THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 31, 1996 TAG: 9605310478
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PAUL SOUTH, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROANOKE ISLAND LENGTH: 98 lines
More than 1,000 visitors are expected at the Freedom Celebration June 23 commemorating the community of freed slaves that flourished briefly on the Outer Banks.
Preaching and praise, remembrance and reunion will be featured at ceremonies looking back to the days of the Civil War when freed blacks gathered on Roanoke Island.
At one time more than 3,000 African Americans lived on the island. The theme for the festivities at the Fort Raleigh National Historic Site will be ``The First Light of Freedom.''
``We're very excited,'' Virginia Tillett, chairwoman of the Homecoming Committee, said Thursday. ``We've had calls from 200 to 300 people from Ohio, New Jersey, Virginia and throughout North Carolina from people who believe they may be related to someone who was part of the freedman's colony.''
``In all, we're expecting about 1,000 people, possibly more. There's going to be lots of singing,'' said Tillett, who lives in Manteo and heads the Dare County School Board. ``It's also going to be very exciting and very educational. I get goosebumps just thinking about it, and being involved in the project.''
Heading the list of speakers at the event will be Historian Patricia Click. A faculty member at the University of Virginia, Click has written the definitive study of the Freedman's colony on Roanoke Island.
Joining Click will be poet Barbara Marie Green, who has written three books of poetry.
Descendants of the all-black crew of the Pea Island Lifesaving Station will be on hand to recount stories of their famous relatives. The men at Pea Island made up the only all-black crew in the United States Lifesaving Service, the forerunner of the modern Coast Guard.
Visitors will get a chance to view life as it was in the mid-1800s. A variety of craftspeople - potters, net menders, basket weavers and others - will ply their trades.
Civil War re-enactors from Dunn, N.C., and members of local units will provide a glimpse of what daily life was like for Confederate and Union troops.
Storytelling and traditional games will be available for children.
The Freedman's colony was established following the 1862 capture of Roanoke Island by Union General Ambrose Burnside. The battle for Roanoke Island was important, historians say, because it gave federal troops control of North Carolina's waterways.
Following the establishment of the colony, hundreds of freed blacks and runaway slaves began arriving on the island. Able-bodied men were offered rations and employment building a fort on the north end of the island. By late 1862, there were more than 1,000 freedmen.
By May 1863, the fort was completed, but the African-American population was so large, the military government ordered all unoccupied lands seized to construct homes for the new settlers. Later that year, freedmen were enlisting in the First and Second North Carolina Colored Regiments. The units saw combat in Louisiana and remained in service for the duration of the war.
By early 1864, 2,712 African Americans lived on Roanoke Island. A school and a sawmill operation were established. By 1865, 3,091 black residents called the island home.
At the end of the war, the United States government ordered that lands be returned to white property owners who could provide title. The freedmen became squatters on other people's land.
The colony was disbanded, but many descendants of the colonists live on Roanoke Island.
Visitors to the celebration can bring picnic lunches to Fort Raleigh. However, a fish fry will also be held, and tickets are $5. There is no admission charge for the celebration. ILLUSTRATION: CELEBRATION SCHEDULE
Here is a tentative schedule for the first annual Freedom
Celebration, in recognition of the Freedman's Colony on Roanoke
Island (1862-67). All events will be held at the Fort Raleigh
Historic Site and the Waterside Theater - Home of The Lost Colony.
11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.: Morning worship featuring the Rev. LaVert
Taylor of Falls Church, Va. There will also be music and special
guests.
12:30 to 2:30 p.m.: Activities and lunch at the Fort Raleigh
Historic Site. Bring a picnic lunch or buy a plate at a traditional
Outer Banks fish fry. There will also be storytelling and poetry
reading by Barbara Marie Green, traditional crafts and music and
children's games.
2:30 to 4:30 p.m.: A Celebration of Freedom at the Waterside
Theater, featuring Historian Patricia Click of the University of
Virginia, author of the definitive history of the Roanoke Island
colony. Ceremonies will also honor North Carolina's black elected
officials, successful black business leaders and the all-black crew
of the historic Pea Island Lifesaving Station.
8:30 p.m.: The production of The Lost Colony at the Waterside
Theater. Discount tickets are available for North Carolina
residents. Reservations are required, and can be made by calling
(800) 488-5012.
For more information, call the Fort Raleigh Historic Site at (919)
473-5772 or Virginia Tillett at (919) 473-2753. by CNB