Greensboro's African American Community Newspaper since 1967
Limits of Freedom, a traveling exhibit presenting the lives of enslaved and free people of African descent in Guilford and Rockingham Counties will be on display at the Greensboro Cultural Center, throughout the month of July at 200 N. Davie St.
Developed by the Department of History at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, the exhibit features 12 information panels which address chattel slavery from the colonial period through emancipation. The exhibit is free and open to the public.
Dr. Anne Parsons, UNCG Director of Public History, said she hopes the exhibit inspires people’s curiosity to explore their local and family histories. “The Revolutionary War was one part of a very long journey towards creating freedom in the country and also here locally,” she explained, saying, “African Americans played a vital role in creating and defining freedom here in those 100 years after the Declaration of Independence.”
Designed and created by UNCG students, the colorful panels include a timeline of area enslavement, plus the documented experiences, from service in the American Revolution to work along the Dan River, illustrating the lived reality of enslaved Black people. One panel, Fighting for Freedom, recalls the life of Ishmael Titus, a Black Patriot of the American Revolution who fought in the 1781 Battle of Guilford Courthouse.
Parsons said the exhibit relies on archival records, maps, and oral history, highlighting the central role African Americans played in shaping the nation—despite being denied the very freedoms the country proclaimed. The panels address the contradictions between liberty and slavery, touching on how free African Americans faced tenuous circumstances and the ever-present threat of kidnapping or enslavement.
Part of the America 250 N.C. initiative commemorating the 250th anniversary of American Independence, the exhibit encourages visitors to reflect on the contradictions between liberty and slavery and to engage with local history in meaningful ways.
As a traveling exhibit, Limits of Freedom debuted last November at the Guilford National Military Park, as well as Rockingham Community College, Jamestown Public Library, High Point Museum and later this year at UNCG’s Jeanne Tannenbaum Center for Creative Practice and Guilford College.
