Luminary & Freedom Stories

During this special luminary program, Bennett Place invites you to reflect on the end of the Civil War as a momentous step towards freedom for all Americans and the end of chattel slavery in the United States.

Walk among 3,310 luminaries - one for every 1,000 enslaved people in North Carolina - and reflect on experiences of enslavement and freedom. Historians dot the path and share stories of people's pathways to freedom and life after slavery & the Civil War.

Harriet Ann Daves recalled just how monumental Civil War surrenders were for her family: "When the surrender came my grandfather came to my mother and told her: 'Well, you are as free as I am.'"

Claiming freedom was not so straightforward for the 331,059 enslaved women, children, and men in North Carolina during the Civil War. Some took enormous risk to reach Union lines before the federal government made any promise of abolishing slavery. Others left their homes and plantations to follow Sherman's army as they marched through the southeast. Some believed home was where they already lived and worked and waited patiently for freedom to extend to them. Others still were lied to by their enslavers or moved away from the advancing U.S. Army so they would remain enslaved. Freedom came in different ways and at different times to enslaved people across the state.

One common thread unites these freedom stories: the defeat of the Confederate military ensured a new birth of freedom across the state and nation.