African American
Levi Coffin (1798 – 1877)
1776-1835
A business owner, Quaker, abolitionist, and an organizer of the Underground Railroad, Levi Coffin was born in New Garden, North Carolina. According to Coffin, “The Underground Railroad business increased as time advanced, and it was attended with heavy expenses, which I could not have borne had not my affairs been prosperous.”
Pickford Tuberculosis Sanitarium
A mutual benefit society, the Pickford Tuberculosis Sanitarium opened in 1896 in Southern Pines, North Carolina with a specific mission: to treat African Americans with tuberculosis. The sanitarium survived solely from the generous donations from blacks and whites.
Thomas Sowell (1930- )
As an advocate of the “pull yourself up by the bootstraps” philosophy, which urges people to depend on themselves instead of government initiatives, Sowell believes that affirmative action actually hurts African Americans' chances for equality.
Levi Coffin (1798 – 1877)
A business owner, Quaker, abolitionist, and an organizer of the Underground Railroad, Levi Coffin was born in New Garden, North Carolina. According to Coffin, “The Underground Railroad business increased as time advanced, and it was attended with heavy expenses, which I could not have borne had not my affairs been prosperous.”
Eliphalet Whittlesey (1821-1909)
During the creation of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, commonly known as the Freedmen’s Bureau, Oliver O. Howard, Commissioner of the Bureau, appointed Eliphalet Whittlesey as North Carolina’s first assistant commissioner.
Fort Clark
One of two forts protecting Hatteras Inlet, a major port in North Carolina, Fort Clark fell into Union hands during the first few months of the Civil War.
Fort Macon
Named in honor of Nathaniel Macon, a United States congressman and senator and a leading early-republic statesman of North Carolina, Fort Macon was built after the War of 1812 to defend America and North Carolina from foreign invasion. During the Civil War, Fort Macon was a Confederate fort, but Union Major General Ambrose E. Burnside had plans to return it under Union control.
Human Betterment League of North Carolina
Created in Pasadena, California in 1928, The Human Betterment Foundation sponsored and conducted research dealing with sterilization’s physiological, mental, and social effects. Closely aligned with the Human Betterment Foundation, the Human Betterment League of North CarolinaFounded by James G. Hanes in 1947, used mass media and advertisements to promote the implementation of sterilization procedures. In large part because of the League's work, the number of sterilizations in North Carolina increased after World War II.
Evolution Debate in North Carolina in the 1920s
In North Carolina, the debate teaching evolution became a contentious issue between religious leaders and educators. William Louis Poteat, president of Wake Forest University drew criticism from conservative critics from North Carolina and around the United States when he openly accepted the theory of evolution.
Henry E. Frye (1932- )
Governor James B. Hunt appointed Justice Henry Frye, in 1983, to the North Carolina Supreme Court. He thus became the first African American to sit on the North Carolina Supreme Court.
Pearsall Plan: North Carolina’s Response to Brown v. Board of Education
The United States Supreme Court’s ruling in the Brown v Board of Education (1954) declared racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional. Following the Brown ruling, North Carolina enacted legislation that undermined the Supreme Court ruling. In August 1954 and in response to the Brown decision, Governor William B. Umstead created a “Governor’s Special Advisory Committee on Education,” with Thomas Pearsall, a prominent Rocky Mount farmer and businessman and former North Carolina Speaker of the House, as chairman.
‘A Publisher’s Confession’
Written by Walter Hines Page in 1905, A Publisher's Confession details the faults and errors of his literary peers. Writing anonymously, Hines was able to disclose his personal views of publishers.
The Southerner
In this fictional autobiography of Nicholas Worth, Walter Hines Page depicts the unsuccessful attempts of a Harvard- educated Progressive and Southerner to usher in education reforms in his native state. Many parts of this fictional work indicate what Page's ideas regarding educational reform and his experiences in North Carolina.