Article contributed by Brody McCurdy, Project Lead for Voices of Chatham
You may have heard a lot about Chatham County in the news lately. And for good reason: Chatham is home to some of the biggest economic developments in the state. Manufacturers Wolfspeed and Vinfast have both chosen Chatham to construct their new manufacturing plants, with each site projected to bring thousands of jobs to the region. And if that wasn’t enough, just this year, Disney announced that it would be developing a community just outside of Pittsboro that’s expected to attract hundreds of new residents to the area.
Research has found that when changes like these bring new residents to a region, they impact the way people in that area speak over time. NC State professor Robin Dodsworth, for example, has found that younger generations of Raleigh residents have less Southern dialect features, a change which began after the Research Triangle brought an influx of new residents to the state starting in the 1960s. More recently, a team of researchers at the University of Georgia (including NC State alum Jon Forest!) similarly found that the Southern dialect was disappearing in younger generations of Georgians due to the boom of out-of-state residents who began moving to the area beginning in the 1970s.
Chatham County is in the beginning stages of many of the same changes that transformed the Raleigh and Atlanta metro areas, making it ripe for dialect research. In order to capture the changing culture and language of the county, the Language & Life Project, in collaboration with the Chatham County Historical Association, started the Voice of Chatham oral history project to celebrate the people, places, and traditions of Chatham County. Since launching in 2019, the project has recorded more than 100 interviews featuring residents reflecting on family life, work, foodways, music, storytelling, and the many ways the county has grown and changed. Visitors to the project’s website can dive in by browsing interviews by theme or name, or explore an interactive map that connects stories to the landscapes, neighborhoods, and landmarks where they unfolded. The site also highlights photographs, sound clips, and other materials that bring these voices to life.Most recently, LLP documentarian Lydia Elrod has created The Sound of Chatham, a documentary which explores residents’ stories of change, resilience, and finding home. The documentary is currently in the final stages of revision, so make sure to be on the lookout for a local premiere of the documentary in Chatham County in the coming months.