I was hired as a Community Engagement Archivist in the Special Collections and University Archives unit at J. Murrey Atkins Library, University of North Carolina at Charlotte in June 2019. Not only was this my first full time library job but it was also a new position within the library. The first few months consisted of meeting my colleagues and important community members to get the lay of the land. Through these meetings, I was introduced to Alvin C. Jacobs, Jr. Alvin is a local Charlotte photographer and social justice activist. Jacobs was also the artist in residence at the Levine Museum of the New South and the Harvey Gantt Center for African American Art & Culture. At the latter, he created an exhibition entitled “Welcome to Brookhill,” which documented a neighborhood in Charlotte threatened by gentrification due to its proximity to uptown Charlotte. After the debut of his exhibit, awareness of this neighborhood increased, and public conversations turned into how the developer could work with the Brookhill community to ensure residents were not forced out.
