The Black History Month exhibit “Limits of Freedom” is now open at the High Point Museum. It explores the lives of free and enslaved African Americans in Guilford and Rockingham counties from the 1700s to
emancipation.
In the exhibit, a dozen colorful six-foot-tall banners hang side-by-side. Each is covered with stories and images of African American soldiers who fought in the Revolutionary War, families that navigated the limitations of slavery and more.
The exhibit features historic sites in the Piedmont, from the first free Black neighborhoods in Greensboro to places along the Dan River where free and enslaved boatmen worked.
UNC Greensboro Director of Public History Anne Parsons says she hopes the exhibit sparks people’s curiosity to explore their local and family histories.
"The Revolutionary War was one part of a very long journey towards creating freedom in the country and also here locally," she says. "African Americans played a vital role in creating and defining freedom here in that 100 years after the Declaration of Independence."
“Limits of Freedom” comes from the UNCG History Department with support from the America 250 North Carolina initiative. It will remain on display at the High Point Museum through March 7. Then it travels to Rockingham Community College, the Greensboro Cultural Center, UNCG and Guilford College.
