If you've never seen a naturalization ceremony, you shouldn't miss it at Harmony Hall at 10 a.m. Tuesday. Twenty-six people from 19 countries will take an oath of fealty to the United States and become Americans.
This will be the second consecutive year the oath has been administered at Harmony Hall, and it's a fitting place. The house was built before the American Revolution, although it looked very different in its early days - far smaller. Later, it would belong to Richard Caswell and would be the site of North Carolina's Secretary of State James Glasgow's offices, until 1781. The State Board of War and other official meetings were held there.
Caswell, as well as being a Revolutionary War hero and the state's first constitutional governor, was a delegate to the first Continental Congress in Philadelphia in 1774. That assembly led to the second Continental Congress' writing of the Declaration of Independence.
It's doubtful the new citizens will be aware of the role this state played in the Revolution. Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Virginia had better public relations experts. They may never know that the original Declaration of Independence was written in Mecklenburg in 1775 (some historians believe Thomas Jefferson copied liberally from this document because the wording is so similar); that the Battle of Guilford Courthouse decimated Gen. Charles Cornwallis' army and was pivotal in his surrender to Gen. George Washington seven months later at Yorktown; that North Carolina's navy guarded the coast from British ships and so harassed King George's fleet that the British Navy razed Brunswick, a port on the Cape Fear River, in 1776. Some believe it was North Carolina's Regulators, rebelling against British Gov. Dobbs' taxes, who provided one of the primary thrusts for the Revolutionary War; that North Carolina had its own tea party at Edenton.
But make no mistake: These immigrants, who will become America's newest citizens on Independence Day, probably know more about our country than we do. The requirements of citizenship require more work than most people realize.
Celebrate Independence Day with them at Harmony Hall. The ceremony is open to the public, and it's a wonderful lesson for adults and children. And if this year is anything like last year, the pomp and circumstance will swell your heart.
Incidentally, if you see Adrian King, thank him for bringing this all together. It was his idea and his persistence that will make it happen.
Lee Raynor is editor of KinstonPress.com. She welcomes your comments at 361-7530, or at
leeraynor@kinstonpress.com.
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