History
Blog entry
Submitted by Priscilla Murphy on Sun, 06/20/2010 - 9:21am.
Another bit of woolgathering speculation, this time prompted by headlines about the closing of the Chapel Hill Museum and letters linking it with the funding voted for library exansion as an either-or choice. In the town where I grew up, one room of the library was devoted to town history, a full gallery of maps, artifacts, letters, photos, etc. In the process of visiting libraries for some academic research, I discovered that many town libraries house town-history collections of varying scope, often showcased around the building if not featured in a specific room.
Blog entry
Submitted by Ruby Sinreich on Mon, 05/31/2010 - 9:03pm.
This weekend, Chapel Hill lost one of the best human beings I've ever met. Ashley Osment was a civil rights lawyer, a mother, a musician, and a friend to many. She was always an inspiration to me as a woman who didn't just balance community activism with parenthood but truly integrated the two, and succeeded at both fantastically. She was so brave that after her ovarian cancer returned (with a vengeance), she responded in part writing a column in the Chapel Hill News about her experience. She knew she was dying. A truly wonderful obituary (by Ashley's husband Al McSurely) is posted at the blog of Curmilus Dancy. I excerpt some of it below. I also recommend the profile of her published in The Carrboro Citizen in March. The public is invited to a memorial service for Ashley on Wednesday at 11:00 am at Chapel Hill Bible Church.
Blog entry
Submitted by Ruby Sinreich on Fri, 03/05/2010 - 9:06pm.
Dan Pollitt was a dedicated activist and leader in our community for decades. He passed away this morning after a lifetime dedicated to peace and justice. My heart goes out to his wife Senator Ellie Kinnaird and the rest of his family. But the loss is all of ours. Pollitt was a beacon, lighting the way forward from just a little ahead of the rest of us. Here's the Independent's profile of him from 10 years ago:
Chapel Hill attorney Bill Massengill nails it: "He's the
aggressive-liberal gentleman. Dan can aggressively press his ideas
without offending people." Even when those ideas are quite hopelessly
out of fashion--as they so very often are.
Take, for example, Pollitt's defense of free association amid Red Scare
panic. Or integration in the Jim Crow South. It took the times some
time to catch up with Pollitt on those two.
Blog entry
Submitted by Ruby Sinreich on Thu, 02/25/2010 - 11:01am.
Right about now, the Chapel-Hill Carrboro NAACP is holding a press conference/rally at Lincoln Center, the administrative home of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School System (CHCCSS). I'm pasting their entire (long!) announcement below as it has a lot of interesting information, including a history of segregation in the school system.
Blog entry
Submitted by UNCLibrary on Mon, 02/15/2010 - 2:37pm.
The Clinton
Tapes: Wrestling History with the President
Lecture by author and journalist Taylor Branch
Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2010
Reception at 5 p.m. | Program at 5:45 p.m.
Wilson Special Collections Library, UNC-Chapel Hill
Free and open to the public
Information: liza_terll(a)unc.edu, (919)
962-4207
Blog entry
Submitted by Mark Chilton on Sun, 11/01/2009 - 5:35pm.
I recently saw Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy give an interesting speech on the problem that everyone seems to think that Chapel Hill was just perfect right about the time they got there. Kevin is not the first person to have observed this, and he won’t be the last, but I thought it might be interesting to share this item I stumbled across while researching an unrelated topic. R. L. Gray wrote an essay on Chapel Hill in the News & Observer (reprinted in NC Journal of Law, Vol 1, pp 516-518, 1904): "Let the man have been tarred with the University stick and he will tell you along with his after-dinner cigar that he has a notion of some day building a house at Chapel Hill – and there remaining to the end of the chapter in the one place where he believes he can obtain a large and perfect peace. There men cling to the town and its surroundings with a memory that is both tenacious and jealous of details.
Blog entry
Submitted by Joe Capowski on Sat, 10/31/2009 - 8:57am.
Last Wednesday, Oct 28, Henry Lister did a commentary on WCHL about the upcoming election for Chapel Hill mayor and council. He named no candidates; rather he described the election as a choice. The choice is between our legacy, i.e., two centures of conscious decisions that have resulted in our becoming a world-class center of education and health care, versus those who are primarily concerned with lowering property taxes. I think Henry did a great job. Here is his commentary: The upcoming election in Chapel Hill is NOT about money. We face a dangerous election next week. Several vocal and well-funded candidates are running platforms promising to reduce homeowner taxes by developing more commercial taxes, some just because they think that’s what voters want to hear. But framing this election about money does us all a dis-service and shifts the focus from our real goal, which is to continue Chapel Hill’s legacy.
Event
Submitted by UNCLibrary on Fri, 10/30/2009 - 3:53pm.
Location: Wilson Library, UNC-Chapel Hill Monday, Nov. 2, 2009
Reception at 5 p.m. | Program at 5:45 p.m.
Wilson Special Collections Library, UNC-Chapel Hill
Free and open to the public
Information: liza_terll (at) unc.edu or (919) 962-4207 In his book, Liberalism, Black Power, and the Making of American Politics, 1965-1980, author Devin Fegus returns to the era of Johnson, Nixon, Carter, and Helms and challenges us to see familiar political developments through a new lens. He will speak about his book and research Monday, Nov. 2 at 5:45 p.m. at UNC's Wilson Library. The program is free and open to the public. A reception will begin at 5 pm. Fergus is assistant professor of modern United States and African American history at Vanderbilt University. He was a 2007 Fellow of the Southern Historical Collection at UNC's Wilson Special Collections Library and his book draws upon research conducted there.
Blog entry
Submitted by Mark Chilton on Fri, 10/23/2009 - 9:18am.
Whether it is by accident or amounts to a local tradition, the Chapel Hill Town Council has had African-American representation continuously ever since the election of Hubert Robinson in 1953. Since that time, R. D. Smith, Bill Thorpe, Roosevelt Wilkerson, Barbara Booth Powell, Edith Wiggins and Jim Merritt have maintained a continuous presence on the Council.
 
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