African American
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
1836-1865
The "best-known, nineteenth-century African-American woman's autobiography" is how historian Nell Irvin Painter describes Harriet Jacobs' Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written By Herself (1861).The Tar Heel's work is also noteworthy because Jacobs penned the words, unlike other slave autobiographies, including Sojourner Truth's, which were dictated.
Sacred Heart Cathedral
Sacred Heart Cathedral is the Mother Church for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Raleigh, making it the spiritual center for Catholics in eastern North Carolina. It is the smallest cathedral in the continental United States. Sacred Heart’s parochial school was desegregated in 1953, a year before the Brown v. Board of Education decision.
Aaron McDuffie Moore (1863-1923)
Born on September 6, 1863 to free yeoman farmer parents, Aaron McDuffie Moore used educational opportunities to improve his social condition and to better his community.
Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World
Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World was “the most powerful piece of [anti-slavery] propaganda written by a black.” It was published in three installments in 1829. In it, Wilmington native David Walker encouraged slaves to revolt against their masters. In 1830, North Carolina’s legislature banned the pamphlet from being distributed within the state.
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
The "best-known, nineteenth-century African-American woman's autobiography" is how historian Nell Irvin Painter describes Harriet Jacobs' Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written By Herself (1861).The Tar Heel's work is also noteworthy because Jacobs penned the words, unlike other slave autobiographies, including Sojourner Truth's, which were dictated.
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.
The Stamp Act in North Carolina
Enacted in 1765, the Stamp Act increased British control over the American colonial economy and further angered American colonists by confirming that salutary neglect had ended.
St. Thomas Episcopal Church
Established in 1734, St. Thomas Episcopal Church is North Carolina’s oldest surviving church. The church is located in the town of Bath.
William Linkhaw
In 1873, the North Carolina Supreme Court applied the principle of the separation of church and state in a unique case involving William Linkhaw of Lumberton.
“Normal” People Made History
Why would I want to study peasants, when I can study kings?”, asked a fellow historian. “Kings,” he continued, “made history.” He was reacting to my comment that it’s important to study “normal” people. My friend thought I trumpeted the usual, social history mantra. But I meant something different.
A New Light “Infestation”: Charles Woodmason on Colonial Piedmont Religion
North Carolinians do not think of the present-day and economically thriving Piedmont as an ignorant backcountry that undermines social order. But in the eastern part of the Province of North Carolina during the Pre-Revolutionary Period (1750-1775) many believed it was exactly that.
Bishop Vincent S. Waters (1904-1974)
Bishop of the Raleigh Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church from 1945 to 1974, Vincent S. Waters is known mostly for denouncing segregation and ordering the desegregation of North Carolina Catholic churches and schools in 1953—a year before the Brown v. Board of Education case.
Kenneth R. Williams (1912-1989)
Influential minister and educator and university president in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Kenneth R. Williams won an alderman seat in 1947 and became the first African American to defeat a white opponent in a twentieth-century election in a Southern city