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Before we moved here, we spent almost every vacation at the beach. I remember the long, long trip from Chesapeake to the bridge on a two lane road. One landmark we looked for was the Jarvisburg Colored School. Would it still be standing?

I will get back to the School but first you need to know I grew up in the West. My sisters and I would put a box in the red wagon and go up and down the street pretending we were pioneers crossing the prairie. Or we would be Indians, cooking over a fire. I was Sacajawea. We were taught very little about Indian history and culture, most of it sugarcoated.  

It is a long way and a long time from the 1950's in Boise, Idaho, to Currituck and Dare County. I love Southern history. Much more interesting than Idaho. I  discovered Tim Tyson'*s books about black and white people in North Carolina in 1950-70's. Tim said "I'm trying to change the conversation by helping people recognize the complexity and truth of our past but also the very hopeful fact that we can change. Sugarcoated confections that pass for history are at the center of our problems. If we ignore or rewrite our history, we lose control of our greatest power -- the ability to shape the future. Because we don't look at our history honestly, our conversations about race are often filled with false clich�s. What we get is a lot of finger-pointing and hand-wringing, guilt, blame and shame. What we need to do is start thinking about what kind of community we want our children and grandchildren to grow up in." I want my grandchildren to grow up in a community that recognizes the complexity and truth of our past. And that people can change.

And this brings me back to the Historic Jarvisburg Colored School. The "Historic" tends to get dropped. The school was established in 1867 by black folks who had recently been slaves. Located in the woods, the school gave their children the opportunity to read and write. I'd love to hear those stories but they are gone forever.  

The restoration of the Historic Jarvisburg Colored School is more than a building. It is intended on being a place of storytelling. The stories about what it was like to grow up in a poor, rural area of North Carolina in a segregated society where families were often self- sufficient and lived off the land.  I want to hear those stories of the Historic Jarvisburg Colored School - and I want my grand kids to hear them too. They need to know that people can change.

Whatever the color of our skin we can help in completing the restoration and doing the necessary work for the School to become a museum. What School needs right now are bricks. You can buy and donate one at the website. If you can't afford a brick, your $5.00 will pay for the grout. 

If we work at this together, someday soon, you will take your kids or grandkids to hear stories that can change our future.

*Timothy B. Tyson is a senior research scholar at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University and the visiting professor of American Christianity and Southern Culture