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August 12, 2008

Charles Irons on Today’s State of Things

Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. called 11 a.m. Sunday mornings “the most segregated hour of the week.” Even today, integrated churches are the exception, not the rule. But that wasn’t always the case. In the colonial and antebellum South, black and white evangelicals frequently prayed, sang, and worshipped together. In The Origins of Proslavery Christianity: White and Black Evangelicals in… Continue Reading Charles Irons on Today’s State of Things

Categories African American History/African American Studies/American History/History/Podcasts/Religion
August 6, 2008

Today in History: Hiroshima

The world witnessed the first wartime use of an atomic weapon on this day 63 years ago when the United States bombed Hiroshima. Dr. Michihiko Hachiya was director of the Hiroshima Communications Hospital at the time. He survived the bombing and helped to hold Hiroshima together in the aftermath. Amazingly, he also managed to record daily entries in a personal… Continue Reading Today in History: Hiroshima

Categories American History/Asian Studies/Biography / Autobiography/History/Military History/Military Studies
July 31, 2008

Weekend Roadtrip #7: Roanoke and Ocracoke

Sunset on the Ferry (photo by Chor Ip via Creative Commons) Don’t worry, just because I had another post this morning doesn’t mean I forgot that this is Thursday, the highly anticipated day of the weekend roadtrip post! Fear not, dear Tar Heel roadtrippers, we’ve got a special “oke”-alicious lineup for this last segment of our Beach Book Grab Bag… Continue Reading Weekend Roadtrip #7: Roanoke and Ocracoke

Categories American History/History/Native Amer./Indigenous Studies/North Carolina/Theatre/Travel
July 30, 2008

New Project Aims to “Publish the Long Civil Rights Movement”

Cool activist-esque things to do through the years: early 1960s: register African American voters in the South; late 1960s: protest Vietnam War/attend large-scale concert in upstate New York; 1970s: burn bra while reading Erica Jong; 1990s: wear a red ribbon on an expensive tuxedo; 2008: get involved in the electoral process. Considering the upcoming election season, significant change seems possible,… Continue Reading New Project Aims to “Publish the Long Civil Rights Movement”

Categories African American History/African American Studies/American History/Civil Rights/Education/Environmental Studies/Gay / Lesbian Studies/Gender Studies/Health / Medicine/History/UNC Press News/Women's Studies
July 29, 2008

Exploring Torpedo Junction

Yesterday’s All Things Considered on NPR aired a story about recent efforts by marine preservationists to survey and document sunken German U-boats off Cape Hatteras, NC. Adam Hochberg talks to both a former German sailor and a local Hatteras resident who recalls hearing the torpedoes from the u-boats attacking American vessels. This is the history in which UNCP’s Taffy of… Continue Reading Exploring Torpedo Junction

Categories American History/History/North Carolina/Podcasts
July 28, 2008

Today in history: the 14th Amendment takes effect

On July 28, 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was declared in effect, after the required 28 states had ratified the bill that was propsed in 1866. The amendment guaranteed due process and the equal protection of the laws to former slaves. This was one of three “Reconstruction Amendments” meant to restructure the U.S. from a land divided… Continue Reading Today in history: the 14th Amendment takes effect

Categories African American History/African American Studies/American History/History
July 21, 2008

Today in History: John Scopes found guilty

On July 21, 1925, John Thomas Scopes was found guilty of violating Tennessee’s Butler Act, which prohibited the teaching of evolution. Generations later, the teaching of evolution is standard and creationism (in the form of Intelligent Design) is the new challenger. Michael Lienesch, author of In the Beginning: Fundamentalism, the Scopes Trial, and the Making of the Antievolution Movement, examines… Continue Reading Today in History: John Scopes found guilty

Categories American History/History/Religion
July 14, 2008

Wall Street fiction(?)

With the real-life dramas unfolding on Wall Street these days, it’s only a matter of time before we witness a bumper crop of novels and thrillers set in the high-stakes financial world. David Zimmerman has written about the connections between novels and markets in an earlier period of American history

Categories American History/Business/Current Events/Economics/History/Literature
July 3, 2008

Weekend Roadtrip #3: Pirates and shipwrecks and ghosts! Oh my!

Continuing the Beach Book Grab Bag series that began last week, this week’s picks are all about things that go splash in the night. North Carolina’s coastline slips into some treacherous waters — making them a perfect hunting spot for the pirates of yore who preyed on stranded ships. Six books with some spine-tingling tales of coastal haunts after the… Continue Reading Weekend Roadtrip #3: Pirates and shipwrecks and ghosts! Oh my!

Categories American History/History/North Carolina/Travel
July 2, 2008

As we consider the founding fathers

With all the talk this week about the First Amendment, I can’t neglect to mention the award-winning George Mason, Forgotten Founder, by Jeff Broadwater. Mason was one of the country’s earliest champions of civil liberties as the author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights. In fact, at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Mason pushed for such a bill of rights… Continue Reading As we consider the founding fathers

Categories American History/Biography / Autobiography/Politics
June 24, 2008

Award winner: Our Daily Bread

The Michael Harrington Book Award, given annually by the New Political Science Section of the American Political Science Association, recognizes “a recent outstanding book that demonstrates how scholarship can be used in the struggle for a better world.” This year’s prize has been awarded to Geoff Mann for his book Our Daily Bread: Wages, Workers, and the Political Economy of… Continue Reading Award winner: Our Daily Bread

Categories American History/American Studies/Awards/Labor Studies
June 20, 2008

New Civil Rights Marker to be Unveiled in Durham

On June 23, 1957, six African American youths, accompanied by the Rev. Douglas Moore, sat down in booths reserved for white patrons at the Royal Ice Cream Parlor in Durham, North Carolina. When the owner called police, all seven protesters were arrested and charged with trespassing. This was the first major sit-in of Durham’s civil rights struggle.

Categories African American History/African American Studies/American History/Civil Rights/North Carolina/Women's Studies