Newly selected chief justice attends black history month event in Columbia

COLUMBIA, Tyrrell County — North Carolina's newly elected and first ever African American Chief Supreme Court Justice, Cheri Beasley, talked Saturday about the people who came before her to make this dream of hers a reality.

Chief Justice Beasley spoke at a black history month program at Salem Missionary Church in Columbia.

Artifacts from Somerset Place, North Carolina's third largest plantation, were on display. Reverend Stevie Lawrence, who headed the program, said much of the program focused on the plantation, serving as both a history lesson and a call to actions for those in the church.

"We have a responsibility in our community, and our church, and our families to bring our history back alive," said Lawrence. "We feel like the church is the best place to start with it. The civil rights was birthed from out of the church and we start here and we go beyond the walls and take it back to the communities."

The message of the program was although history may be difficult to reflect on, we have to remember it and use to fuel the light of the future. Chief Justice Beasley says the ancestors of the past are who made the position she is in today a reality.

"As the first African- American women to serve as Chief Justice, it doesn’t fall short on me at all the weight of this opportunity," said Beasley. "I so much appreciate the people who came before me who really sacrificed to make this day possible."

The church plans to have a continuation of this program next year.