Orange County Courthouse Mural

Politics, Government & the Legal System

The mural subjects encompassed in this theme have been grouped together because of their involvement in or affiliation with local, state, and national political activity, government service, and/or the legal system or profession. The individuals, locations, and events included in this theme encompass vast swaths and stretches of Orange County history, ranging from the colonial era to the Civil War and Reconstruction, to events of the 20th century. While it is not possible to fully explore this wide range of times periods in this space, this essay does seek to serve as a very brief introduction to the political, governmental, and legal history of Orange County by means of the mural representations of the individuals, locations, and events included in this thematic area.

The mural items included in “Politics, Government & the Legal System” illustrate Orange County’s involvement in and relationship to major political and legal events in the United States in the past 300 years. Subjects related to important historical events such as the Revolutionary War, the Civil War and Reconstruction, and the 1960s Civil Rights Movement are represented through these mural items. This includes locally impactful events such as the 1788 Constitutional Convention, which took place in Hillsborough; Governor William W. Holden’s impeachment and removal from office; and the Speaker Ban Law and related protests at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Also represented are historical events that might not typically be associated with Orange County or even with North Carolina more generally, such as William A. Graham’s involvement in sending the Perry Expedition to Japan and Samuel F. Phillips’ role in the landmark Plessy v. Ferguson case.

When we step back to take a big-picture view of Orange County political, governmental, and legal history, we can see individuals who assumed political and legal roles in the lead-up to and during the Revolutionary War era (Richard Caswell and William Hooper), as well as those who played significant parts in the antebellum, Civil War, and Reconstruction eras (William A. Graham, William W. Holden, and Samuel F. Phillips). We can also see those who contributed to the development of Orange County and of North Carolina (William Churton through surveying and cartography, Willie P. Mangum by helping to establish the public education system, and Harriet M. Berry through her advocacy for improved roads), and folks who made impacts both locally and beyond by means of their work at UNC-Chapel Hill (Wilson Caldwell, Frank P. Graham, Albert and Gladys Coates, and William B. Aycock).

While the scope of “Politics, Government & the Legal System” is intentionally quite broad to encompass and account for a wide range of historical events and individual actions, some of the mural representations in this theme do in fact sit quite close to home and near the heart of Orange County and Hillsborough. The Old Orange County Courthouse, completed in 1845, remains a local landmark in the town and the county. Lisbon P. Berry, the first Black attorney in Orange County, who was born as an enslaved person, and his legacy have permeated the legal spaces in Orange County and radiated to impact those who practice law in this county today.

The political, governmental, and legal figures, locations, and events represented in the courthouse mural demonstrate that politics, government, and the law are as local as they are national and global. The figures whose names are printed in the history books and featured in resources like this one, whose public actions shape the lives of others – for better or for worse – can all trace their roots or connect the threads of their story back to somewhere. For these folks depicted and represented in this mural, that somewhere is Orange County, North Carolina.