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When Maurice J. Norman was a senior at Davidson College, he was introduced to the elders of Smithville, an historically Black neighborhood in Cornelius.

The classroom conversation centered around the community’s effort to preserve its space, an ongoing movement since the neighborhood’s inception in 1910. Norman isn’t from Smithville or even Mecklenburg County. He hails from Mineral Springs, a small town close to the South Carolina border in Union County.

It too has a small but strong Black community, Norman said, wedged between the pressures of change and the desire to remain intact. So for Norman, the conversation hit home in a number of ways.

“Over the years, noticing that my neighborhood was visibly getting smaller and visibly getting consumed by the suburbs, there was a moment of awakening where you realize that there is a problem here,” Norman said. “When I encountered the Smithville CommUNITY Coalition, and the organizing that they had done to combat the same issue just in a different location, ...it was inspiring.”

As a poet and creative, Norman needed to use that inspiration and his art to help amplify the Smithville community’s voices. After a year of documentation, Norman is ready to share what he’s learned.

“Don’t Lose Heart” is a storytelling production by Norman who transformed conversations with Smithville residents into poetry. He’ll perform those poems on stage at the Cain Center for the Arts on Saturday, Nov. 2 at 7 p.m.

“This event is an invitation for people to come and engage with Smithville’s mission,” Norman said. “Come and hear a few of the stories and the milestones of their activism over the years.”

Smithville is the largest intact Black neighborhood in Mecklenburg County, according to Lisa Mayhew-Jones, interim executive director of the Smithville CommUNITY Coalition. With a population of about 200 people, the area hasn’t succumbed to gentrification.

But remaining intact hasn’t come without perseverance.

In the early 1900s, landowner Jacob Lafayette Smith began to parcel out his land to Black sharecroppers for about $20 to $25, Mayhew-Jones said.

From there, residents built Smithville, turning about 37 acres and 154 parcels into their neighborhood. They had their school, the Rosenwald School, their church at Union Bethel AME Zion Church and their homes.

All of this was done with no help from Cornelius and in the 1960s it became evident that the town wasn’t interested in Smithville’s existence.

“Cornelius wanted to be a lake resort,” Mayhew-Jones said. “So who do you get rid of first? The people that are in the dead center and that’s Smithville.”

Cornelius neglected Smithville and refused to annex the neighborhood, leading the area to fall into disarray.

Smithville lacked basic infrastructure such as sidewalks, which remains an issue, and a sewer line. In the 1960s, residents were still using outdoor privies they built themselves and that led to sewer leakage.

The Charlotte News called the area “Germtown, USA.”

Smithville didn’t get sewage and water lines until 1980 — and that was through Mecklenburg County. That year, Cornelius finally annexed the neighborhood.

With the neighborhood’s ongoing fight for acceptance, the Smithville CommUNITY Coalition was initially founded in 1968 to push back against the town. The organization was restarted in 2011 as growth in the Cornelius and Lake Norman area began to increase, as well as amid gentrification concerns.

Those worries intensified in 2018 when Cornelius and the state Department of Transportation told Smithville residents they were planning to put a road through their neighborhood to decrease traffic congestion.

With Smithville being so close to the town’s busiest intersection, Catawba Avenue and N.C. 21, state engineers said the neighborhood would be the perfect place for an additional road. But several properties would be demolished and ultimately Smithville would be divided.

During that community meeting in 2018, a white woman stood up and told officials, “If this were The Peninsula or any other white neighborhood, that would not be happening,” WFAE previously reported.

Smithville residents said no. They threatened to sue, and the state along, with Cornelius, eventually backed down.

That’s when the coalition moved full force with its revitalization plan. The goal is to build new and affordable housing, add needed infrastructure and keep residents in place, most of whom are seniors.

The plan was approved by Cornelius in 2022 but even that has hit roadblocks, mainly due to funding.

The project’s first phase, which included sidewalks, storm water drainage improvements and new public water lines, has been delayed. Residents initially asked for $6 million for the project, which would come from American Rescue Plan Act dollars. But they were awarded $3.4 million.

The town realized that wasn’t enough and added $500,000 from state funding. But work hasn’t started, Mayhew-Jones said. If delayed further, the funding could be lost.

However, Mayhew-Jones said the conversations are moving and the hope is to get contractors into place by the end of the year.

But the road to preservation is tiresome.

“Living in an area like this that’s so prosperous, they don’t look at you,” Mayhew-Jones said. “People really don’t know about Smithville. We’re right off Catawba and people drive past all the time

“It’s a struggle when you still have individuals who think we need to stay in our place. But we helped build this town. Why not treat us the same?”

That’s why Norman’s production is called “Don’t Lose Heart.”

For about an hour, the audience will hear the stories from residents who haven’t lost their will to save Smithville. Alongside Norman will be a Charlotte Strings Collective quintet, performing original music.

Norman interviewed more than 17 residents for the project. His efforts started last year, when he was awarded an Emerging Creators Fellowship through the Arts & Science Council. He and the coalition were also awarded an ASC’s Cultural Visions Grant, which supports individuals and organizations celebrating community through art.

Other support came from the city of Charlotte and the Foundation for the Carolinas.

