A group of local poets came together Friday night to perform a spoken-word album highlighting Charlotte’s Black history. Their pieces celebrated, honored and put a spotlight on key moments in the city's past.
Inside the Carolina Theatre in uptown, people scanned tickets and walked through metal detectors. Warren McCall was there for a date night. Standing in the lobby with his wife, he said they were there for two reasons:
“Just learning exactly where Charlotte came from and see what the culture was back then, ” McCall said.
As some people found their seats, others held their phones in the air, waiting to capture the performance, titled "Black Charlotte: A Poetic Celebration of Place & Folk."
The performance featured 11 of the 15 local poets who recorded a spoken word album exploring Charlotte’s Black history — from gentrification to integration and social justice.
One of the first poets to take to the mic was Jah Smalls. His piece focused on Dorothy Counts, who, at 15, was one of the first Black students to desegregate schools in Charlotte and across North Carolina.
“1957, a little brown girl made headlines. And I suppose the weather played good that day because hooded shirts never made the pictures,” Smalls recited. "Her assignment was simple: no escorts. Eyes should never meet the pavement. Baby girl, you are inferior to no one. Her destination: Harding High School.”
Smalls said he wrote the piece to show Counts' bravery as she walked into the school, her head held high, past jeering teenagers who threw rocks and spat. Someone even fired a blank cartridge.
“To take those steps, and tell people, ‘Listen, hey, I’m going to make this work.’ And then have crowds — not just children, but grown folks telling her, ‘You don’t belong here,' " Smalls said. "I don’t care if they say you can walk here, right? I don’t care if you feel that you're equal and allowed to be here. This is not a road for you.”
Smalls' performance wrapped up with rounds of applause and an acknowledgment of Dorothy Counts-Scoggins, who stood as she received a round of applause.
Poet Jay Ward helped curate the event. He said his goal in hosting the show and producing the album was "to teach people who say that Charlotte doesn’t have culture, or who say that Charlotte doesn’t have history. This is exposing the deep cultural history of Charlotte through its Black neighborhoods, through its Black communities and Black folk.”
Ward's poem touched on the destruction of Black communities, including the Brooklyn neighborhood — a thriving Black neighborhood in uptown that was demolished in the 1960s in the name of urban renewal.
Another poem by Kaleek Morales, also known as Mr. Witz the Poet, explored the 2016 riots and protests in Charlotte following the police killing of Keith Lamont Scott. Witz paraphrased what he read in his poem.
“The newspaper read, 'Charlotte police protest, governor declares state of emergency, as violence erupts for the second evening,' “ Witz said.
The incident led to hundreds of people taking to the streets and confronting police dressed in riot gear, who fired tear gas.
“The protest was meant to be peaceful — unarmed people petitioning against injustice. No justice, no peace," Witz recited. "Justice for Keith, and harmony stretched across the traffic.”
The officer involved, Brentley Vinson, faced no charges. Witz said his poem is a way to ensure history doesn't repeat itself.
“There has been a lot of modern-day lynchings, and it’s hard to bear witness to it in our day and time, and you can imagine what the families go through,” Witz said. "So, the way that we keep each other alive is by speaking on these injustices and trying our best to right them so that they don’t continue to recur."
Dr. Lisa Santiago McNeill has been in Charlotte for more than 25 years and left the theater pleased with what she heard. She said the show shined a light on Black history at a time when she feels that history is under threat.
“They are trying to erase the Blackness from history — from American history, from Charlotte history, from all the history. And without African American history, none of these things would be,” McNeill said.
That’s why the poets say the album and show is a love letter to Charlotte — one that captures the resilience, unity and difficult historical moments that have helped shape the city.
