Exploring the History, Literature, and Culture of the Tar Heel State
We recently posted about Land for Tomorrow’s contest to name North Carolina’s Top 10 natural wonders. Well, the judges’ nominations are now in, so visit the link below to vote for your favorite:
What are North Carolina’s Top Ten Natural Wonders?
The voting ends soon, so don’t delay!
Since graduation has come and gone and UNC’s seniors have been thrown out into the real world, it is an apt time to look at commencement traditions at UNC. In Kemp P. Battle’s History of the University of North Carolina: Volume 2, he mentions the tradition of the peace pipe. Following commencement exercises students would meet under the Old Poplar (also referred to as the Davie Poplar) to smoke the pipe of peace. According to Battle, June 4, 1883, was the first time that students gathered to partake in the smoking of the pipe but it became a yearly tradition thereafter. Later Battle describes another typical commencement scene in 1891:
There was then an adjournment for exercises around the Old Poplar in the afternoon. This was one of the most interesting occasions of Commencement. The circle of fine-looking young men, in caps and gowns under the classic tree; the friendly smoking of the “Pipe of Peace,” recalling the counsel of the Tuscaroras and Cherokees, the graceful forms of well-dressed ladies and their beaux scattered over the greensward, the ringing class songs and the final farewell of four year comrades, gave a memory not likely to fade.
This tradition continued into the early 1900’s and the last mention in the history is in 1907. During this era, students also added another tradition; one of burning their meeting benches after they had finished the pipe. Hmmm…I wonder if the class of 2010 could fit around the flagpole (the current smoking spot on campus) to puff on the peace pipe this year?
Take a flying tour of North Carolina in this new 3D Google Earth Tour of the North Carolina Maps site:
On this day in 1953: Fred Chappell, a junior at Canton High School, hitchhikes 250 miles to Duke University to hear his hero, Welsh poet Dylan Thomas.
Chappell will soon enroll at Duke and study under writing professor William Blackburn, whose students over the years also include Reynolds Price, William Styron, Josephine Humphreys and Anne Tyler.
Later, as a professor at UNC-Greensboro and the state’s poet laureate, Chappell recalls Thomas’ reading: “They poured him on stage over at Page Auditorium. And you thought, ‘Oh geez. This is not going to happen.’ And he gave a magnificent reading. An impossible reading. And then they poured him off stage.”
Tim Flock is considered to be one of the pioneers of NASCAR. He placed fifth in the first official NASCAR race, and he won his first Grand National Championship in 1952, narrowly beating Herb Thomas by 106 points. His second title was in 1955, and in that same year he set two records: 19 poles and 18 victories in 45 races. His record for poles in a season has never been broken, but Richard Petty broke his victory record with 27 in 1967. One of Flock’s most interesting claims to fame was his victory at the Grand National at Hickory Motor Speedway on May 16th, 1953, with a co-driver by the name of Jocko Flocko, a Rhesus monkey. To this day, Jocko is the only monkey to have won a NASCAR race. During a race in Raleigh two weeks later, Jocko became frightened by the vibrations in the wheel well, and Flock was forced to pit. Shortly thereafter, Jocko Flocko retired from racing. A month before his death of cancer in 1998, Flock was honored as one of the fifty greatest drivers in NASCAR history.
Check out Documenting the American South’s most recent highlight: Dorothea Dix’s Advocacy for the Mentally Ill in North Carolina.
“It was in the textile mills of North Carolina [in 1934 that Martha Gellhorn, a 25-year-old investigator for the Federal Emergency Relief Administration] found the writing voice she had been looking for. It was clear and simple, a careful selection of scenes and quotes…. What made it her own was the tone, the barely contained fury and indignation…..
“Returning from a mill town where those fortunate enough to still have jobs were forced to pay half again as much for their food at the company store, she added: ‘It is probable — and to be hoped — that one day the owners of this place will get shot and lynched.’
“In Gastonia, among those who had lost everything, she at last had her subject. For the next 60 years, in wars, in slums, in refugee camps, she used this voice again and again…. It became her hallmark.”
— From “Gellhorn: A 20th Century Life” by Caroline Moorehead (2003)
Martha Gellhorn’s celebrated career as a foreign correspondent stretched from the Spanish Civil War to the invasion of Panama, although she is perhaps more widely remembered as Ernest Hemingway’s third wife — a distinction she abhorred.
The postcard above is a real photo view of Josephus Daniels, Governor Locke Craig, Edward Kidder Graham, and others standing in front of Alumni Hall at UNC.
“[In 1961 Patsy Cline] was invited to appear on the Grand Ole Opry at Carnegie Hall, the first full-fledged country production at that cultural bastion….
“Dorothy Kilgallen, who wrote the syndicated ‘Voice of Broadway’ column for the Journal-American and was featured on CBS’s ‘What’s My Line?’, took cheap shots almost daily at the coming of the ‘Carnegie Hallbillies.’
“On stage in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Patsy had a few words for Kilgallen: ‘We’re gonna be in high cotton next week — Carnegie Hall. That ole Dorothy Kilgallen wrote, “Everybody should get out of town because the hillbillies are coming!” At least we ain’t standing on New York street corners with itty-bitty cans in our hands collecting coins to keep up the opera and symphonies.’ ”
— From “Honky Tonk Angel: The Intimate Story of Patsy Cline” (1993) by Ellis Nassour