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• Behind the Veneer: Thomas Day, Master Cabinetmaker a conversation with Patricia Phillips Marshall, curator of Decorative Arts at the North Carolina Museum of History
  
  Thomas Day was a free man of color who owned and operated one of North Carolina’s largest cabinet shops prior to the Civil War. The museum’s exhibit Behind the Veneer: Thomas Day, Master Cabinetmaker showcases furniture crafted by this accomplished artisan and entrepreneur from Milton, Caswell County, and explores the extraordinary story of a man who succeeded and flourished despite shrinking freedoms for free people of color in antebellum North Carolina. Approximate run time: 27 minutes
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• Down Home: Jewish Life in North Carolina, a conversation with Leonard Rogoff, curator and historian for the Jewish Heritage Foundation of North Carolina

The exhibit documents and presents more than 400 years of Jewish life in North Carolina. Produced and organized by the Jewish Heritage Foundation of North Carolina (JHFNC), Down Home chronicles how Jews have integrated into Tar Heel life by blending their own traditions into southern culture, while preserving their ethnic and religious traditions.
Approximate run time: 28 minutes Podcast
Suggested Reading List

• The South’s Secret Weapons: Disease, Environment, and the Civil War, a Perspectives on History lecture by Margaret Humphreys, Duke University

  Confederate leaders hoped that fevers in the South would become potent weapons should Union forces invade, thus decimating their ranks. Humphreys explores the role of disease in the Civil War and emphasizes the Civil War-era understanding of how epidemiology became a part of the strategy on both sides.
  Approximate run time: 59 minutes Podcast
  Suggested Reading List

• Rethinking Slavery and Freedom in Early Virginia and the British Atlantic, a Perspectives on History lecture by Holly Brewer, North Carolina State University

  Brewer discusses how the struggle between English authorities and colonists in the 1690s over issues of sovereignty, such as the powers of owners over slaves, helped shape the same debates about justice that propelled the American Revolution a century later. Approximate run time: 57 minutes Podcast
  Suggested Reading List

• Lumbee Indians in the Jim Crow South: Race, Identity, and the Making of a Nation, a lecture by Malinda Lowery, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  On November 21st, 2009, historian Malinda Lowery presented a talk in conjunction with the museum’s 14th annual American Indian Heritage Celebration. An associate professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Lowery is the author of several books and worked as a producer and director on several award-winning documentary films. In her talk, she discusses the history and struggles, including the longtime pursuit of federal recognition of the Lumbee Tribe. Approximate run time: 1 hour 4 minutes.
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• In Search of a New Deal, a conversation with Diana Bell-Kite, North Carolina Museum of History, and Emily Catherman, Historic Oak View Park

  From 1935 to 1941 the Farm Security Administration’s photographic project provided an unparalleled documentary record of how the Great Depression and the New Deal affected rural North Carolinians. Diana Bell-Kite, associate curator at the North Carolina Museum of History, and Emily Catherman, park manager at Historic Oak View Park discuss the museum’s exhibit In Search of a New Deal, Images of North Carolina 1935-1941. Approximate run time: 30 minutes
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• John Lawson’s Exploration of the Carolinas, a conversation with Jeanne Marie Warzeski, North Carolina Museum of History

  John Lawson an English explorer, surveyor, and naturalist, journeyed through the Carolinas backcountry in 1701 and 1702. To commemorate the 300th anniversary of  the publication of Lawson’s A New Voyage to Carolina, the North Carolina Museum of History opened a new exhibit, “A New Land, A New Voyage: The Tercentenary of John Lawson’s Exploration of Carolinas.” Warzeski, curator of colonial and antebellum history, discusses John Lawson’s contributions to history and natural science. Approximate run time: 22 minutes
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• The North Carolina State Capitol, a conversation with Terra Schramm, North Carolina Historic Sites
  
  The North Carolina State Capitol was a seat of government that was nomadic for much of its early history. After the original State House in Raleigh was destroyed by a fire in 1831, the General Assembly ordered that a new and enlarged Capitol be built. Terra Schramm, the education and outreach coordinator for the State Capitol discusses the history, architecture, personalities and legends behind North Carolina’s capitol building and grounds. Approximate run time: 23 minutes
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• A Pirate’s Life for Me?, a lecture by Charles Ewen, East Carolina University
  
  Professor Ewen compares and contrasts the historical record of piracy using film and popular literature on the one hand, and historical documents and archeology on the other. Their differences, in some cases, may not be so far apart as one might think. Approximate run time: 55 minutes
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• Abraham Lincoln and a House Divided, a lecture by Sanford Kessler, North Carolina State University

Professor Kessler uses Abraham Lincoln’s famous 1858 “House Divided” speech to unravel Lincoln’s political and personal views on slavery. Approximate run time: 53 minutes
Handout, Podcast


• Workboats of Core Sound, a conversation with Lawrence S. Earley, photographer


Earley traveled throughout the Core Sound region of North Carolina taking photographs of fishermen and the boats that have supported a way of life for generations. He discusses the struggles, rewards, and future of a community whose fate is tied to the ocean. Earley’s photos are featured in the exhibit Workboats of Core Sound. Approximate run time: 24 minutes
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• On Earth’s Furrowed Brow, a conversation with Tim Barnwell, photographer and author

