent generations,” Luby says. “That’s the biggest concern: how do they pass on this kind of connected community?”

Though the physical exhibit on Franklin Street has closed, Luby says that the library is working on finding another home for the history, whether permanent or simply more-long term. She and the 28 women at the helm of this project hope a fixture in the community will inspire younger organizers, and remind the town of its history.

“We can’t move forward unless we understand our history – especially the history of Black women,” Luby says.  “And the way to understand it is to listen to the people who have that history as memory.”

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