Hundreds join forNAACP’s FreedomFund Banquest

A true vision of African American unity was on display Saturday night as leaders and community members gathered to honor the Sampson County Branch of the NAACP during its 23rd annual Freedom Fund Banquet.

People across the state traveled to Clinton, dressed in their finest, for a night of fine dining, recognition and fellowship inside the Sampson Exposition Center. Local political figures, pastors, civic organization heads, youth and more were in attendance, each joining one another for the same cause — celebrating Sampson’s NAACP.

There were many aspects to this year’s banquet — from paying homage to those who had died to honoring the 2024 NAACP scholarship recipients, presenting an inaugural award and, of course, providing what many called “an exquisite meal.”

Sampson NAACP President Larry Sutton gave the welcome, sharing the local branch’s history.

“Let me just simply begin by extending to you a hearty welcome,” Sutton said as he took to the podium. “We do want to make you feel welcome tonight. I enjoy the things that are happening, also listening intently on what’s being said, and hopefully, we can recruit tonight some new membership as well. We are continuing to grow, like Mr. (Marcus) Bass mentioned earlier, as we have been able to bring in our 100th adult member.”

“We are also very happy tonight to say that we are on the cusp of organizing our first ever Youth Council for the NAACP.”

Those remarks were met with a room full of applause, a sound echoed during the former Clinton High School history teacher’s speech on the organization’s origins.

“As a brief overview, the NAACP was founded in 1909, 115 years ago,” he said. “Since then, the organization has been making strides and improvements in fighting for change and bringing about important achievements and milestones in our history. Just this past summer, the national chapter had its 115th convention in Las Vegas, Nevada. So here again, we are very pleased to see that the organization, the largest and the oldest in the country, is still on the move, and we show very little signs of slowing up even now.

“On the state level, the NAACP had its start around 1943 with the great leader, a man named Kelly Alexander, who some might call Mr. NAACP in North Carolina,” Sutton said. “He began organizing branches and units across the whole state and he, for years, became the face, eyes and ears for the entire state for the NAACP. So from 1943, down through today, we have successfully expanded.”

In that long touted history, the NAACP eventually found its way to Sampson County where a branch has stood for nearly seven decades.

“Locally, the branch here was founded in September 1955; that’s been 69 years ago this year, and I can happily say that we are still standing on the shoulders of those who founded this branch in Sampson County on Sept. 9, 1955,” he said. “Tonight, we carry on that legacy of the NAACP, nationally, at the state level and also locally.”

There were more than a few standout moments that followed Sutton’s welcome. Among them was the inaugural award, the first-ever Sampson County NAACP Lifetime Achievement Award, which was presented “to a man of many achievements, chief among them being a former North Carolina General Assembly member.”

With that, Sutton recognized Dr. Larry Bell, who, he said, knew he was receiving the award.

Bell, in his words of acceptance, said it was the people present that night who deserve the credit for him being able to earn the award.

“As I always said, you here have been the wind beneath my wings,” Bell attested. “I couldn’t have won anything without you,” he said. “All the elections that we had, you are the ones that were out voting for me, and I’ve just been representing you the entire time. As I look out tonight, I see some of my former students and that makes me feel good, because I know that they’re going and making something of themselves. And maybe, I said something somewhere in their life that helped them get there. I hope I did, at least. Aside from that, I just thank you all for this honor and this recognition … thank you very much.”

The focus for this year’s banquet was “Building Coalitions For Justice,” a theme present throughout the evening. Speaking on that topic was the banquet’s guest speaker, the first female NC NAACP State Conference President Deborah Dicks Maxwell.

“Coalition, is an alliance for combined action or a group that forms different organizations of people who agree to act together usually temporarily,” Maxwell stated. “Justice, just behavior or treatment giving each person what he or she deserves. Over 100 years ago, in Springfield, Illinois, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, was founded in response to the race riots of 1908.”

Those were among Maxwell’s opening remarks which led into her further defining the theme and its importance as the NAACP moves toward the future.

Maxwell’s speech highlighted the need for coalition building, stressing the significance of voter registration, along with the need for unity and collective action to influence the trajectory of the state and nation through voting, just as those that came before had. She called to action the various organizations and pastors present, stressing the importance of their roles on that front, along with the need to hold elected officials accountable, ensuring they represent the needs of those they serve.

She discussed the NAACP’s efforts in coalition building and advocating for environmental justice, the importance of separating church and state to protect democracy and the need for continued advocacy for Medicaid expansion. Maxwell further noted the significance of grassroots organizing, education and advocacy in the ongoing fight over voter suppression, economic inequality, health disparities and threats to civil rights.

It is a path, she declared, was achievable by resilience, courage and a deep understanding that progress is made through consistent and determined work.

“This banquet was wonderful; it was about encouraging individuals and their organizations to come together not just to vote but to be in unison here in Sampson County for those who support them,” Maxwell reiterated after the banquet.

Those sentiments were shared by Sutton. “I particularly like the theme that we chose for this year, Building Coalitions For Justice, as justice should be everybody’s fight and everybody’s business,” he said.