In this-- my 17th photo-essay in this series-- we meet scores of tenant farmers harvesting tobacco on the Braswell Plantation in Battleboro, N.C., in August 1944. The 15 photographs speak to North Carolina's agricultural history, but also to the enduring legacy of Gov. Charles B. Aycock's brand of white supremacy.
Edgecombe County N.C.
In Remembrance: Robert Hinton (1941-2023)
I just learned that my old friend Robert Hinton passed away late last year. He was an inspiring historian, and a good man, and he forever changed the way that I and many others think about the history of Eastern North Carolina. To honor Robert, I am sharing a special lecture that he gave in Tarboro, N.C., in 2001.
On a Beautiful Autumn Day in Red Hill
A few days ago, a large crowd gathered in Red Hill, North Carolina, for the unveiling of a state historical marker commemorating the establishment of an Equal Rights League there in 1866. Sponsored by the Phoenix Historical Society, the ceremony was hosted by the Red Hill Missionary Baptist Church, the heart of that rural community 18 miles northeast of Rocky Mount.
The Exodusters and the Burning of the Hackney Carriage Factory
I recently re-visited Dr. Frenise A. Logan's groundbreaking article on the Exodusters because I wanted to understand better why black insurgents had burned down the Hackney carriage factory in Rocky Mount, N.C., in February of 1890.
David Cecelski 