HARD was founded in 2020 after our president, Shawn Captain, organized a Black Lives Matter march through town following the murders of George Floyd, Briana Taylor, and many others to police violence. HARD works to cultivate awareness, share knowledge, promote inclusivity in public institutions, and provide targeted supports for and about historically marginalized communities in rural Appalachia.

Our hope is that through community events, like our Juneteenth Celebration, our community will have an opportunity to celebrate with each other as well as learn more about Juneteenth and the rich, Black history of Hillsboro. The location of our celebration, a former stockyard and until recently an empty lot, has been under utilized by the city of Hillsboro, and is now being reimagined as a park just blocks from the center of town. We are very excited to be the first organization to activate this park space. Through our event we will be highlighting Hillsboro's Lincoln School Marchers, one of the first tests of Brown v Board of Education and longest sustained protests during the Civil Rights Movement. As well as having speakers and performers from Hillsboro's Black community.