Speaker: K. Todd Johnson

 

 

Join us for this talk by K. Todd Johnson, director of the Johnston County Heritage Center. He will speak about the citizenry of early Johnston County while touching on key historical developments predating and influencing the formation of Wake County. Drawing from resources at the Johnston County Heritage Center, including Elizabeth Reid Murry’s Wake County history (Volume 1), Todd’s presentation will cover items in her collection related to the early colonial period. He will also touch on the importance and impact of America’s first revolution known as the Regulator Movement. Come join us as we explore this exciting part of the story of who we were before the formation of Wake County.

 

 

Facts form the framework of our genealogy, but stories are so much more interesting.  If you have Mayflower or other famous ancestors, you can read books about them.  But where can you find stories about regular folks?  My ancestors were farmers in the backcountry of western North Carolina and east Tennessee. Some were illiterate. Yet I have found specific stories about my direct ancestors. I'll share the top ten places where I found them.  If I can find stories about my ancestors, so can you!

 

This virtual meeting and presentation is open to all members and newsletter recipients. If you are on one of those lists, you will receive an email with registration instructions closer to the date. If you want to be included in this event visit WCGS Join Page

 

Speaker: Dr. Arwin Smallwood

 

For centuries North Carolinians have attempted to simplify race by creating three broad categories--Native American, Black and White. However, during the colonial and antebellum periods many Native, Black and White communities contained mixed-race members. In early Virginia, which included Northeastern North Carolina (Albemarle County), Whites resolved their dilemma by establishing race-based slavery and categorizing all mixed-race peoples as “mulatto” and later “negro” and enslaving them for life. Later through segregation, Native Americans, Blacks, and people of mixed-race were further separated from Whites by law.

 

In spite of this history and law, many mixed-race people in North Carolinas have never seen themselves as simply Native, Black or White and have maintained an identity and history of creolization (mixed-race). This lecture will examine the roles of Natives, Blacks and Whites in the merging of Red, Black and White peoples in North Carolina’s history. This presentation highlights, that since first contact, Native Americans, Africans, and Europeans have merged in the swamps of the tidewater and coastal plains of Northeastern and Southeastern North Carolina, and even the foothills and hollers of the piedmont and mountains of western North Carolina.

 

This virtual meeting and presentation is open to all members and newsletter recipients. If you are on one of those lists, you will receive an email with registration instructions closer to the date.  If you want to be included in this event visit the WCGS Join page