Tim Barnwell discusses his experiences photographing small family farms and the individuals that work them in the mountains of western North Carolina. Barnwell’s photos are featured in the exhibit On Earth’s Furrowed Brow: The Appalachian Farm in Photographs. Approximate run time: 25 minutes
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• The Banjo: A Cultural History, a Perspectives on History lecture by Laurent Marc Dubois, Duke University
  
  Dubois shares the storied history of the banjo, an instrument whose development was marked by wide cultural encounters from Africa to the Caribbean and North America, contributing to an incredibly rich variety of musical traditions. Approximate run time: 1 hour 6 minutes
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• Shattering White Solidarity: A History of the Southern Tenant Farmers’ Union, a Perspectives on History lecture by Elizabeth Anne Payne, University of Mississippi


Payne examines the history of the Southern Tenant Farmers’ Union (STFU) through the story of white sharecropper and activist Myrtle Lawrence. In September 1939, journalist Priscilla Robertson and photographer Louise Boyle spent ten days documenting Lawrence’s life and the harsh and deplorable living and working conditions of white and black sharecroppers in the Arkansas cotton belt. Approximate run time: 1 hour 14 minutes
Handout, Podcast

• Appraised, Bartered, and Sold: The Value of Human Chattels, a Perspectives on History lecture by Daina Ramey Berry, Michigan State University


Berry discusses slave prices in the antebellum South, exploring both planters’ criteria and slaves’ perceptions of their value. Berry’s research reveals interesting patterns with contemporary relevance to slave insurance claims and reparations. Approximate run time: 1 hour
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• Lincoln’s Political Leadership: An Overview, a Lincoln Symposium lecture by William C. Harris, North Carolina State University


Professor Emeritus Harris examines aspects of Abraham Lincoln’s legacy and leadership. First of six lectures. Approximate run time: 56 minutes
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• Jefferson Davis as President of the Confederacy: A Comparison, a Lincoln Symposium lecture by Paul D. Escott, Wake Forest University


Professor Escott compares the political and leadership styles of Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis. Second of six lectures. Approximate run time: 56 minutes
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• Lincoln as Military Commander, a Lincoln Symposium lecture by Joseph T. Glatthaar, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill


Professor Glatthaar presents his views on Abraham Lincoln’s effectiveness as commander in chief. Third of six lectures. Approximate run time: 37 minutes
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• United States Colored Troops, a Lincoln Symposium lecture by John David Smith, University of North Carolina at Charlotte


Professor Smith discusses the decision to recruit African Americans and the effect of the United States Colored Troops on the outcome of the Civil War. Fourth of six lectures. Approximate run time: 54 minutes
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• Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and the End of Slavery, a Lincoln Symposium lecture by Loren Schweninger, University of North Carolina at Greensboro


Professor Schweninger sheds light on the relationship between Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln and how that relationship influenced Lincoln’s views on slavery. Fifth of six lectures. Approximate run time: 26 minutes
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• Lincoln’s Legacy, a Lincoln Symposium lecture by Heather A. Williams, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill


Professor Williams discusses Abraham Lincoln’s legacy as viewed by African Americans. Last of six lectures. Approximate run time: 1 hour
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• The Digitization of North Carolina USCT Roster, a lecture by Earl Ijames, North Carolina Museum of History, and Rhonda Jones, North Carolina Central University


Ijames, the museum’s curator of African American and community history, and Professor Jones present the results of their efforts to digitize rosters listing African Americans from North Carolina who served in the United States Colored Troops during the Civil War. Approximate run time: 33 minutes
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• Sugar of the Crop, a presentation by Sana Butler


Journalist and author Sana Butler spent nearly ten years crisscrossing the country locating the last surviving African Americans whose parents were born in slavery. In this poignant and moving presentation, Butler discusses and reads from her book Sugar of the Crop. Approximate run time: 44 minutes
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• Elected to Serve: North Carolina’s Governors, a conversation with Louise Benner and RaeLana Poteat, North Carolina Museum of History


Benner and Poteat, co-curators of the exhibit Elected to Serve: North Carolina’s Governors, discuss the state’s past chief executives (including provincial, royal, and democratically elected governors), as well as first ladies’ inaugural gowns featured in the exhibit. Approximate run time: 22 minutes
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• Everyday Artistry, a conversation with Diana Bell-Kite, North Carolina Museum of History


Bell-Kite, curator of the exhibit Everyday Artistry, talks about how ordinary utilitarian objects can eventually be viewed as works of art. Approximate run time: 17 minutes
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• Community and Culture: North Carolina Indians Past and Present


A student from Exploris Charter Middle School in Raleigh discusses the American Indian game of stickball, featured in the exhibit Community and Culture: North Carolina Indians Past and Present. Approximate run time: 2 minutes
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• A Call to Arms, a conversation with Tom Belton, North Carolina Museum of History


Belton, the museum’s curator of military history, talks about two Civil War battle flags—one carried by the 26th Regiment North Carolina Troops, the other by the 18th North Carolina. These flags are currently on view in the exhibit A Call to Arms. Approximate run time: 19 minutes
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• A Thousand Words: Photographs by Vietnam Veterans, a conversation with Martin Tucker, photographer


Tucker, curator of the traveling exhibit A Thousand Words: Photographs by Vietnam Veterans, talks about the exhibit’s creation. The exhibit, which completed its run at the North Carolina Museum of History in late April 2009. Approximate run time: 16 minutes
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