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Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Rose Highland-Sharpe Collection of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Black Alumni Reunion Materials #70094, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Rose Highland-Sharpe in April 2019 (Acc. 20201106.2), November 2020 (Acc. 20201106.3), and July 2023 (Acc. 20231027.1).

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Processed by: Dawne Howard Lucas, Chaitra Powell, and Jessica Venlet, November 2020

Encoded by: Dawne Howard Lucas, November 2020

Revised by Dawne Howard Lucas to update biographical information, May 2021

Updated by Luke Cimarusti and Laura Smith, December 2023

Since August 2017, we have added ethnic and racial identities for individuals and families represented in collections. To determine identity, we rely on self-identification; other information supplied to the repository by collection creators or sources; public records, press accounts, and secondary sources; and contextual information in the collection materials. Omissions of ethnic and racial identities in finding aids created or updated after August 2017 are an indication of insufficient information to make an educated guess or an individual's preference for identity information to be excluded from description. When we have misidentified, please let us know at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu.

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill--African American students.
• African American college graduates--North Carolina--Chapel Hill.
• African American college students--North Carolina--Chapel Hill--Societies and clubs.
• African American college students--North Carolina--Chapel Hill.
• Class reunions--North Carolina--Chapel Hill.
• Universities and colleges--Alumni and alumnae--North Carolina.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill--Societies, etc.
• Highland-Sharpe, Rose.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Black Alumni Reunion Committee.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. General Alumni Association.

Reverend Rose Highland-Sharpe, a Black ordained minister, was born in Moore County, N.C., and received a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has been an active participant and volunteer videographer for UNC's Black Alumni Reunion, which was established in 1980 and is the oldest affinity reunion in UNC's General Alumni Association. Since 1996, Highland-Sharpe has produced, videotaped footage, and hosted the local television broadcast Town Talk. Her career has also included roles as a mental health provider, a community college instructor, and a professional storyteller.

Highland-Sharpe began a career as a radio announcer in 1985 at WNAA, 90.1 FM at North Carolina A&T State University. She has worked at several radio stations, including 23 years at WEEB, 990 AM, Southern Pines as a gospel announcer/Sunday program director. As of 2021, she continues to produce inspirational broadcasts via the internet with the "Rose Highland-Sharpe Gospel Show," with content provided via the Rose Highland-Sharpe YouTube channel. Highland-Sharpe matriculated with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Class of 1980. In 1978, she began working full-time at Chapel Hill’s University Mall, and graduated debt-free with the Class of 1983. She earned her master's degree in Theological Studies from Liberty University in 2014 after completing graduate studies at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Shaw University Divinity School, and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Highland-Sharpe has received several awards, including the 2010 Moore County NAACP Drum Major Award recognizing her contributions to the spiritual, educational, economic, and social growth in Moore County, N.C. She has also received the Citizen’s Certificate of Merit from the Taylortown Police Department (2006), the Community Service Award from Sandhills Community College (2014), and the Humanitarian Award from the Fellow Men's Service Club (2018). In 2017, "Rev. Rose" was acknowledged as the first Black person with a TV show in the Southern Pines, N.C. area and for her "firsts" in several other careers by the Moore County NAACP.

This collection contains segments from Rose Highland-Sharpe's television broadcast Town Talk, featuring video footage of events sponsored by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Black Alumni Reunion (BAR). Videos range in date from 2009 to 2019. Events include: the 2009 UNC Black Alumni Reunion Inspirational Service; the 2010 UNC Black Alumni Reunion Inspirational Service; the 2011 UNC Black Alumni Reunion Inspirational Service; the 2012 UNC Black Alumni Reunion Inspirational Service; the 2014 UNC Black Alumni Reunion Inspirational Service; the 2015 UNC Black Alumni Reunion Black Pioneers Brunch; the 2015 UNC Black Alumni Reunion Inspirational Service; the 2016 UNC Black Alumni Reunion Inspirational Service and Sunday Brunch; the 2017 UNC Black Alumni Inspirational Service, 2017 Black Pioneers Brunch, and snippets of the 2017 Pioneers Project; the 2018 UNC Black Alumni Reunion Inspirational Service; the 2019 UNC-Chapel Hill Black Alumni Reunion Light on the Hill Society Awards Gala; the 2019 UNC Black Alumni Reunion Inspirational Service; and the 2019 UNC Black Alumni Reunion Light on The Hill Program and 2019 Black Pioneers Interviews. People and organizations featured in the videos include: Rose Highland-Sharpe, Reverend Carl L. Arrington, UNC Gospel and Black Student Movement Choirs, Jackie Lucas, and Natalie Haith-Edwards, Kurt Garrett and Rod Ingram, the United Christian Fellowship, Reverend Tamara Ingram, Pastor Tony Torain, Carey Casey Speaker, UNC Gospel Choir, Harmonyx UNC, Reverend Clarence Burke, and Evangelist Lequita White.

The addition of July 2023 consists of six video files, which include footage of the 2020 UNC-Chapel Hill Black Alumni Reunion Inspirational Service; the 2011 UNC-Chapel Hill Black Alumni Reunion Black & Blue Tour; the 2021 UNC-Chapel Hill Black Alumni Reunion Inspirational Service; the 2021 UNC Black Pioneers Memorial Program; the 2022 UNC-Chapel Hill Black Pioneers Dinner/Discussion; and the 2022 UNC-Chapel Hill Black Alumni Reunion Inspirational Service.