Encyclopedia starting with g

Born in Johnston County in 1922, Ava Lavinia Gardner became one of Hollywood’s most popular starlets in the 1940s and 1950s. She attended Rock Ridge High School and Atlantic Christian College (now Barton College), and in 1939 her big break in film occurred. While visiting her sister in New York a photographer took several pictures of Gardner who later sent them to the MGM talent office. MGM signed Gardner to a seven-year contract and her acting career began.

Governors

Gardner, O. Max (1882-1947)

1866-1915

O. Max Gardner served as governor of North Carolina from 1929 to 1933, but more importantly, his political organization dominated state politics from the 1920s to the 1940s. As a result, Gardner and his allies controlled the Democratic Party when it dominated the state and the South. Although initially he endorsed publicly the New Deal, Gardner privately criticized some New Deal programs. By the late 1930s, as the New Deal became more pro-labor and anti-business, Gardner privately opposed it and fought to prevent the implementation of Roosevelt’s “court-packing scheme” and supported New Deal opponents during the 1938 election.

Political Documents

Gaston, William J. (1778-1844)

Many North Carolinians, and Americans from elsewhere, respected, if not adored, Gaston. John Marshall (1755-1835) once said that he would retire if he knew Gaston would replace him as U.S. Supreme Court Justice. In 1840, the state legislative leaders proposed Gaston as U.S. Senator, but he declined the honor.

Colonial North Carolina

Gaston County (1846)

A southern Piedmont county, Gaston County is a well established hub for North Carolina textile production. The county was established in 1846 from a large section of Lincoln County, and the county seat is Gastonia. Before its reliance on the textile industry, Gastonia was known for its corn crop, and earned the label the “Banner Corn Whiskey County of Carolina” in 1870.

Gates County (1779)

Cozily situated in between Hertford and Pasquotank counties, Gates County contains rural settings, a tight-knit community, and an extensive history.

Gatling Gun

The first successful machine gun, known as the Gatling gun was invented by North Carolina native Richard J. Gatling in 1862. The gun saw limited use in the Civil War because the original model proved ineffective but once Gatling perfected his machine gun, the United States Army purchased 100 guns in 1866. Although the patent was eventually purchased by Colt’s Armory, the more developed guns built by Nordenfeldt and Maxim gun manufacturers outlasted the Gatling machine gun.

George Washington Carver College

When North Carolina’s manufacturing sector started growing rapidly during the mid-twentieth century, African American students lacked educational opportunities to become marketable in the modern workforce. To meet this demand, C. A. Barrett in 1948 started George Washington Carver College in Asheboro.

Gilbert S. Waters (1869-1903)

1866-1915

Gilbert S. Waters built one of the first buggymobiles. Born in 1869, Waters grew up in New Bern around the buggy industry and worked in the family business, G. H. Waters Buggy and Carriage Factory.

Gold Mining, Antebellum (1820-1860)

“The mining interest of the State is now only second to the farming interest.” So wrote a reporter of the Western Carolinian of Salisbury in 1825. But according to historians Richard D. Knapp and Brent D. Glass in Gold Mining in North Carolina (1999) the average Tar Heel did not fall victim to gold fever. Nevertheless, there was enough demand by 1830 for a Charlotte-based Miners’ and Farmers’ Journal to begin publication.

Cities

Goody's Headache Powder

Like many pharmacists in 1932, Martin “Goody” Goodman compounded his own headache relief powder called “Goody’s” to sell in his local pharmacy.

Colonial North Carolina

Graffenried, Baron Christoph Von (1661-1743)

Considered the founder of New Bern, Christoph Von Graffenried was captured and later released during the Tuscarora War.

Benevolent Work

Graham, Billy (1918 - 2018)

One of the most renowned orators and preachers of the twentieth century, Graham has touched the lives of millions internationally since entering evangelism after World War II. Born in Charlotte, Graham grew up as a skeptic, but he converted after hearing evangelist Mordecai Ham in 1934. Afterward, Billy Graham became passionate about spreading the Gospel, and his organization, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (established in 1950), remains a vital international outlet for Christian devotions, radio, and television.

Political History

Graham, Frank Porter (1886-1972)

Frank Porter Graham was President of UNC Chapel Hill, United Nations arbiter and US Senator (1949 to 1950).

Governors

Graham, William Alexander (1804-1875)

An established public servant, William Alexander Graham's lengthy political career included tenures as Governor of North Carolina and a U.S. Senator. He utilized both posts to push for reforms characteristic of the waning Whig Party, of which he served as a prominent member.

Graham County (1872)

1866-1915

Bordering Tennessee and in the Appalachian mountain range, Graham County is known for its agriculture and its tourism.

