Have you ever heard about the Gardner Hill gold mine or the healing powers of Apinol? Do you remember the Brightwood Inn or the antics of Slammin Sammy Snead? Culling the best from News & Record reporter Jim Schlossers hundreds of history-related articles, Remembering Greensboro celebrates the unique history of Greensboro and Guilford County. From memorable events like the Woolworth sit-ins and the Greater Greensboro Open to beloved local heroes, characters and celebrities, Schlosser offers something for everyone who calls the Gate City home.
With a template that fits every American community, Remembered focuses on ninety-nine former students from a typical Middle America high school. Each student gave their lives in the line of duty during World War II. The ninety-nine names are dutifully bronzed on a plaque visible to current students on a daily basis, but Remembered goes beyond names. It adds life, zeal, and excitement to each name. Remembered poignantly points out that those lives were cut short in their prime. By remembering their stories, the freedoms they paid forward were not in vain.
Region and Remembrance: Public Memories of Civil Rights in Greensboro, North Carolina asks how powerful ideas about place can shape our public memories. Greensboro, North Carolina has been the site of civil rights victories, most notably the 1960 lunch counter sit-ins. It has also been the site of tragedy and racist violence, including a 1979 shooting when KKK members murdered five protesters from the Communist Workers Party. During the twentieth century, Greensboro developed a reputation as a progressive Southern city, and that powerful narrative shapes many residents perceptions of the city's civil rights past. At the same time, that narrative suppresses counter-memories. This dissertation explores the relationship between Greensboro's progressive reputation and its civil rights past by engaging two fundamental questions: How have constructions of regional identity been deployed to shape public memories of civil rights events in Greensboro? Conversely, how do manifestations of public memory sustain or challenge the most prevalent ideas about Greensboro's regional identity? I take up these questions across analyses of three episodes when public memories of civil rights in Greensboro have been contested. These case studies demonstrate that Greensboro's progressive regional identity is maintained through a rhetoric of exceptionalism that disconnects the city from its larger contexts and reduces the ability of public memories of Greensboro's past to speak to contemporary problems of racism and inequality. Attention to regional identity is one way that rhetoricians can examine what gives power to a particular construction of public memory. I argue that region is a tool we can use to explore the complexities of cases of public memory especially those cases in which multiple versions of memory are competing for traction or significance. Ultimately, this dissertation offers rhetoricians a model for using critical regionalism to analyze public memory conflicts.
Region and Remembrance: Public Memories of Civil Rights in Greensboro, North Carolina asks how powerful ideas about place can shape our public memories. Greensboro, North Carolina has been the site of civil rights victories, most notably the 1960 lunch counter sit-ins. It has also been the site of tragedy and racist violence, including a 1979 shooting when KKK members murdered five protesters from the Communist Workers Party. During the twentieth century, Greensboro developed a reputation as a progressive Southern city, and that powerful narrative shapes many residents perceptions of the citys civil rights past. At the same time, that narrative suppresses counter-memories. This dissertation explores the relationship between Greensboros progressive reputation and its civil rights past by engaging two fundamental questions: How have constructions of regional identity been deployed to shape public memories of civil rights events in Greensboro? Conversely, how do manifestations of public memory sustain or challenge the most prevalent ideas about Greensboros regional identity? I take up these questions across analyses of three episodes when public memories of civil rights in Greensboro have been contested. These case studies demonstrate that Greensboros progressive regional identity is maintained through a rhetoric of exceptionalism that disconnects the city from its larger contexts and reduces the ability of public memories of Greensboros past to speak to contemporary problems of racism and inequality. Attention to regional identity is one way that rhetoricians can examine what gives power to a particular construction of public memory. I argue that region is a tool we can use to explore the complexities of cases of public memoryespecially those cases in which multiple versions of memory are competing for traction or significance. Ultimately, this dissertation offers rhetoricians a model for using critical regionalism to analyze public memory conflicts.
