This room honors the history of African Americans in this land, which began as early as the 1400s. As scouts, interpreters, navigators and military men, African Americans were among the first to encounter Native Americans here.

Highlights of this room include Harper's Corner, donated  by the son of the first principal of Person County High School, Mr. George L. Harper.  The school was built September 28, 1950 and now houses Southern Middle School. Person County High was built to replace the original Person County Training School which housed grades 1–12.

The room's centerpiece is a slave shackle, symbolic of the early constraints African Americans faced and of the segregation and sharecropping that replaced it after the Civil War. 

One table is devoted to "tillers of the soil", black owners of large amounts of land in Person County. Many obstacles stood in the way of black land ownership, especially of large numbers of acres, but these Personians persevered.

Display cases present beautiful artifacts from Africa donated by Carol Leigh Humphries and Angie Brown. Be sure to pick up a brochure of African American History.

Photos on the wall display some of the past graduates of Person County High School, the only high school for African American children that was located in the county. A desk under the photos is from the Lee Jeffers School, built in 1922. Biographies and articles of interest from that community can be found on the desk.

The wardrobe holds articles of handmade lingerie and quilts, fashioned with love and skill.  

Exhibits in this room change on a regular basis, so visit often!