How one divided community is grappling with America's 250th birthday

HALIFAX, NC – Ronnie Mack leaped onto a small stage in the dimly lit public library. He stared at the two dozen people sitting in the audience. Then he took a deep breath before telling them he'd been wrestling with a question.

On this recent and unseasonably warm afternoon, Ronnie, 15, was tasked with closing out an hourlong lecture on free people of color in the Revolutionary War. It was part of a local three-day living history festival celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Halifax Resolves, the first time a colony officially recommended independence from Great Britain. 

“Why should we celebrate America's upcoming 250th birthday, if Black people were still enslaved back when our founding fathers created the U.S. Constitution?” he asked. “How do we celebrate a country that promised freedom, when freedom wasn't given to everyone?” 

As the country approaches the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, people from coast to coast are grappling with similar questions about what it means to be American, and whether they should acknowledge the occasion.  

The milestone festivities come amid deep political divisions that have seeped into nearly every facet of American life, including how people view the country’s history and identity.  

A University of Massachusetts Amherst poll published April 7 found 62% of Republicans see the upcoming commemorations as a "proud national milestone," while a majority of Democrats said they either weren’t thinking about the anniversary or saw it as a chance to reflect on "unfinished work." 

Political chasms are particularly wide nearHalifax in North Carolina’s 1st Congressional District. The area was considered the state’s sole remaining swing district before Republican lawmakers redrew election maps earlier in the year to make it more conservative as part of national efforts to help the GOP keep control of Congress. 

Yet, as throngs of people strolled the three-block downtown on a recent April weekend, past American flag streamers, patriotic bunting and red brick colonial buildings, there was scant visible evidence of that polarization.  

Though their views about America varied, sightseers flocked to the historic site along the Roanoke River for the same reason: to mingle with reenactors perched on grassy knolls, watch musket firings and fabric weaving demonstrations and learn about how 83 men unanimously agreed two and a half centuries ago to advocate for independence. Five years after the Halifax Resolves were adopted, the British army briefly occupied the town and plundered its homes, according to the North Carolina Division of State Historic Sites and Properties.

Reckoning with the past 

Rebecca Lockamy was still thinking about Ronnie’s oration as she wandered past rows of cream-colored canvas tents, navigating toward a living history presentation called “Teatime with the Ladies of Halifax.”  

The 78-year-old retiree attended the lecture on free people of color with her adult daughter the afternoon before. 

“It was really good. He was real good,” Lockamy said.

She listened as Ronnie walked the audience through his lineage, describing how his sixth-great-grandfather fought in the Revolution, and how his family was denied equal rights under the Constitution for generations after. Ronnie found meaning in the 250th by celebrating the country’s “unfinished journey toward freedom” and his family’s role in it. 

Lockamy, a registered Republican who didn’t want to talk about politics, saw the oration as a sort of affirmation. She views the 250th as a celebration – a chance for people to “get along and see the good in things and not the evil.” 

“I know we've had a bad history in this country,
but we've tried to improve,” she said. “I can't say I understand ... but I want the people that have been treated badly to understand that they are still in the best country in this world.”  

Long-simmering national debates about how to tell the country’s story, and what pieces to emphasize, have re-erupted amid the year’s landmark commemorations. National parks across America have removed plaques about slavery, the massacre of Native Americans and other tragic moments to abide by President Donald Trump's executive order targeting displays that “disparage Americans.” And conservative lawmakers have pushed historical sites to present narratives promoting “American exceptionalism.” 

In Halifax, which is on the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom, plaques featuring slaveholders' “runaway" newspaper ads line a trail leading to the Roanoke River. 

The visitors center, first opened during the bicentennial and recently renovated, now includes a red, white and black brick walkway designed by local Native American artist Senora Lynch. 

Lori Medlin, president of the Halifax County Convention & Visitors Bureau, said the county and the historic site have worked to convey the complexity of America’s past.  

“No one’s afraid of the history,” she said. 

Much of the programming for the “Halifax Resolves Days: Prelude to Revolution” reconstructed life during the late 1700s and explored colonists’ motives for declaring independence and the life-threatening stakes they faced by doing so.  

Reenactors at the Tanawha Trading Post sold beeswax candles, buttons, scissors and wool felt hats, speaking with passersby about British taxation on imported goods. A group of men sat in the gravel footprint of the colonial courthouse, reimaginingthe meeting where the Halifax Resolves were approved.  

The three-day schedule of events also featured talks about African American soldiers during the Revolutionary War, living history performances depicting a “freedom-seeker” and a Native American ceremony led by the local Haliwa-Saponi Indian Tribe.  

“We have sterilized history to the point that we take all those sounds, and smells, and sights away,” said Jeff Dickens, who played one of the delegates to the provincial congress. “Here you can touch something, see something tangible. That makes more sense to people. They can relate to it.” 

Politics on the mind 

Outside the modern-day county courthouse, people lined up at a food truck serving wood-fired pizza. Then they sat along the curb, hunched over their slices.  

Joe and Betsy Hester soughtshade nearby. They’d driven up from their farm in Nash County, south of Halifax, to take in the festivities. 

Betsy Hester wore a bright red shirt emblazoned with “Due Process.” She said she couldn’t help but think about modern-day politics while walking around historic Halifax. 

A mix of emotions – “fear, sadness, love of country” – bubbled to the surface when she thought about the country’s milestone anniversary. A self-described moderate Democrat, Hester, 72, questioned whether the country’s “great experiment” would survive past Trump’s tenure in the White House. 

“People are being pulled off the streets without due process,” her husband, Joe Hester, 78, interjected. “That's not America.”  

Still, they were proud to be American.  

“We love history, and we love our state, and we love our country. We would have been here regardless,” Betsy Hester said. “We’re celebrating ‘We the people.’” 

Others exploring the festivities reflected on today’s political landscape. 

“It’s just inspiring to remember what the people all over the county sacrificed in defense of liberty,” Joshua Horne, 30, said before visiting a living history demonstration. He and his wife brought their young children to watch the reenactments.  

“We could use a lot more of standing on principle these days,” he said. “Both parties.” 

The University of Massachusetts poll, fielded among 1,000 Americans, found 74% believe there are more things uniting them than dividing them. Most, it found, believe the values laid out in the Declaration of Independence still guide the nation today, and have propelled the country toward progress. 

Overlooking the excavated site where the 83 delegates unanimously adopted the Halifax Resolves, Gary McCullough, 76, reflected on the lessons he’d learned from the document as a teenager growing up in the area.  

“They resolved. It’s in the word. They resolved to do something,” McCullough said. “Whether you’re a Republican or Democrat, now is a time to resolve something.” 

Karissa Waddick covers America's 250th anniversary for USA TODAY. She an be reached at [email protected].