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Rogers-Eubanks history in focus

Posted on March 19, 2009 by Staff

By Taylor Sisk
Staff Writer

What began as an effort to document the effects of 35 years of a landfill on the Rogers-Eubanks community has grown into something much more – an account of the broader history of this predominantly African-American community, and a source of community pride.

Emily Eidenier, a graduate student in the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, specializes in health behavior and health education. She first learned of the Rogers-Eubanks community through Chris Heaney, a doctoral student in the school of public health who has worked on community partnerships with the N.C. Environmental Justice Network. The Rogers-Eubanks neighborhood is adjacent to the Orange County Landfill and community activists there have spoken out and taken action against what they perceive to be environmental injustice, arguing that they have carried an undue burden on behalf of the broader community.

Eidenier, a Hillsborough native, began to attend Rogers-Eubanks community meetings and came to know Rev. Robert Campbell, a longtime leader in that community. She subsequently received a Robert E. Bryan Fellowship from the Carolina Center for Public Service. The outcome is the organization of years of documents and a written record – now in book form, including photographs, oral histories and a host of public documents – of the community’s history.

At a seminar on the project held Monday at the Carolina Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention in Chapel Hill, Rev. Campbell said that the project reinforced within his neighbors the fact that the community has made a rich contribution to Orange County for many generations, reminding them that, “We are not poor.” It “brought faith back to people who had lost all faith in organizing.”

The project energized the Rogers-Eubanks community in ways even the environmental issues could not. More residents came out for meetings about this project, Eidenier noted, than for hearings about a proposed solid-waste transfer station.

Campbell added that young men approached him asking how they “could get busy.” He returned from work one day to find them gathering trash along Rogers and Purefoy roads.

A Campbell quote has become a slogan for the project: “Through conversation, trust is built, then things get done.”

Eidenier said that she came to see this project as holding the potential to help “enliven the goals of the community” and help broaden the dialogue to include more voices. She continues to document the stories of community members and has begun discussions with representatives of the county government to gain perspectives on the history of issues surrounding the landfill.

Eidenier is now seeking additional funding. How widely the book, called simply Rogers Road, will be available depends on what she’s able to bring in, but initially it will be found in local libraries and online.

“I hope that putting everything in one place will help get everyone on the same page,” Eidenier said, “and help move things forward.”

Moreover, she said, “This community has educated me about my history by hearing about theirs, because I grew up around here. It’s been so valuable to me.”

1 thought on “Rogers-Eubanks history in focus”

  1. Pingback: Rogers-Eubanks history in focus « Rogers-Eubanks Coalition

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