Tag: Civil Rights

Jessica Ingram: On the Importance of Historical Markers as a Community Acknowledgment of History

Today we welcome a guest post from Jessica Ingram, author of Road Through Midnight: A Civil Rights Memorial, available now from UNC Press. At first glance, Jessica Ingram’s landscape photographs could have been made nearly anywhere in the American South: a fenced-in backyard, a dirt road lined by overgrowth, a field grooved with muddy tire prints. These seemingly ordinary places, however,… Continue Reading Jessica Ingram: On the Importance of Historical Markers as a Community Acknowledgment of History

Silvan Niedermeier: Justice Then and Justice Now – The Unending History of Police Violence in the United States

Today we welcome a guest post from Silvan Niedermeier, author of The Color of the Third Degree: Racism, Police Torture, and Civil Rights in the American South, 1930–1955, out now from UNC Press. Available for the first time in English, The Color of the Third Degree uncovers the still-hidden history of police torture in the Jim Crow South. Based on a wide… Continue Reading Silvan Niedermeier: Justice Then and Justice Now – The Unending History of Police Violence in the United States

Jerry Gershenhorn: Louis Austin–A Courageous Voice for Black Freedom in North Carolina

Today we welcome a guest post from Jerry Gershenhorn, author of Louis Austin and the Carolina Times:  A Life in the Long Black Freedom Struggle, just published by UNC Press. Louis Austin (1898–1971) came of age at the nadir of the Jim Crow era and became a transformative leader of the long black freedom struggle in North Carolina. From 1927… Continue Reading Jerry Gershenhorn: Louis Austin–A Courageous Voice for Black Freedom in North Carolina

Jill Ogline Titus: Back-to-School Reflections

Jill Ogline Titus reflects on how Prince Edward Co., VA, responded to Brown vs. BoE by closing all public schools for 5 years to avoid integrating them. Continue Reading Jill Ogline Titus: Back-to-School Reflections

Everything You Need for an African American History Month Reading List

As you probably know, February is African American History Month, when we celebrate the countless contributions of African Americans to our country and recognize the struggles of generations past and present.  Titles that treat the many facets of African American culture and history have always been one of the strongest and most important components of UNC Press’s list.  Here are… Continue Reading Everything You Need for an African American History Month Reading List

Award winners: Blair Kelley, Amy Wood, Charles Eagles

We’re delighted to share lots of good news today. The 2010 Lillian Smith Book Award has been awarded to two UNC Press books this year: Amy Louise Wood’s Lynching and Spectacle: Witnessing Racial Violence in America and Charles W. Eagles’s The Price of Defiance: James Meredith and the Integration of Old Miss. The prize, presented by the Southern Regional Council,… Continue Reading Award winners: Blair Kelley, Amy Wood, Charles Eagles

Christensen, Shelby, Hogan earn awards

Three UNCP authors deserve special cheers for winning awards recently: Rob Christensen, author of The Paradox of Tar Heel Politics, has been awarded the 2008 Ragan Old North State Award for Nonfiction by the North Carolina Literary and Historical Association. The successor to the organization’s Mayflower Cup, the Ragan Old North State Award honors Sam Ragan: poet, critic, publisher, and… Continue Reading Christensen, Shelby, Hogan earn awards

Verifying your voter registration status

According to an article in the New York Times today, tens of thousands of eligible voters have erroneously—and illegally—been removed from voter rolls in at least six battleground states, including North Carolina. On top of the fact that it is against the law (with few exceptions, such as death) to purge voter rolls within 90 days of an election, many… Continue Reading Verifying your voter registration status

“Meet Glenda Gilmore” on WUNC’s ‘The State of Things’

Yet another entry in our continuing series of “Why We Love WUNC Radio’s ‘The State of Things’” Glenda Gilmore is an eighth-generation North Carolinian who grew up in Greensboro during the 1960s. It wasn’t until she was teaching American History in a predominantly black school in South Carolina that she realized how her view of history had be skewed by… Continue Reading “Meet Glenda Gilmore” on WUNC’s ‘The State of Things’