Dr. Reginald Watson is an Assistant Professor of English at East Carolina University.  He was born in Morristown, New Jersey in 1963.  He received his Bachelor's degree in English from North Carolina Central University in 1985, his MA in English from ECU in 1991, and his Ph.D. in English from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 1998.  He has received the English Department Service Award in 1999 and 2000 and is an honorary member of the Golden Key Honor Society and Omicron Delta Kappa.  He is the author of numerous publications, including two plays, Black Voices from the Past and The Kwanzaa Story.

TCR:  For our readers that do not know, what is the North Carolina Freedom Memorial Project all about?

Watson:  The NCFMP is a project to examine the possibility of setting up a memorial or monument that would honor African-American achievement in the state of North Carolina.  A group of people came together to discuss the idea which was originally put forward by people associated with the Paul Green Foundation.  We are receiving funding from the Paul Green Foundation along with the North Carolina Humanities Council.

TCR:  How did you become involved with the NCFMP?

Watson:  My name was recommended by Gay Wilentz after she had been approached by some of the people who initiated the project.  I went to the statewide meeting in Raleigh, and I was immediately hooked.  At that meeting we discussed what we wanted to see in terms of a monument or memorial and selected regional leaders who would set up meetings in their various parts of the state to continue brainstorming about what the monument or memorial would be.  I was pleased to be selected as the regional leader for eastern North Carolina.  As the regional leader, my job is to touch base with local leaders and to organize interest meetings like the one we just had on the 30th of October.  We are planning on having about two or three more meetings before the next statewide meeting in June 2003.  The idea is to keep the dialogue going, and I'm also on the steering committee, so I have a lot of responsibility to keep this project moving toward its completion.

TCR:  Has there been any resistance toward the NCFMP?

Watson:  None so far, but keep in mind that we are in the early stages of the project.  The meeting we held on October 30th was just the third meeting so far, but from what I understand, Marshall Warren, the executive director, and Leslie Williamson, the project director, told me this was the biggest meeting yet.  We had in excess of sixty people attending.  Now, based on that meeting, I didn't see any resistance.  I foresee some resistance coming from groups who may feel that a monument should honor more groups than African Americans.  One of the things we have discussed at our meetings is whether the monument should be inclusive or not, and that's still on the table.

TCR:  Do you have a personal vision of what the monument or memorial should look like?

Watson:  Before I come to any conclusion on that, I want to get feedback from the people involved with the project.  Right now, I would like to see something along the lines of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center in Atlanta, GA.  Some people want the monument to be a statue on the Capital grounds in Raleigh, but there isn't really enough room there for anything sizable.  I feel that whatever the monument or memorial would be, it would have to be pretty large, something maybe in the form of a center where school children from all over the state could come and learn about Black history.  I think there are some centers in Raleigh that talk about Black history in general, but nothing on a large scale.  So that's my vision, but I'm certainly willing to keep my mind open as different thoughts and ideas come to the table and maybe several years from now we will have a working blueprint of what this will look like.

TCR:  You mentioned the Paul Green Foundation, who are they?

Watson:  The Paul Green Foundation was the people that came up with the idea for the NCFMP.  Paul Green was a dramatist who collaborated with Zora Neale Hurston on a couple of plays and was a white man who stood up for the rights of others when it wasn't popular for a white man to do this.  Paul Green taught at UNC-Chapel Hill, and he was ahead of his time in terms of standing up for racial causes.  He died not too long ago, and his grandson of the same name is operating in the same spirit.  The Paul Green Foundation really pushed this ahead, and I was touched that this kind of activist spirit still exists.  It was very evident at the statewide meeting.

TCR:  Is there anything else you would like to add?

Watson:  The title of this project is especially appropriate to me: "The Freedom Monument Project."  Freedoms are still denied in numerous ways, and I think we can all learn from this effort.  I think everybody can experience true freedom: Black, White, Yellow, and Red.  Even though this project is focused on African American achievement, I think it's a monument we can all learn from.  Ignorance always leads to prejudice, and I think if we can do away with that ignorance, we can pave the way for less racial incidents.  The Freedom Monument is freedom for all of us, freedom of thought, freedom of expression, freedom to know and to respect one another.  That's what this monument stands for.

For more information on the North Carolina Freedom Monument Project, visit their website at www.ncfmp.org or call (919) 968-1655.