STATESVILLE, N.C. — A Statesville woman is working around the clock to preserve Black history in the Iredell County community. She wants to ensure its African American history is never forgotten.
Lisa Mozer is one of many African Americans with family ties to Statesville.
"My parents' family, my mother's family are all from Statesville so, of course, it's home," Mozer said. "My middle school, high school and young adult years I grew up in the Charlotte area. But my mom actually moved back to Statesville. We've always come home to Statesville for holidays to visit relatives. It's home."
But there was a time when Mozer had to leave Statesville. She served in the military for 22 years and studied meteorology in the Air Force.
Mozer later worked at The Weather Channel before entering the teaching profession. In 2019, Mozer retired and later came back to Iredell County.
"It's always been home," Mozer said.
Mozer has devoted a great deal of time learning about the areas Black history and ways of preserving it.
"Statesville is an old [city], Africans have families, descendants here," Mozer said.
In order to preserve this history, Mozer says several African American landmarks in the city must be placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources lists several landmarks and sites in Statesville on the state's National Register of Historic Places. Mozer says only one of them is identified as an African American landmark: The Mount Pleasant AME Zion Church.
"The church is a cornerstone for this community," Mozer said.
Mozer says the church is surrounded by other landmarks that play a big role in the city's American and Black history.
Mount Pleasant is near Green Street and Garfield Street, a neighborhood the City of Statesville recently recognized in a proclamation as a "significant historic district."
This is the same area Mozer and other community members are seeking additional historical designations for places rich in Black history:
- The Holliday House: the former home of Dr. Robert S. Holliday, a prominent Black physician, and his wife Mary Charlton Holliday, school supervisor over the Black county school system
- The Morningside School: built in 1942, integrated in 1968; first known as the Colored Free School, later called Morningside High School
- The site of the Billingsley Memorial Academy: The first generation of African Americans living in Statesville, outside of enslavement after the Civil War, attended this school
- The Green Street Cemetery: the oldest African American cemetery in Statesville
"The Green Street Cemetery is recognized as the oldest African American cemetery in Statesville," Mozer said. "A large number of African Americans who didn't have their freedom are buried here. It reached capacity in the 1940s, so this is a landmark of great history, a sacred place. It may not look sacred from the condition we see. Hopefully, we'll see it preserved better. Protection and restoration of this historic site is needed."
Mozer says overall, positive steps have been taken toward recognizing these significant sites.
In addition to the city's proclamation, Mozer credits groups, including the Statesville chapter of the NAACP and state Sen. Vickie Sawyer, working together to secure a grant for a radar service, so the city and residents can learn more about who's buried in the Green Street Cemetery.
"Give us data so we'll know more about the number buried here. Many of those buried here experienced enslavement," Mozer said.
Mozer is calling on more to be done to protect the landmarks.
Mozer says there needs to be historic signage to commemorate all the sites. But she says the landmarks must be added to the National Register of Historic Places so they can be remembered for decades to come.
Mozer hopes to see the Green Street/Garfield Street neighborhood established as Statesvile's Black Historic District.
"We need to give it our best," Mozer said. "Because we are the living hope of that American freedom. We are the prayers of that American freedom. So many [buried in the cemetery] did not have that."
A landmark must meet specific criteria to be on the National Register of Historic Places, including the property's significance and age, which is usually 50 years or older.
The City of Statesville and other N.C. certified local governments can nominate properties/landmarks for historic recognition to the North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office for consideration.
During a Feb. 6 meeting, Statesville Mayor Costi Kutteh updated residents about steps the city is taking toward the Green Street/Garfield Street area possibly receiving historic recognition.
"The process is taking longer than we would like," Kutteh said.
The mayor says the staff is working through a process to create what he says is the best solution for a historical monument or district.
"The first step in that process was initiated by staff to apply the district for study by the state's historic preservation office which was approved," Kutteh said.
Kutteh says the city is now preparing to apply for a grant through the preservation office, to perform an architectural study of the area, which he says could move toward the establishment of a national historic district.
The deadline for the grant is April 14.
Spectrum News 1 will continue following this story for additional updates.