QUICK LINKS TO OUR MUSEUM |
The Museum has launched an"Education Outreach" page on the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum's website.
This new initiative provides lessons and activities pertaining to the Civil War on the Outer Banks, World War II on the Outer Banks, shipwrecks of the Outer Banks, and piracy on the Outer Banks. The lessons are presented at both a 4th-grade level and an 8th-grade level, and there is also a comprehensive vocabulary list to supplement the lessons.
All of the lesson plans are provided in PDF format and are very easy to print.
The study of maritime history is essential in understanding global and national history. North Carolina's maritime history is rich with vital links to the first people, first colonists, piracy, first Union-won battle in the Civil War, first safe haven for African-Americans in North Carolina, Torpedo Junction and the war between Germany and allied forces during WWII, and the thousands of historic shipwrecks to study that lay off the coast.
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REMOTE LEARNING FROM OUR MARITIME MUSEUMS IN BEAUFORT AND SOUTHPORT AND THE HISTORY MUSEUM IN RALEIGH AND THE STATE ARCHIVES |
We hope you enjoy our virtual way to experience our scavenger hunt at the Museum. There are three versions of the scavenger hunt on our website at
Two can be printed out at home ahead of time. One is the digital scavenger hunt.
The scavenger hunts are under both the “About” and “Gallery” drop down menus on our website.
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NC COAST HOME TO ABUNDANT BLACK HISTORY
by Allison Ballard
(courtesy Coastal Review)
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Freedmen’s colonies offered education for children and adults
(image courtesy National Park Service, Fort Raleigh National Historic Site)
When visiting the state’s coastal counties, beaches and scenic views are usually the focus. But there is also an underlying history at these tourist destinations. Many of these sites play a role in the events that have shaped black culture. This American history — from slavery to civil rights — is mirrored along the coast. As Black History Month draws to a close, here are a few places where we can better understand the difficulties and celebrate the successes of African-Americans in North Carolina.
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PEA ISLAND LIFESAVING CREW |
Ezell Blair Jr., Franklin McCain,
Joseph McNeil, and David Richmond
became known as "The Greensboro Four"
for their sit-in at Woolworth's in 1960.
They were all students at N.C. A&T.
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The Museum renovations are moving along much slower than anyone who is excited about this project would like. The carpeting from the main gallery has been removed and Meekins Chandlery staff has packed objects in the store to safer locations anticipating changes to the walls in the store. |
Molly Trivelpiece, Barb Stafford, Melanie Schwarzer and Linda Moul pack up the Meekins Chandlery. |
FIRST IN FREEDOM A CULTURE OF DIVERSITY ON THE OUTER BANKS
by Aaron Tuell
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The African American Experience of Northeast North Carolina (AAENENC) officially launched Juneteenth (June 19) encouraging a deeper understanding and recognition for the contributions of the Black community in one of America’s most history-rich corridors. The new self-guided discovery starts online at NCBlackHeritageTour.com and connects dozens of visitable points of interest and African American influence across a six-county region that includes the islands of The Outer Banks, legendary Dismal Swamp and some of the state’s earliest riverfront communities of Elizabeth City, Hertford and Edenton. Discover the African American touchstones the OBX has to share.
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LEARNING ABOUT BLACK HISTORY |
(video courtesy 88 Brains)
25+ Important Places to Visit and Learn About Black History in North Carolina
Black history in North Carolina, like most things in life, is better understood at the locations where important events transpired. From Underground Railroad sites to Civil Rights landmarks and hubs of African-American business, this guide features some inspiring places for you to visit.
Black History Month in February Results were increased traffic to these sites, but we hope you’ll keep these landmarks in mind throughout the year. Such important parts of America’s story should not be limited to simply one month.
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Uriah Bennett, a slave at Somerset Place was interviewed in 1937 and remembered the ginger cakes slaves were given at Christmas time. The recipe used at Somerset Place is from a cookbook Mary Collins lost in the estate sale when the plantation was forfeited after the war. Our recipe calls for no baking powder, as modern ones do, simply because it had not yet been discovered when Grace (a Somerset slave) baked ginger cake for Uriah Bennett. (courtesy "Uncle Jurd's "Old Timey Southern Sweets" compiled for Somerset Place Foundation, Inc. by Loretta Phelps).
