Fayetteville Civil War history center presents annual lecture honoring Juneteenth 

The N.C. History Center on the Civil War, Emancipation & Reconstruction in Fayetteville is presenting on Monday its 6^th commemoration of Juneteenth with the annual Hari Jones Memorial Lecture. This year’s lecture will be given by Leesa Jones, co-founder and curator of the Washington Waterfront Underground Railroad Museum in Washington, North Carolina.

The face behind the history

Leesa Jones, a retired preschool teacher of 32 years, was born and raised in Washington, located two hours east of Fayetteville. After living in the small, coastal city her whole life, she moved to New York City in 1969 to attend college at the City University of New York. She spent almost 40 years in the north, teaching in cities such as Philadelphia and Burlington, New Jersey, before retiring in 2012 and moving back to Washington with her husband, Milton Jones. 

After returning to her hometown, Jones said she and her husband became fascinated with the rich history of the area Jones grew up in. They decided they wanted to help educate the community on their findings. “When we came back to Washington, we started a walking tour,” Jones said.

Through this walking tour, Jones and her husband presented 300 years of African American history that occurred in Washington, much of it largely unknown to the city’s citizens. One of the talking points of the walking tour explained how many enslaved people used the Tar-Pamlico River to seek freedom.

Word of the walking tour made its way to the National Parks Service. In 2014, with the help of the town of Tarboro, North Carolina, and its historic society, the Washington waterfront became a designated Network to Freedom site through the National Parks Service. 

The official recognition of the Network to Freedom site drew a growing number of visitors, Jones said. “A lot of people started coming to Washington thinking we had a facility, and we didn’t,” Jones said. To combat this issue, in 2016, Jones asked the City of Washington if she could use an old caboose train car owned by the city to create the Washington Waterfront Underground Railroad Museum. 

The city agreed and the museum was born, Jones said. Now, she says, nearly 3,000 people visit the museum yearly.

The traveling museum

Jones said she and her husband travel all over North Carolina, and, with the help of volunteers, present the history of freedom seekers to anyone who will listen, from schools and colleges to book clubs and historical events. Jones said they were delighted to be asked to speak at the Hari Jones Memorial Lecture this year in Fayetteville. She said the lecture will be like nothing attendees have seen before, showcasing many of the same exhibitions demonstrated at the Washington Waterfront Underground Railroad Museum. “People can expect to see what we call a living history presentation,” Jones said. 

Through song, costumes and artifacts, Jones will present the history of the Underground Railroad and the emancipation of enslaved people in North Carolina. Jones said they hope to show attendees not only the history of freedom seekers in North Carolina but also their creativity and the lengths they went to gain their freedom. 

Demonstration of artifacts and songs used by enslaved people to seek freedom will be presented and the audience can expect opportunities to participate in the lecture as well. Jones said people of all backgrounds and ages are welcome at the event. She said her hope for the lecture is that attendees leave feeling entertained but also enlightened. 

“Our takeaway is always that when we work together, we can get things done that seem impossible,” Jones said. “But it takes all kinds of people working together.”

The details

The N.C. History Center on the Civil War, Emancipation & Reconstruction is marking its 6th recognition of Juneteenth, with this year being the fifth year in memory of historian Hari Jones, who died in 2018. According to the history center website, Jones “was a prominent African American historian who was the assistant director and curator at the African American Civil War Freedom Foundation and Museum in Washington, DC.” 

This year, the Hari Jones Memorial Lecture will be held at 7 p.m. at Mt. Sinai Missionary Baptist Church, 1217 Murchison Road in Fayetteville. The event is free for attendees.