Stories tagged: "segregation"


Sarah Keys Evans was serving in the Women's Army Corps in 1952 when she was arrested after refusing to give up her bus seat for a white Marine at the Roanoke Rapids bus station. Her lawsuit would go on to change the country.  (Image via US Army.)
4 Powerful Moments in North Carolina’s Black History

It’s Black History Month in North Carolina, and many of our state’s most significant moments are still seriously overlooked. 

Clemmie Lee "Fig" Jones near his home in Pink Hill. An R&B and rock-and-roll drummer, Jones is holding the drumsticks that the early Kinston drummer Willie Moore gave him. (Photograph by Titus Brooks Heagins)
The Rise and Rebirth of North Carolina’s African American Music Trail

An eight-county trail in eastern NC doesn’t just revisit our dark history of segregation. It lifts up Black joy by celebrating the musicians who broke barriers and made remarkable music. 

This May 8, 1964 file photo shows Linda Brown Smith standing in front of the Sumner School in Topeka, Kansas. The refusal of the public school to admit Brown in 1951, then nine years old, because she is black, led to the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court overruled the "separate but equal" clause and mandated that schools nationwide must be desegregated. Tuesday marks the 68th anniversary of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision. (AP Photo, File)
68 Years After Brown v. Board of Education, the Work to Desegregate Our Schools Isn’t Finished 

Today marks a watershed moment in American history. But history is still being written. 

Sarah Keys Evans was serving in the Women's Army Corps in 1952 when she was arrested after refusing to give up her bus seat for a white Marine at the Roanoke Rapids bus station. Her lawsuit would go on to change the country.  (Image via US Army.)
Let’s Make Sure These Chapters of NC’s Black History Aren’t Forgotten

It’s Black History Month in North Carolina, and many of our state’s most significant moments are still seriously overlooked. 

DeWitt Powell, Jones Lake's longtime park superintendent, vigilantly guarded the atmosphere of peace and dignity of the park. No litter or profanity was permitted, and Black families could camp, hike, fish, swim or just relax on the lake's shores. Powell, who held his post for decades,  established that atmosphere in the Jim Crow era, against the odds in rural Bladen County.
How the ‘MLK of Jones Lake’ Made This NC Park an Island of Equality

Jones Lake State Park, North Carolina’s first to admit Black visitors, was a place guests could breathe freely, thanks to its first Black park superintendent.

One of North Carolina's most influential figures, Pauli Murray still doesn't get her due for her part in combatting racial injustice, homophobia, and sexism. A new Amazon Prime Video doc about Murray, who grew up in Durham, premiers this weekend in the Bull City. (Image via Pauli Murray Center)
Pauli Murray: The North Carolina Hero Too Few Know About

A documentary about North Carolina civil rights trailblazer Pauli Murray will premier this weekend in Durham before being released to a national audience. 

The Tryon, NC, childhood home of legendary musician Nina Simone. (Image via National Trust for Historic Preservation)
From Nina Simone to Blind Boy Fuller, Here Are Five of NC’s Most Timeless Musical Landmarks

North Carolina music is eccentric, rootsy, and complicated, just like the state itself. We’ll take you to the burial places of blues and the birth of modern jazz.