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 cup molasses
1 egg
1 teaspoon soda
2 cups flour
1/2 cup hot water
1 teaspoon ginger
Stir sugar with butter, add egg and blend well. Mix ginger with flour and add it along with the molasses, to the butter/egg mixture. Dissolve the soda in 1/2 cup of hot water and add it last. Stir the batter well. Bake in a moderately hot oven until a thin knife blade comes out clean when inserted in the center of the cake. You may choose to use a 9x12 inch flat pan and bake it in a regular oven . The temperature of the oven should be 350 degrees; test to see if the cake is done after 30 minutes cooking.
At Somerset Place, ginger cake is baked in a greased loaf pan on a trivet inside a huge iron pot directly on the hearth.
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FOR SOME, THE PAMLICO RIVER WAS PART OF THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD
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Housed in an old caboose at the corner of Main and Gladden streets, the museum is small but filled with information and artifacts from the time that enslaved people were a part of life in Washington. Although the artifacts and reprints of wanted posters for runaways are fascinating, Jones and her narration are what truly bring the story to life.
As she describes the journey, what emerges is an interweaving of moral outrage, courage and ingenuity.
It was the enslaved people and their need to be free and a network of abolitionists fierce in their defiance of slavery that created the Underground Railroad.
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AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSIC TRAILS OF EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA |
African American Music Trails is an exploration of the long and rich heritage of African American music in Eastern North Carolina. The abundance of this music and its musicians is one of the state’s best kept secrets. Funk, blues, jazz, and gospel in Kinston, Tarboro, Wilson and everywhere in between.
We are proud to announce that the African American Music Trails of Eastern North Carolina is now under the stewardship of the North Carolina African American Heritage Commission. After establishing the Blue Ridge Music Trails of Western North Carolina in the early 2000s, in 2013, the North Carolina Arts Council developed the African American Music Trails of Eastern North Carolina to celebrate some of the most transformative figures in the history of jazz, gospel, and popular music.
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DR. WILLIAM NORWOOD "BILL" STILL
1932-1923
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Distinguished Scholar and Mentor to generations of Nautical archaeologists and maritime students, dear friend, William "Bill" Still has died. While at East Carolina University, Bill founded and served as the Director of the Maritime History and Nautical Archaeology Program at the university. He was also instrumental in numerous underwater archaeological projects such as those on the USS Monitor, CSS Alabama and the confederate submarine, CSS Hunley. Bill was highly regarded as an expert in the field of American maritime history. In 1989-1990, Bill held the Secretary of the Navy's scholar and research chair in naval history at the Naval Historical Center in Washington, D.C. From 1995-2005, he served as a member of the Secretary of the Navy's subcommittee on naval history. He authored and co-authored dozens of books and publications focused on maritime history from the Civil War through World War II. Up until two weeks prior to his death, he was actively researching and writing the last installation of his series for the Secretary of the Navy, which began with Crisis at Sea and Victory Without Peace, focused on the U.S. naval force's withdrawal following WWI. Throughout his professional career, Dr. Still received numerous awards including: the Jefferson Davis Award and the Bell Wiley Award for the best book in Civil War History, the President Harry Truman Award for Outstanding Research in American History, the Christopher Crittenden Memorial Award for Contributions to North Carolina History, the Dr. Jack Bauer Special Award for Contributions to Maritime History and, most recently in 2021, the John Lyman Book Award along with his co-author, Richard Stephenson, for their book "Shipbuilding in North Carolina, 1688-1918".
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BLACK HISTORY MONTH IN NC
by Faye Mitchell
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Elizabeth Keckly
(video courtesy HEC Culture)
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Since the inception of Negro History Week in 1926 and the expansion to Black History Month in 1976, February has been a time when the nation pauses to reflect on the struggles and accomplishments of African Americans in the United States.
North Carolina boasts many noteworthy names and places for Black History Month: the unknown indentured servants who were free men and could vote in colonial times, soldiers who fought on either side during the American Revolution, and men and women who offered resistance and fled to freedom during antebellum times, or joined in the fight for freedom with the Civil War. Through the Civil Rights era to modern times, North Carolina has mirrored or amplified the African American movements to freedom and equality in the United States.
(courtesy NCDCR)
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Abraham Galloway
(video courtesy The History Guy)
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John Chavis
(video courtesy NC Museum of History)
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