The history of a little-known landmark of Black History and one of its illustrious children, Marva Louise Long

BY SOUMANOU SALIFOU

In an interview with The African magazine on January 31, 1996 in her cozy apartment in Accra, Ghana, her second post in Africa since she joined the U.S. foreign service in 1990, Marva Long said: “I’m happy that my ancestors were strong enough to survive over that trip. They were a very strong people to have endured what they endured.” Referring to her humble beginnings, she added, “If they hadn’t made it, I don’t feel like I would have survived. Even though we were poor, we had love, though I didn’t think much of it then.”

Love may have played a role in Marva Long and her seven siblings’ survival. But, what about the fighting spirit of the teenager who marched for civil rights and was teargassed and jailed? The tenacious, selfless single mother whose hard work paid off and landed her a job in the foreign service? Arguably, being born in James City, on the outskirts of New Bern, North Carolina, a land of renewal where the lives of thousands of runaway slaves blossomed anew, had something to do with Long’s journey.

New Bern, a landmark in U.S. History

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