Few photographers have left such an indelible mark on a community as did Carol W. Martin and Malcolm A. Miller on Greensboro, North Carolina. Both men beginning their careers in the newspaper trade, Martin and Miller later embarked together on a private photography business, Martin's Studio, which endeavored to capture, besides studio portrait shots, public scenes of everyday life around town, various social functions, and the city's major events, such as local celebrations and parades, catastrophic fires, and famous visiting personalities. On display in the Greensboro Historical Museum beginning in January 2000, their extraordinary work serves as a fitting tribute to Greensboro's diverse history and guarantees that these two men will be remembered as the town's most remarkable visual historians of the twentieth century. Divided in the same manner as the exhibit, Martin's and Miller's Greensboro showcases every aspect of the city's life: images of street scenes, vanished sections of town and forgotten buildings, school life, local children, familiar faces, sporting events, businesses, and the community at play. This photographic collection, matched with informative captions, gives insight into the lives of these two photographers and provides an incredible visual history that will allow longtime residents to remember how Greensboro appeared in their own childhoods and allow today's generation a glimpse into the past of their grandparents' and parents' reminiscences and stories.
Remembering Woolworth's brings back to life all the nostalgia and magic of the famous five-and-dime that captured the hearts of Americans for over a century Millions of Americans have fond memories of shopping at Woolworth's, wandering the aisles in search of a humble spool of Woolco thread, festive Christmas decorations, a goldfish or parakeet, or a blue bottle of Evening in Paris perfume. And who could forget the special treat of a grilled-cheese sandwich or ice-cream sundae at the famous lunch counter? These and countless other memories are celebrated in Karen Plunkett-Powell's Remembering Woolworth's. Packed with photos, first-hand remembrances, vivid anecdotes, and a lively, well-researched narrative, the book tells the story of how a poor potato farmer named Frank Woolworth created a merchandising empire that touched the lives of Americans in small towns, big cities, and everywhere in between. Chapters cover the store's humble beginnings, surviving the Great Depression, the civil rights sit-ins, Woolworth's around the globe, the popularity of Woolworth's collectibles, and much more.
Walking along the streets of downtown Greensboro today, we are constantly reminded of those who came before us. Their names grace the city's street signs, businesses, plaques, buildings, and markers, demonstrating to us the extreme growth that has taken place in the 190-year-old history of this, one of North Carolina's most-loved cities. With over two hundred rare images, many never before published, Greensboro takes readers on a delightful journey back to the days when this small town was transformed from a quiet village to a thriving city referred to as both "the denim capital of America," because of its mill; and "the Hartford of the South," due to its insurance industry. Among these pages we meet prominent citizens like the Cones, who founded a textile empire; writer O. Henry; First Lady Dolley Madison; and the famous Greensboro Four, who challenged segregation with their sit-in at Woolworth's lunch counter in 1960. We also visit with everyday people who grew up here and worked in the mills or downtown shops and firms.
Historic First Presbyterian Church Cemetery was established in 1831 and over time has survived vandalism, storms, an earthquake, and threats of removal. It is a lasting remembrance to the early citizens of Greensboro who carved a city out of the wilderness. Originally the cemetery was located on the edge of town, but because of Greensboro's growth, it is now nestled in the center of the cultural district behind the Greensboro Historical Museum. Those buried in the cemetery are from all walks of life-from wealthy to poor, those with doctorate degrees to the illiterate, the famous to those whose names are lost for all time, the newborn to the centenarian, the saint to the sinner, and the slave owner to the abolitionist. The early builders of the city and state and veterans of four wars now rest in the First Presbyterian Church Cemetery.
Photographer Otis Hairston's camera snapped nearly forty years of fond memories and historic Greensboro events--from community gatherings and North Carolina A&T Aggie homecomings to celebrations of the historic 1960 sit-in. This stunning photo collection depicts ordinary people, local heroes and national celebrities as it captures the strength of Greensboro's African American community. Picturing Greensboro is a landmark volume of spectacular images that will be cherished for years to come.