Places

Grandfather Mountain

A distinctive cultural and tourist attraction in North Carolina, Avery County’s Grandfather Mountain peaks at 5,964 feet. Grandfather Mountain is the tallest mountain of the Blue Ridge Mountains, known for its distinctive old man visual characteristic. Two important cultural events are held at the mountain annually: Singing on the Mountain and the Highland Games.

Granville County

Once part of Edgecombe County, Granville County was formed in 1746, and its county seat, Oxford, was incorporated in 1811. After the Tuscarora War, Virginia settlers and farmers moved to Granville and took advantage of the rich farmland in the region. During the antebellum period, the plantation economy thrived in the county, and even after the Civil War, agriculture continued to flourish in Granville, with much success due to the bright leaf tobacco crop.

Colonial North Carolina

Great Seal of the State of North Carolina

New Deal/ Great Depression

North Carolina developed four different state seals during the colonial period and there have been six state seals since North Carolina declared its independence. While the Great Seal changed many times throughout North Carolina history, some variations on symbols have remained and appear on the current Great Seal.

Great Smoky Mountains, National Park

Officially dedicated in 1940, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park rests on the border between Tennessee and North Carolina. As the federal government began to designate national parks in the 1870s, concerned citizens started to suggest a park on the Great Smoky Mountain range. After years of raising funds and acquiring land plots of the mountain range, Congress authorized the park in 1934. Today, over nine million tourists visit the park annually.

Greene County

Greene County, established in 1791, was the site of an important battle in the Tuscarora War. Its county’s seat is Snow Hill, and the county is named after General Nathanael Greene, Patriot general and victor at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse.

Greensboro, University of North Carolina at

The University of North Carolina Greensboro (UNCG) was established on February 18, 1891, as a college for women. The push for higher education for women was led by Dr. Charles Duncan McIver, who is generally credited as the school’s leading founder. The school was the only public institution intended for the higher education of women...

Greensboro Shootings

On November 3, 1979, an armed confrontation between members of the Maoist Communist Workers Party (CWP) and several Klansmen and Nazis ended with four CWP members and one supporter being shot dead. Three trials soon followed, and CWP survivors and their supporters claimed that their anti-establishment views incited a conspiracy to have them killed.

Greensboro Sit-In

On February 1, 1960, four black students of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University sat at a white-only lunch counter inside a Greensboro, North Carolina Woolworth's store. The Greensboro sit-in catalyzed a wave of nonviolent protest against private-sector segregation in the United States.

Griffith, Andy

Born on June 1, 1926 in Mount Airy, Andy Griffith studied at UNC-Chapel Hill where he majored in music. Griffith worked as a teacher for several years before starting his career as an actor, starring in the play No Time for Sergeants, a Broadway show that opened in 1955. Five years later, Griffith starred in his most famous role as Sheriff Andy Griffith in The Andy Griffith Show. Griffith starred in several other television movies and shows, including Matlock before his retirement to Dare County. The actor died on July 3, 2012 from heart complications.

Griggs v. Duke Power

Griggs v. Duke Power Company was a case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1971. It concerned the legality, under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, of high school diplomas and intelligence test scores as prerequisites for employment. The court ruled unanimously against the intelligence testing practices of the Duke Power Company. In his opinion, Chief Justice Warren Burger argued that employers can use intelligence tests only if "they are demonstrably a reasonable measure of job performance."

Civil War

Grimes, Bryan (1828-1880)

A planter, Confederate general, and a University of North Carolina trustee, Bryan Grimes was one of the Tar Heel State’s most respected men. His life had an unfortunate end; returning from a political convention in Beaufort, Grimes was assassinated in 1880. It would take seven years for the assassin’s identity to be determined conclusively.

Agriculture

Gristmills: North Carolina’s First Public Utilities

Gristmills—mills that use water power to grind corn and wheat into flour—were a “familiar feature of the 19th century countryside,“ wrote Grimsley T. Hobbs in 1985. They were also North Carolina's first public utilities.

Federalist

Grove, William Barry (1764-1818)

Colleges and Universities

A Federalist who represented North Carolina in the United States Congress from 1791 until 1803, William Barry Grove supported the ratification of the Constitution and thwarted the Democratic-Republic agenda. He earned a reputation as pro-British and anti-French and a supporter of Federalist foreign policy.

Guilford College

Guilford College was founded by the Society of Friends (Quaker church) in 1837 as a boarding school. During the Civil War, the institution became a place of Confederate resistance, largely due to the Quaker tradition of equality and pacifism.

Guilford County (1771)

Formed in 1771 from parts of the Orange and Rowan counties, Guilford lies in the Piedmont region of North Carolina, and its county seat is Greensboro. The decisive Battle of Guilford Courthouse occurred in Guilford in 1781, and O. Henry, Dolley Madison, and Edward R. Murrow were all born in the county. The county is home to the two major cities of Greensboro and High Point.

Guilford County Courthouse, Battle of