Bits of History

John Wertheimer, professor of history at Davidson College, discusses how he worked with his undergraduate students to research and write the story of a small town lawyer whose battles for Civil Rights led to challenging the State’s literacy test—all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

What began in the middle 1800s as a series of public talks that promoted full voting rights for women finally became a national cause during the years leading up to America's involvement in World War I (1917–1918) and after. Although many people today are aware of the radical actions of women in England and in the northeastern United States, museum curator RaeLana Poteat describes a very different, more modest, picture of the suffrage movement in North Carolina and the conservative South in general.

In 1754 war spread from Europe to North American and became a struggle over territory fought between the French and the British and their respective American Indian allies. By 1763 the British had won domination over the colonies—but they also had sown seeds of discontent among American colonists. Historian and author John Maass discusses this critical and fascinating period of America’s past.

From 1946 to 1964, the American birth rate soared. A new child-focused culture emerged alongside a prosperous economy, and the rapid growth of a new medium: television. Katie Edwards, the museum's curator of popular culture, describes how toys of those baby boomers reflected, not just a response to the era’s circumstances, but also the angst, energy, creativity, change, and uncertainties of American society and culture at the time.

The state’s Colonial Records Project cares for thousands of documents that depict the history of the state from its earliest days of settlement by Europeans through ratification of the United States Constitution. Historian Joseph Beatty discusses his work with the project, including some insights he discovered while working, in particular, with the records of Royal Governor Arthur Dobbs.

Dr. Brooks Simpson’s edited collection of more than 120 speeches, newspaper and magazine articles, letters, and other period writings provides a sweeping view of the hope and despair that existed during the tumultuous period in American history following the Civil War, a time known as Reconstruction.

Historian Elaine Frantz discusses her book about the birth of the Ku Klux Klan during Reconstruction. Historian Elaine Frantz discusses her book about the birth of the Ku Klux Klan during Reconstruction.

In 1782, a group of North Carolinians living in several far western counties began a secession movement with the goal to form a future state of Franklin. The movement failed, yet it had a tremendous impact on how future states would be formed and approved. Host B.J. Davis talks with Kevin Barksdale, professor of American history at Marshall University, to find out more about the first attempt at secession in U.S. history.

Taneya Thompson, a 2018 summer Museum of History intern, hosted this podcast—which explores her experiences as a student at NCCU, one of 11 Historically Black Colleges and Universities in North Carolina—with André Vann, whose own higher education is deeply intertwined in the culture and mission of HBCUs.

An interview with Luz Rodriguez, trustee for the Ernie Barnes Estate,on the life and work of Ernie Barnes. With his unique style of elongation and movement, Barnes was the first American professional athlete to become a noted painter. Noted for his unique style of elongation and movement, his work as an artist led him far from his home in Durham, yet his childhood roots remained a constant influence as shown in an exhibition at the North Carolina Museum of History, "The North Carolina Roots of Artist Ernie Barnes" (June 29, 2018–March 3, 2019).

The brilliant legal writings of Durham’s Pauli Murray challenged civil rights barriers not only for African Americans but also for women and people with disabilities. In her book, "Jane Crow: The Life of Pauli Murray," Rosalind Rosenberg discusses how Murray’s contributions continue to resonate within the legal community and our country’s quest for social justice.

As director of the Southern Oral History Program, Dr. Rachel Seidman oversees a collection of more than 6,000 interviews (a number that keeps growing) that includes people from all walks of life. She discusses the history and scope of this collection and explains why oral histories provide an important and valuable resource.

During the Civil War, soldiers from North Carolina were sentenced to death in greater numbers than soldiers from any other Confederate state. In his book, Civil War Courts-Martial of North Carolina Troops, Al Perry has examined the service records of 450 North Carolina soldiers and discovered some little-known facts about discipline during the Civil War.

The third of four ships in the US Navy named for the state of North Carolina was commissioned in 1908: the USS North Carolina (ACR-12), an armored cruiser. Mary Ames Booker, curator at the Battleship North Carolina, and Ken Rittenmeyer, docent and volunteer, discuss its role before, during, and after World War I.

