Special Collections, Phoenix Historical Society partner for project

The East Carolina University Special Collections division and the Phoenix Historical Society are partnering to document a local win over environmental racism from the 1990s, thanks to being awarded a 2022-23 Institute of Museum and Library Services-funded Library Services and Technology Act grant.

Filming of the documentary project. (Contributed photos)

ECU and the Phoenix Historical Society use their resources and archives to collaborate and outline the 1995 community-driven efforts to prevent Iowa Beef Processors, Inc., from installing a hog-processing plant in Kingsboro, N.C., a predominantly Black community between Rocky Mount and Tarboro.

Much of the filming to document this has been completed; viewings of the video are scheduled for the spring.

This project will provide open access to the film through ECU’s Digital Collections website, will provide public screenings of the documentary both in Edgecombe County and on campus and will make available historical documents related to the work of the Kingsboro community through ECU’s historical manuscript collections.

The Phoenix Historical Society: African American History of Edgecombe County (N.C.) was founded in 2001 to recover, record and promote the unique history of Edgecombe County as experienced by members of its African American community. This collection contains the society’s official records, brochures, event programs and publications related to research, community events and sponsored projects.

ECU Digital Collections is a unique resource to thousands of images, texts and recordings from the East Carolina University main campus library’s rich holdings. Collections include digitized materials from collections in the Special Collections Division and the Laupus Medical History collections.