Early America
Catawba Indians
1664-1775
Once an eminent Siouan tribe that thrived in the middle Carolinas, the Catawba Nation first encountered white settlers through the fur trade. Both war and European disease proved fatal to the Catawba, and by 1760, only 1,000 tribe members survived. The tribe, now numbering over 2,800 members, gained full federal recognition in 1993, and they live on a reservation near Rock Hill, South Carolina.
Richard Etheridge
Richard Etheridge was the first African American to command a lifesaving station in the United States. Lifesaving stations on the Atlantic Coast were responsible for rescuing people from shipwrecks in the late 1800s. Etheridge also fought for the Union in the Civil War and continued to fight for civil rights for the African American community...
James H. Harris (1832 – 1891)
Described by W.E.B. Du Bois as a politician of “great ability,” James Henry Harris was perhaps the most consequential black political leader in nineteenth-century North Carolina.[1] By the time of his death in 1891, Harris had served as chair or president of several state and national equal-rights conventions, a delegate to the 1868 North Carolina...
Historic Preservation: “George Washington Slept Here”
Beginning in 1887, North Carolinians began seriously preserving the state’s historical buildings. One popular focus was buildings in which George Washington either “slept here” (to use a popular and overused cliché) or with which he had genuine connections. In 1791, George Washington, then president, took a tour of the southern states, and, as a result,...
Meherrin Nation
The Meherrin are Native Americans who resided in northeastern North Carolina near the river of the same name. As of 2011 there were approximately 900 members.
Anna Julia Cooper (1858 – 1964)
Anna Julia Cooper was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1858. It is believed she was the daughter of her enslaver, Fabius J. Haywood. Cooper was emancipated when she was nine years old and in 1867 enrolled in Saint Augustine’s Normal and Collegiate Institute in Raleigh with the aid of the Freedmen’s Bureau. At Saint...
Salem College
The story of Salem College goes back to 1744, when immigrants from Moravia settled in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.There, Moravians fostered communitarian values, and each individual devoted labor to community needs in exchange for food and shelter, in a system known as oeconomies. They kept this enterprising spirit as they expanded into North Carolina and founded the...
Fort Johnston and the American Revolution
In July 1775 Patriot militiamen carried out the first military operation of the Revolutionary War in what became the Tar Heel State. There was no pitched battle. No one died. But the Patriots made their point: Reasserting British control over North Carolina would be no easy task.
Latta University
The Rev. Morgan L. Latta was the founder and president of Latta University, located in Oberlin Village, which is now part of Raleigh, North Carolina. Born in 1853, he was enslaved on the Cameron Plantation in Durham County. Fifty years later (in 1903) Latta published his autobiography, which tells, among many things, about how he...
Should Southern Military Bases Be Renamed?
On January 1, 2021, Congress enacted (over President Trump’s veto) a defense funding law that calls for renaming military bases that honored Confederate generals. Samuel R. Staley, writing for the Independent Institute, gives an intriguing argument in favor of the renaming. His argument is not that Confederate generals were traitors, as some have claimed (and others...
The Tobacco Industry in North Carolina, Part I
Today, tobacco is known to be a dangerous product, and its use around the country has been on the decline for many years. Yet tobacco has been a crop associated with North Carolina since Sir Walter Raleigh took tobacco to England (from Virginia) in 1586. Starting around 1880, tobacco farming, and especially the manufacture of...
Catawba Indians
Once an eminent Siouan tribe that thrived in the middle Carolinas, the Catawba Nation first encountered white settlers through the fur trade. Both war and European disease proved fatal to the Catawba, and by 1760, only 1,000 tribe members survived. The tribe, now numbering over 2,800 members, gained full federal recognition in 1993, and they live on a reservation near Rock Hill, South Carolina.
Hog Farming in North Carolina: Its Importance, History, and Controversy
Hog farming is integral to the North Carolina economy. The industry brings in around $10 billion in economic output each year for the state and generates over 40,000 jobs. But hog waste is a significant problem.