ABOUT US

Indigenous Memories is a United States tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization registered under EIN: 84-4933208. Our mission is to bring attention to the lives of numerous Indigenous, Maroon, Slave, and Free People of Color who occupied land along the Historic Indian Trading Path in Orange County, North Carolina. We maintain sacred burial spaces where these individuals and their descendants are interred. Sacred burial spaces include several likely ancient Indigenous burial mounds, disrupted burial mounds, a Maroon cemetery where Indigenous and Free People of Color are buried in the same space, and the Hardscrabble Slave Cemetery.

We offer historical hikes and storytelling to increase understanding of hardships Free People of Color faced daily during the 18th and 19th centuries. Hikes include a visit our Indigenous mounds, our Maroon cemetery, and our historical timeline fence. Following a hike, attendees listen to stories and observe visual aids describing the lives of descendants of the Saponi Nation. Attendees learn the following: (1) the history of Maroon communities and how they operated; (2) how the system of apprenticeship dismantled Families of Color; (3) how, despite laws enacted to remove them from Virginia and North Carolina, Free People of Color managed to remain on their land while engaging in Freedom Work-assisting slaves. Participants will leave with knowledge of a group of people who have been ignored in the annals of history, and how their contributions to society allow all to live in relative peace and freedom today.

Indigenous Memories is working in collaboration with the North Carolina Environmental Justice Network.

Preserve and maintain Indigenous ceremonial & burial mounds
Preserve and maintain Black cemeteries
Assist in identifying Indigenous mounds
Assist in identifying Black cemeteries
Assist in documenting Indigenous mounds and Black cemeteries and reporting to the NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources
Provide education and consultation for identifying Indigenous mounds and Black cemeteries
Host educational hikes to Indigenous mounds and Maroon (triracial) burial spaces located near the Historic Indian Trading Path
Share the history of Maroon people living in the area of the Historic Indian Trading Path and their struggle to avoid slavery and assist in freeing slaves
Share the little known history of intersections of Stagville, Hardscrabble, and Whitted work camps.

OUR MISSION

Beverly Scarlett

Co-Founder

Judge Beverly A. Scarlett is a native of Orange County, North Carolina. She holds a Bachelor of Science from St. Augustine’s College and a Juris Doctor from North Carolina Central University School of Law-Evening Division. Judge Scarlett spent the early part of her employment working at UNC Hospitals and UNC School of Medicine. Upon graduating from law school, she returned to her home community where she practiced law as a solo practitioner, assistant district attorney, and district court judge. Upon retiring from the State of North Carolina in 2021, Judge Scarlett began focusing on the history of her ancestors. She co-founded Indigenous Memories along with her sister Yolanda, being supported by her sister Jackie, and cousins Maureen and Teresa. Through her work with Indigenous Memories, Judge Scarlett utilizes modalities of the arts (paintings, music, storytelling and writing books) to share the rich history of her Indigenous, Maroon, and Slave ancestors as found in court records, newspapers, and traditional oral history. Judge Scarlett proudly shares the history of her family to provide a more complete history of the lives of People of Color in Alamance, Durham and Orange counties, and to lend context to the recorded history of North Carolina’s Piedmont.

Annie Newton

Director of Operations

Annie Newton grew up in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. She earned her bachelor's degree in History and Art History from Randolph Macon Woman’s College and has a Master of Arts in Teaching Social Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Annie also earned a Masters degree in History from Virginia Commonwealth University where she received the VCU Graduate School Outstanding Master’s Thesis Award. Before working for Indigenous Memories, she was the Development and Program Director at the Alliance for Historic Hillsborough and served on the Telling the Full Story Committee. Annie has been a strong advocate for the Black and Indigenous communities in Hillsborough, North Carolina and is deeply committed to telling the essential stories of marginalized populations who have been overshadowed and misrepresented throughout history.

Yolanda Scarlett

Co-Founder and Chair of the BOD
Jacqueline Scarlett

Treasurer for BOD
Teresa Whitted Moore

General Board Member
Maureen Scarlette

General Board Member
Gayzelle Chavis

Secretary of the BOD
Dr. Freddie Parker

Consultant in Slavery in North Carolina
Dr. Arwin Smallwood

Consultant in Indigenous Americans and African Americans in Early North Carolina
Dr. Charles Johnson

Consultant in Plantation Life in Orange County and the Development of Durham, NC
Dr. Carter Clinton

Lead Researcher and Consultant specializing in Biology and Anthropology
Dr. Nashani Frazier

Consultant on Black Cemeteries and Cemetery Ethics
Natalie Wallace

General Board Member
Seletha Pherribo

Director of Events and Advocacy
Shepeara Hall

General Board Member