Dignitaries get early look at ‘history of freedom'

A small group of dignitaries attended the opening reception Saturday of the “Forever Free: Abraham Lincoln’s Journey to Emancipation” exhibit that will be at the New Bern-Craven County Public Library through Jan. 6.

The exhibit provides a look at the evolution of President Lincoln’s thoughts on slavery and the road to the Emancipation Proclamation.

After perusing the panels, U.S. Rep. Walter B. Jones, R-N.C., spoke to the approximately 20 people gathered in the library’s auditorium.

“I’ve enjoyed seeing the people here today, but also enjoyed taking a few minutes reading the history of freedom,” said Jones, who returned Monday to the state from Washington, D.C. “Thank you for giving me some time to reflect back, during a very difficult time in our country.”

Rep. Alice G. Underhill, D-Craven, and Victor Taylor, an alderman-elect in New Bern, also attended the opening reception.

“I think this is the kind of information that needs to be put out in the community,” Taylor said. “Slavery was unjust, and I felt that Abraham Lincoln was a good decision by ending it. Abraham Lincoln was a good man.”

New Bern residents Marshall Williams and Paul Switzer both attended the event, and the two plan to do a historic dramatization at the library at 3 p.m. on Nov. 22. Williams will play abolitionist Frederick Douglass, and Switzer will play Lincoln.

“I think this is a one-of-a-kind exhibit for New Bern,” Switzer said. “If you read some of these documents, these are things you’ll never see anywhere else, unless you’re a professional historian.”

Switzer said that he believes that publicizing the history of the time period is important for understanding racial relations today.

“The white and black races are still struggling,” he said. “And this gives you a window of what it was like 150 years ago.”

Laura Oleniacz can be reached at 252-635-5675 or at loleniacz@freedomenc.com.