Growing up Black: New documentary explores life during segregation in Mooresville
As the town celebrates its 150th anniversary, hundreds of Mooresville residents gathered in the Charles Mack Citizen Center on Feb. 11 to watch a new documentary that reveals some uncomfortable truths about its history.
In “Black Mooresville: The Untold Story,” lifelong residents share personal anecdotes about their experiences growing up Black in Mooresville during segregation.
Residents recounted walking up to the 3 miles to and from Dunbar School, a segregated school, as white children passed them on school buses, and studying with second-hand textbooks passed down from white schools that were in poor condition.
“We had to walk past two schools to get to our school,” Mooresville resident Brenda McKee said in the film.
Restaurants and retail stores in Mooresville wouldn’t allow Black people to enter through the front door – and some wouldn’t even serve them. Black people in Mooresville lived in homes in designated neighborhoods with “dirt in the front yards and tin roofs,” resident Jeffrey Houston said in the film.
“There was a time when you couldn’t pay a white person to move into a Black neighborhood,” a resident said during the film.
When integration happened, Black students were allowed to attend Mooresville High School – but their struggles were far from over.
Residents recalled white teachers ignoring them while they had their hands raised in class, and not being able to participate in athletics. And when Black schools were shut down, many teachers found themselves looking for work.
Shawn Eckles, who produced and directed the film, said the documentary was pertinent because it sheds light on how Black Mooresville residents were able to conquer racism, and how the town has evolved since it was integrated.
“Most people right now, young people, don’t realize the racism that has happened in Mooresville and also all across this country,” Eckles said. “This documentary was designed to make it feel like you’re having a conversation with your elders, sitting in a home to hear a story about how they were able to overcome circumstances that would have broken most people.”
‘It’s just amazing to know our history’
Author Sharnetta Clark-Gordon, along with the Rev. Curtis Johnson, president of the South Iredell NAACP chapter, and Rev. Gavin Gabriel, a pastor at Jerusalem Missionary Baptist Church in Mooresville, spent four months interviewing more than 30 people for the documentary.
“People need to know that we’ve come a long way, but we still have to remember where we came from,” Clark-Gordon said. “It’s just amazing to know our history.”
Thurman Houston, the only Black member of Mooresville’s Board of Commissioners, said some of his fellow board members weren’t aware of the town’s checkered past, even after the civil rights movement.
“I tell them about how I couldn’t go in the front door at certain places, and how I wasn’t allowed to swim in pools,” Houston said. “A lot of people don’t know the story, because so many people have moved in here from other places.”
“It’s really important that people know the origins of this town, and that not only white people made this town,” he added. “I want my grandkids to know what we did, what we went through and how we persevered.”
“Black Mooresville: The Untold Story” will soon be available to watch on the Mooresville Public Library website, and on the town’s YouTube page.
This story was originally published February 22, 2023 at 7:00 AM.