After hearing his grandfather’s recollections of WWI, Jackson Marshall, deputy director of the North Carolina Museum of History, collected oral histories from WWI vets while working on his master’s degree in history. His lifelong interest in the subject recently led to curating and serving as project manager for an exhibition that marks the centenary of the “war to end all wars.”

A conversation with Jeremiah DeGennaro, site manager of the Alamance Battleground State Historic Site, about the Battle of Alamance and the Regulator Movement.

Chandra Manning, associate professor of History at Georgetown University, talks about her new book, "Troubled Refuge: Struggling for Freedom in the Civil War." Manning discusses how enslaved people escaped to Union held territory during the U.S. Civil War and the system of refugee camps that were established. Yet, enslaved people who ran to Union lines were guaranteed neither freedom nor citizenship during or after the war.

Catherine Morton, Hugh Morton’s youngest daughter, talks about her father’s 70-year career as a photographer, his interest in developing Grandfather Mountain, and his affection for the people, places, and natural beauty of North Carolina.

An interview with Frank Vagnone, preservationist, architect, artist, and coauthor of the "Anarchist's Guide to Historic House Museums." Vagnone talks about his school days as a Tar Heel Junior Historian (a program sponsored by the Museum of History), innovative ways to make historic house museums and cultural properties more relevant to current audiences and communities, and the need for students to become advocates for history and historic preservation.

A discussion with Collin Calloway, Dartmouth College, about the role and legacy of American Indian tribes during the American Revolutionary War. Calloway discusses how, during the American Revolution, some tribes supported the British, while others supported the colonists and many tried to stay neutral. Regardless of their allegiance, few historical events had a more profound impact on American Indian peoples.

Dr. Mary-Dell Chilton talks about the field of molecular biology, genetics, and the future of agriculture. She discusses her role in the establishment of what would become Syngenta Biotechnology located at Research Triangle Park, NC.

Photographer and historic preservation advocate Scott Garlock uses photography to capture long-forgotten homeplaces, churches, schools, and other community landmarks. His love of history, architecture, and place comes together to help showcase, document, and—in some cases—save historic structures.

A discussion with Bob Anthony, Curator, North Carolina Collection at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Since 1844 the University of North Carolina has collected artifacts, papers, books, maps, currency, photographs, and a wide range of other items that tell the stories of North Carolina's social and material culture.

A conversation with Charles S. Duncan, professor of English, William Peace University, about writer, poet, and essayist Charles W. Chesnutt. Chesnutt was the first major African American fiction writer who tackled the issue of race as a realist. Writing with complexity, irony, and personal insight, his work maintains its relevancy for today’s readers who are often faced with similar issues of race and identity.

From 1942 to 1946, North Carolina was home to 10,000 German POWs. Historian Robert Billinger Jr. talks about the network of POW installations in North Carolina and shares stories about some of its prisoners.

Professor Ray Gavins discusses a landmark publication of the early Civil Rights Movement, published in 1942, that would become known as "The Durham Manifesto."

Dr. Brenda Scott, guest curator and photographer, discusses her work and her photographs documenting Stagville Historic Site near Durham, NC.

Michele Gillespie and her co-editor Sally McMillen of Davidson College have finished the first book in a two-volume set examining important North Carolina women. It's part of an effort to address the scarcity of women in traditional history texts.

An interview with Kenneth R. Janken about the book "What the Negro Wants," the first united call by African Americans to end segregation in America. Janken discusses the book’s history, its contents and immediate impact, and its lasting significance.

Historian and author Mark Bradley discusses "Bluecoats and Tar Heels: Soldiers and Civilians in Reconstruction North Carolina," his book that examines the interactions between Union soldiers and North Carolina civilians and the challenges that faced residents under Union occupation from 1865 to 1877.

Historian Charles Holden discusses "The New Southern University: Academic Freedom and Liberalism at UNC," his book about how changes at UNC–Chapel Hill during the 1920s, '30s, and '40s transformed UNC into one of the South’s premiere universities and fostered a progressive and liberal orientation within a conservative region.

