March for Our Lives 2018

This digital exhibit represents the opinions and emotions surrounding the March For Our Lives event of the people of Charlotte, March 24 2018. The Robinson-Spangler Carolina Room of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library  has digitally compiled posters that were donated to us by March For Our Lives, Charlotte, participants. These posters were on display on the first floor of the library for two months after the event took place. The Robinson-Spangler Carolina Room wants to not only preserve historical materials that are centuries old, but also the history that is being made in our daily lives. The purpose of this exhibit is not only to display the feelings and opinions of those in our community, but also to recognize that history is being made every day by those in our own community and it is the Carolina Room's mission to preserve it. This collection of posters, as well as the production of this digital exhibit, has been created to remember the event itself and to promote discussion of its importance in our city's history,  its impact on Charlotte, and its impact on our nation. 

On February 14, 2018, a shooter opened fire on Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, killing seventeen students and faculty members and injuring seventeen others. This shooting surpassed the Columbine High School Massacre, April 20, 1999, by becoming the deadliest shooting at a high school in the history of the United States. After the shooting, Douglas Stoneman students took to media platforms to speak out against the gun violence that had occured within the walls of their school, and the gun violence that was occuring in the United States.

Four days after the deadly shooting, students from Stoneman Douglas announced that they would be marching for their lives on March 24, 2018. Organizers promised to keep the voices of the students at the center of the movement by involving teens and future voters in the march and its planning. Stoneman Douglas Junior, Cameron Kasky stated in an interview that, “One of the things that we've been hearing is that it’s not the time yet to talk about gun control. So here’s the time that we’re going to talk about gun control: March 24.” (Charlotte Observer, 3/26/2018)Ann Doss Helms and Lavendrick Smith, "“Fix this disgraceful issue!” Students lead big Charlotte rally against gun violence," Charlotte Observer, May 26, 2018 While planning for the primary march in Washington D.C took place, 800 cities across the United States began to plan their own marches. Charlotte was among those cities.

On March 24, 2018, while people packed the streets of Washington, D.C, First Ward park in uptown hosted an estimated 2,500 people speaking out against gun violence and advocating for politicians to take action. Students from Charlotte schools spoke out against the violence and voiced their own concerns and fears.

March For For Lives events did not end in 2018 or with the large events held on March 24, 2018.  Across the United States of America there are hundreds of chapters, and two within the city of Charlotte. March For Our Lives events have been held since the large events that took place across the nation in March of 2018. March For Our lives events are also held after school shootings, as a way for the impacted community to stand up against gun violence together and recognize the tragic events that happened in their own towns and cities.

One of those cities is our own. On April 30th, 2019, a shooter opened fire in a classroom on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. This shooter took the lives of two students, Riley Howell and Ellis "Reed" Parlier, and injured four students: Rami Al-Ramadhan, Sean DeHart, Drew Pescaro, and Emily Houpt. On May 3rd, the Charlotte community joined together to hold a March For Our LIves rally that took place both on campus and in Uptown Charlotte. The community and students wore UNCC colors and rallied as a call for action for State and Federal Legislature to respond to the recent shootings that took place at UNCC and nationwide.