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What's Going On

Home / What's Going On / Bits of History Podcasts

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  • The History of Banking in North Carolina, an interview with Lissa Broome, author, attorney, and professor of banking and law at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

    Lissa Broome talks about the past, present, and future of banking in North Carolina and discusses why banking has remained an important industry both economically and politically. Approximate run time: 23 minutes.
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  • The Eugenics Movement and North Carolina, an interview with historian and author Rebecca M. Kluchin, California State University, Sacramento

    Rebecca M. Kluchin, historian and author of Fit to Be Tied: Sterilization and Reproductive Rights in America, 1950–1980, discusses the troubling history and legacy of the eugenics movement and the approximately 7,600 people forcibly sterilized in North Carolina from 1929 to 1977. Approximate run time: 24 minutes.Podcast Podcast icon

  • Justice James Iredell, an interview with author, attorney, and former North Carolina Supreme Court justice Willis Whichard

    Justice Willis Whichard talks about his book, Justice James Iredell, the only comprehensive biography examining Iredell and his impact as lawyer, judge, essayist, political philosopher, and member of the U.S. Supreme Court. Approximate run time: 25 minutes. Podcast Podcast icon

  • Cruel Summer: The Attack on Camp Summerlane, an interview with writer and author Jon Elliston

    Jon Elliston discusses his award-winning articles and an upcoming book about Camp Summerlane. In the summer of 1963, what was envisioned as an experimental camp and school in western North Carolina was violently attacked and closed just one week after opening by an angry mob from the nearby town of Rosman. Approximate run time: 32 minutes. Podcast Podcast icon Link to "Cruel Summer" articles

  • Albion Tourgee, Thomas Dixon, and Memory of Reconstruction, a talk by Mark Elliott, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

    As part of a symposium commemorating the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War, Professor Elliott compares the lasting legacy and influences of two influential writers of the late 1800s and early 1900s. Both men struggled to shape an image of the South and Reconstruction—one of emancipation and realism and another of Southern honor and occupation. Approximate run time: 32 minutes. Podcast Podcast icon

  • The Confederate Secret Services, a conversation with W. Patrick Lang, novelist, retired U.S. Army colonel, and military intelligence consultant

    Patrick Lang discusses his two novels, The Butcher’s Cleaver and Death Piled Hard, both of which focus on Claude Devereux, a Virginia banker who is recruited by the Confederate secret service and placed in the office of Union secretary of war Edwin Stanton. Approximate run time: 24 minutes. Podcast Podcast icon

  • Race and Reunion: Has Civil War Memory United or Divided America? a keynote address by David Blight, Yale University

    One of the country’s leading historians on Civil War memory kicks off the first of three symposia commemorating the war’s 150th anniversary. Professor Blight discusses the influences that have impacted and shaped perceptions of race and history since the Civil War and what it means for America today. Approximate run time: 1 hour and 7 minutes. Podcast Podcast icon

  • Intelligence in the Civil War, a conversation with Clay Laurie, a historian at the CIA’s Center for the Study of Intelligence and a professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County

    Both the North and the South used intelligence, espionage, and reconnaissance to gather information.  Dr. Clay Laurie discusses the role, impact, and development of military intelligence during the American Civil War. Approximate run time: 26 minutes. Podcast Podcast icon
    Intelligence in the Civil War
    (booklet)

  • Correspondent Lines: Poetry and Journalism in the U.S. Civil War, a Perspectives on History lecture by Eliza C. Richards, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

    Professor Richards discusses how new technologies influenced literary and journalistic accounts of the Civil War, changing Americans’ reactions to the news and the war itself. Approximate run time: 53 minutes. Podcast Podcast icon

  • Lewis Hine as Social Critic

    In the most thorough examination of Lewis Hine and his photography to date, historian Kate Sampsell-Willmann’s recent book, Lewis Hine as Social Critic, examines Hine’s work as art, history, philosophy, and social commentary and provides new insights into Lewis Hine as activist, social commentator, and photographer. Approximate run time: 27 minutes. Podcast Podcast icon

  • Lewis Hine and Child Labor in America Lewis Hine and Child Labor in America, a conversation with Hugh Hindman, professor of labor and human resources, Appalachian State University

    Professor Hindman discusses the history of child labor in the United States, the recruitment of families by textile mills in North Carolina, and the impact of Lewis Hine and other progressive activists on child labor legislation. Approximate run time: 25 minutes. Podcast Podcast icon

  • The Ambidexter Philosopher: Thomas Jefferson in Black Thought, 1776-1877, a Perspectives on History lecture by Mia Bay, Rutgers University

    Professor Bay examines African Americans' changing ideas about Thomas Jefferson between the American Revolution and the post-emancipation era. Approximate run time: 1 hour 2 minutes. Podcast Podcast icon

  • Long, Obstinate, and Bloody: The Battle of Guilford Courthouse, a conversation with historian and author Joshua B. Howard

In Long, Obstinate, and Bloody: The Battle of Guildford Courthouse, historian Josh Howard, who cowrote the book with Lawrence E. Babits, hopes to provide a new starting point for students and scholars. In addition to providing an accurate account of the battle, the book attempts to correct long-standing myths while building awareness of the southern campaign during the Revolutionary War and the Battle of Guilford Courthouse in particular. Approximate run time: 24 minutes Podcast Podcast icon

  • Ratification: The People Debate the Constitution, 1787-1788, a conversation with historian and author Pauline Maier

    Few things in American history approach mythical status like the creation of the U.S. Constitution. Pauline Maier, a distinguish professor of history at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, finally documents the untold stories and the personalities who fought both for and against its adoption. Approximate run time: 26 minutes Podcast Podcast icon

  • Jim Hunt: A Biography, a conversation with author Gary Pearce

    In the late 20th century, no one dominated North Carolina politics like Governor Jim Hunt. Author Gary Pearce, who served as Hunt’s press secretary and a close political adviser, discusses his new book and provides lucid insight on Hunt’s life and career. Approximate run time: 27 minutes Podcast Podcast icon

  • Rising to the Challenge: Women in Public Office, a panel discussion moderated by  Melissa A. Essary, dean of the Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law, Campbell University, Raleigh

    The program highlighted the current status and future for women in public office. Panelists discussed how things have changed over the past several decades and the keys to women's future success. Approximate run time: 1 hour 6 minutes Podcast Podcast icon

  • The Real George Washington, a conversation with Carol Cadou, senior curator, and Sabrina Hiedemann, exhibition coordinator, at George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate & Gardens

    Few figures in American history are as well-known and respected as George Washington. Discover the Real George Washington: New Views from Mount Vernon is a traveling exhibition that examines Washington’s legacy and provides new perspectives on Washington aside from his more prominent careers as general and president. Approximate run time: 30 minutes Podcast Podcast icon

  • 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 Podcast Podcast icon

  • 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 Podcast icon
    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 Podcast icon
    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 Podcast icon
    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 21, 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": John Lawson’s Exploration of Carolina.” 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 the 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 archaeology on the other. Their differences, in some cases, may not be as 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 Podcast icon

  • 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 10 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 Podcast icon

  • 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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