During the Civil War, music accompanied soldiers almost everywhere they went. Regardless of race or ethnicity, it affected both soldiers and civilians. Historian Christian McWhirter discusses the impact of music in the war. He also explains how printed sheet music led to the birth of the modern American music industry.

To mark the 40th anniversary of the Senate Select Committee hearings that investigated President Nixon’s 1972 reelection campaign, Watergate historian Stanley Kutler discusses the lasting historical and political significance of America’s most noted and studied political scandal.

Historian Susan Burch discusses her 2007 book (which she coauthored with Hannah Joyner) about a deaf African American man, who was unjustly labeled as insane and confined to an asylum in Goldsboro, NC, for nearly 70 years.

Robert Rice Reynolds was a colorful and suave Senator who represented North Carolina from 1933 to 1945 before his controversial ideas and dramatic lifestyle made him unpopular with voters. Dr. Julian M. Pleasants, professor of history emeritus University of Florida, is the author of "Buncombe Bob: The Life and Times of Robert Rice Reynolds." Dr. Pleasants discusses Reynolds political rise and fall and examines his controversial ideologies.

Bruce Bustard, senior exhibits curator, at the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, D.C., discusses the history of the Emancipation Proclamation, Abraham Lincoln’s gradual evolution of thought about issuing the Proclamation, and the pursuit of a 13th Amendment to abolish slavery.

Terry Boone, an exhibits conservator at the National Archives and Records Administration, discusses methods used by curators, conservators, and research scientists to preserve irreplaceable records and artifacts such as the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.

Dr. Vann Newkirk discusses his book Lynching in North Carolina: A History, 1865–1941, and the impact of lynching and mob violence in North Carolina from just after the Civil War to the mid-1900s.

A pdf of the Allyn Cox mural on the south wall of the Grand Lodge in Raleigh. One of two image files complementing the Freemasonry In North Carolina podcast.

A pdf of the Allyn Cox mural on the south wall of the Grand Lodge in Raleigh. One of two image files complementing the Freemasonry In North Carolina podcast.

An interview with Michael Brantley, Grand Historian of the Grand Lodge of Ancient, Free & Accepted Masons of North Carolina. Brantley discusses Freemasonry in the Tar Heel State and describes two large murals by artist Allyn Cox in the Grand Lodge that depict key events and figures in its history.

Former head of Universal Studios makeup and hair department, James Tumblin owns the largest private collection of memorabilia associated with the 1939 film "Gone with the Wind." He discusses his collection and tells the stories behind several objects on display in the museum's new exhibit, "Real to Reel: The Making of Gone with the Wind."

The museum’s new outdoor exhibit, "History of the Harvest," features plants and crops that examine the past, present, and future of agriculture both locally and globally.

An interview with Patricia C. Click, professor emeritus in the Department of Science, Technology, and Society at the University of Virginia. Professor Click discusses her research examining a second “Lost Colony” on Roanoke Island that occurred during, and shortly after, the American Civil War.

The State Library of North Carolina provides a large variety of vital services to citizens throughout the state. Find out more about the State Library’s past, present, and future in this interview with Cal Shepard, North Carolina's State Librarian.

Most Americans don’t remember much about the War of 1812 from their school days; yet the conflict proved to be important in many ways and helped forge American identity.

Historian and musician Gregg Kimball, guitarist and singer Sheryl Warner, and singer Jackie Frost discuss the history of mill songs and perform selected songs by North Carolina mill workers.

Sheila Kay Adams talks about performing and preserving the songs that have been handed down through her family since the mid-1700s.

Professor Lissa Broome talks about the past, present, and future of banking in North Carolina and discusses why banking has remained an important industry both economically and politically.

Rebecca M. Kluchin, historian and author of "Fit to Be Tied: Sterilization and Reproductive Rights in America, 1950–1980," discusses the troubling history and legacy of the eugenics movement and the approximately 7,600 people forcibly sterilized in North Carolina from 1929 to 1977.

Justice Willis Whichard talks about his book, "Justice James Iredell," the only comprehensive biography examining Iredell and his impact as lawyer, judge, essayist, political philosopher, and member of the U.S. Supreme Court.