Let There Be Light: Exploring How Charlotte’s Historic West End Is Shaping a New South

by Ron Stodghill (Editor)

From the Tuesday Morning Breakfast Forum to the corridors of West Charlotte High School to the pews of Friendship Missionary Baptist Church, Let There Be Light is a journey into Charlotte’s Historic West End, a community that embodies Charlotte’s rich past and points toward its future.

Let There Be Light, an anthology, invites readers into a new era of civic engagement. A mosaic of thoughtful essays written by some of Charlotte’s premier thinkers including journalists, historians and civic leaders, the work reflects on the complex and often controversial issues that shape the New South. More specifically, it is a bold exploration into the richly diverse community surrounding the 147-year-old Johnson C. Smith University, one of Charlotte’s historical gems.

Its title inspired by the university’s Latin motto, Sit Lux, Let There Be Light grapples with issues in one of Charlotte’s most misunderstood communities in ways that will broaden your thinking about Charlotte and enlighten your views on urban communities everywhere.

198 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 4, 2014

Reviews

[Suz Cate · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've taken on the project of learning about my new home town. This volume of essays provides some much needed balance to the primarily white perspective of Charlotte's development as a center of commerce. These essays are not necessarily objective, but they do provide valuable insight into the spirit and pride of a community that has been chopped into discontiguous segments by the patterns of development set by the influential white business leaders of Southeast Charlotte. Let There Be Light is a good start at providing a more complete picture of the history of this lovely New New South city.