Norman said one of his favorite stories he’ll tell is about the Rosenwald School and how it became a community center.

Residents would gather there to play, party and sometimes even meet a loved one. The building has since been foreclosed and Norman’s poem asks the question where does the spirit of that important building go if it’s no longer there?

The answer: It remains with the community.

But what if the community is lost? Norman and Mayhew-Jones hope the answer to that question never needs to be answered. Spreading the word through performances like “Don’t Lose Heart” is one way to keep that question unnecessary.

“Sometimes things can only be heard when there’s a bit more beauty behind the language or there’s a certain vibration behind the music, and it takes us a little extra creative effort to break the barriers and reach someone’s heart,” Norman said. “All of this is meant to eventually redirect people back into the mission of Smithville.”

After the show, Norman will moderate a panel continuing the discussion on Smithville’s history and revitalization plan.

Tickets are $20 and all proceeds will go toward helping the community.

“I know ‘Don’t Lose Heart’ is going to put more eyes on Smithville,” Mayhew-Jones said. “These are real people here. They have legacy. I hope people can see how the injustice is still going on in 2024…

“The surrounding community, they get it,” she said. “They come and lobby with us but I hope this broadens the spectrum of people who get. I hope it hits them in the chest to make them say, I need to help.”

When: Saturday, Nov. 2 at 7 p.m

Where: Cain Center for the Arts, 21348 Catawba Ave., Cornelius

Tickets: https://cainarts.org/event/

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The Charlotte Observer

Desiree Mathurin covers growth and development for The Charlotte Observer. The native New Yorker returned to the East Coast after covering neighborhood news in Denver at Denverite and Colorado Public Radio. She’s also reported on high school sports at Newsday and southern-regional news for AP. Desiree is exploring Charlotte and the Carolinas, and is looking forward to taking readers along for the ride. Send tips and coffee shop recommendations.

Rafael A Hurricane, Forecast To Swipe The Florida Keys Wednesday

Rafael intensifies into a Category 1 hurricane across the Caribbean Sea tonight. Rafael may deliver U.S. impacts later this week or next weekend depending on its track in the Gulf.

As of 10 p.m. EST, Rafael was located near 19.7N and 80.4W, or about 60 miles east-northeast of Grand Cayman, and 275 miles south-southeast of Havana, Cuba. Rafael is packing top sustained winds of 80 mph, making it a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Wind Scale. It is moving northwest at a brisk 13 mph and has a minimum central pressure of 985 mb, or 29.09 inches of mercury.

A Hurricane Warning remains in effect for the Cayman Islands and the Cuban provinces of Pinar del Rio, Artemisa, La Habana, Mayabeque, Matanzas and the Isle of Youth.

A Tropical Storm Warning remains in effect for the Cuban provinces of Villa Clara, Cienfuegos, Sancti Spiritus, and Ciego de Avila. Additional Tropical Storm Warnings have been issued for the Lower and Middle Florida Keys from Key West to west of the Channel 5 Bridge as well as the Dry Tortugas.

Tropical Storm Watches are in effect for the Cuban provinces of Camaguey and Las Tunas.

Rafael will move in a northwest direction over the next few days. This track would put it over the Cayman Islands tonight. Rafael will continue to intensify overnight and will remain a hurricane as it rakes Cuba and moves into the southeastern Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday.

The storm will pack wind-swept heavy rain, dangerous storm surge, and destructive winds across the western Caribbean through early Thursday morning. Hurricane-force winds, those greater than 74 mph, will spread across the Cayman Islands and Cuba tonight and on Wednesday.

Heavy rainfall is expected for the western Caribbean over the next few days, especially the Cayman Islands into southern and western parts of Cuba. Rainfall totals of 3 to 6 inches are expected, with locally higher amounts up to 10 inches. Flash flooding and mudslides are possible, mainly along the higher terrain in Cuba.

Storm surge will generally remain around 1 to 3 feet across the Cayman Islands, which could lead to minor coastal flooding. In areas of onshore winds along the southern coast of Cuba, water levels could raise to as much as 6 to 9 feet, including the Isle of Youth. The combination of storm surge and the tide will cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters moving inland from the shoreline.

Once it moves into the Gulf of Mexico, the storm’s prospects aren’t quite so bright. Much of its strength will be zapped by the mountainous terrain lining Cuba, and then the system will have to contend with dry air and increasing wind shear as it maneuvers the eastern and central Gulf. It may also slow down considerably.

The forecasts are mixed on exactly what, if any, condition the system will be in as it approaches the Gulf Coast, but it is likely that heavy rainfall can be expected later this week into the weekend from the central Gulf Coast to Florida. Parts of the western Florida Keys could see stronger impacts from this system, with drenching downpours and strong winds on Wednesday.

At this time, the Lower and Middle Florida Keys could start to see tropical storm-force winds beginning Wednesday and Wednesday night. Rainfall totals of 1 to 3 inches are possible, while storm surge could reach 1 to 3 feet. A few tornadoes are also possible Wednesday over the Keys and southernmost parts of the Florida Peninsula.

November is not typically a month with a lot of hurricanes – typically a storm forms on average once per November. However, storms such as 2022’s Hurricane Nicole can still cause significant damage. Keep watching the tropics through the season’s end on November 30.