Oh, freedom,
Freedom Hill,
to you
our hearts belong.
Oh, freedom
Freedom Hill, for God has made us strong.
Freedom Hill is the high bluff.
And so when you got to a high bluff
where you could announce
to a large number of people like Freedom Hill, the Emancipation Proclamation,
that's the opportunity that Union General Terry
took in the spring of 1865.
The historical significance of Princeville as the oldest town
or city in America, incorporated by freed people.
After slavery, formerly enslaved people can legally purchase land.
But much of the land that was available for purchase
and allowed to be purchased tended to be swamp land.
And so Princeville itself situated on the Tar River,
is directly affected by hurricanes.
Literally in 1885, when it was incorporated, hurricanes hit that year.
Our forefathers came across the Tar River bridge right after the Emancipation
with absolutely nothing but
their God given gifts and talents
and they created a town.
And they shared their blood, sweat and tears on these sacred grounds.
Growing up into Princeville
and growing up the way that you grew up
you didn't know that there was such
rich history for the little town
that you're in. Where the history started
getting into deep down into my soul,
I guess, was after the flood of '99.
(thunder and rain)
From the waters Princeville came,
breath from thy hallowed ground.
Standing tall through wind and rain
from the waters rose again.
In '99, we had
Hurricane Floyd come through,
which we thought it was tropical storm.
It was raining, raining, raining.
We got a call from the National Weather Service that
eventually six feet of water was going to come over the dike.
And the dike is right down at the foot of the bridge is 37,
I think it's 37 feet.
But they forgot to tell us that the water was going to keep on coming.
At that time, it was like a war zone.
Helicopters flying all over everywhere.
Princeville looked like a ghost town.
Children's toys hanging in the trees.
Some of the caskets came up out of the graveyard.
And it was like nothing I ever seen.
2016 came and that was
the year of Matthew.
When the hurricane came, it was on
October the 8th.
That was the day my son got married.
It was a day that had a real, a very surreal feeling.
It was almost like I knew the wedding was going to be exciting, but
there was something else in my feelings, in my spirit
that was not at all unrest.
But it was just strange.
To me, the storm became a bully because there was the water had started coming into town
by that Sunday evening and that Monday.
So, of course, we had made a mandatory evacuation.
We knew that you can you can rebuild a place,
but it's sometimes hard to rebuild
emotions and lives.
Oh, Princeville is our home.
Forever will it be.
Any time we have flooding
in North Carolina,
we lose a part of our history
and FEMA and the rest of the agencies who are working with that.
But it's a struggle for the community because
it takes a lot of collaboration, a lot of work and a lot of listening.
Recovery is a process and a lot has
occurred and we have a lot underway.
We've completed projects and projects that have closed out,
but we still have to keep in mind that it is a process.
And so we have multiple grants towards our recovery process.
And what those grants would have for the town of Princeville
to be able to do is to move the recovery projects forward.
And so funds that will
filter into the town of Princeville will not just be limited to recovery,
it would also contribute to the day to day operation and the forward
thinking for the town of Princeville.
And it will also allow the citizens to get a sense of relief as it relates
to the ongoing anticipation of flooding in the town of Princeville.
We see all of these state agencies
and leadership from different parties
coming together to invest in Princeville,
but all at the direction
and with the collaboration of local leaders in Princeville.
This is not a process that can be over and done
and the community's back and everybody is happy.
And that's one of the difficult realities about building climate resilience
and doing disaster recovery, is that to do it thoughtfully takes a long time.
And we're moving at the pace of trust.
We're moving at the speed of relationship development.
Going through the process of
hazard mitigation
and elevation reconstruction.
I did it because all this land belong to my grandfather
and this is home and this is where we want to be.
This is the oldest town chartered by Blacks in America.
And we want to make sure that it still exists
and our kids and our grandkids.
May thy citizens be true
and ever sing of thee.
In thy place forever stand,
on this fertile, sacred land.
I hope to see in the Princeville in the future.
Princeville will continue to grow.
I would love to see a post office.
I would love to see a supermarket.
What I would like to see
in this town, more business,
for more revenue come through here, you know, for like another store,
maybe another grocery store, even one franchise restaurant
would be fine in this community.
It'd be nice if we're going to get anything in the town of Princeville,
the only black town in the world.
So I see Princeville propelling forward
over the next ten,
even 20 years of new development
and then really becoming the hub center of African-American history and
acknowledging, you know, the struggles. Recognizing that, putting the historical
tourism to the forefront while also recognizing
how sustainable this community is, and being able to put,
you know, the agriculture to the forefront,
being able to put businesses here,
getting folks in to spend money here, raising our tax bases.
And so it is a place, a place where people,
when they leave to go to college, they come back.
And my community members have treated me like I am one of them.
People have made
me feel like I'm at home in a way that no one else has ever done so.
Two of the oldest buildings in Princeville,
well over 100 years old,
and when I look at those two buildings and they are still standing
and now the Wooten house is beginning to lean a little bit more,
but still standing and have stood through so many floods.
They've even stood the test of time.
It said to me, Princeville has to stand.
Oh, Princeville is our home,
forever will it be...
forever
will it be.
And that's our anthem.
Forever will it be.
We ain't going nowhere.