This marker is on the side of the road in a mostly residential area. As is customary with North…read moreCarolina's markers, there is a little bit of information on the sign and more of it online. The marker reads, "John Chavis, ca 1762-1838. African American teacher, preacher, & Revolutionary War veteran. Taught free black & prominent white students in school nearby." Online, "The marker, originally approved and erected in 1938 (the centennial of Chavis's death), was the first one in the North Carolina Highway Historical Marker Program dedicated to African American history." "John Chavis, born around 1763 in Virginia, was a prominent free black preacher and educator in and around the Raleigh area from 1810 onwards. Chavis was raised in Virginia and had an extensive education for the time period, likely the best education of any African American of his day in North Carolina. He is best known for his classical teaching in Raleigh, educating children of all races and from all different backgrounds. In 1832 free blacks lost many of their rights in North Carolina, and Chavis lost his freedom to preach and to teach. He died in 1838, having lived and worked as a respected member of society amongst all races of people. Chavis is considered by many historians to be the first free black to demonstrate to white slaveowners the abilities of blacks in formal education." [Review 11914 overall, 1696 of 2019.]

North Carolina could do a better job on their historical markers and this one is an example of…read moreneeding improvement. The very small marker reads, "President of Raleigh and Gaston Railroad; president of the State Bank; publisher of the Raleigh 'Minerva' 1803-1810. Home is 3 blks. S.W." If you go online, you'll find much more information on the webpage for the marker. "William Boylan, a journalist and planter, was born in 1777 in Somerset County, New Jersey, the son of John and Elizabeth Boylan. In 1796 he moved to Fayetteville to enter the newspaper printing business with his uncle, Abraham Hodge, the publisher of the North Carolina Minerva and the Fayetteville Advertiser. Three years later he moved to Raleigh, where he began printing tracts for the Federalist Party. In 1803 he began publishing the newspaper Minerva which continued in press until 1820, although Boylan sold his interests in the paper in 1810." There's more online and I think you'll be culturally richer for reading it. [Review 11628 overall, 1409 of 2019.]

This marker is located along a busy street near the center of Durham. It points out the history of…read morea local citizen who did great things and should be remembered. The marker reads, "First African American female Episcopal priest; lawyer, activist, poet, & human rights champion. Wrote Proud Shoes, 1956. Childhood home 1/4 mile south." Online, there is more information. "Anna Pauline (Pauli) Murray, lawyer, professor, writer, outspoken civil and gender rights activist, and Episcopal priest, was born in Baltimore. When she was three years old, her mother died and, as her father was confined to a state hospital, she went to live with her aunt, and namesake, Pauline Fitzgerald Dame of Durham. She graduated at sixteen from segregated Hillside High School as valedictorian. "Murray enrolled at Richmond Hill High School in New York, the only black student, to complete high school. Determined to attend an integrated college, but unable to meet stringent requirements, academic and financial, at Barnard, she matriculated at Hunter College. She worked briefly at Camp Tera, a New Deal work project, there meeting Eleanor Roosevelt, who would be a guiding force in her life. "In 1938 she applied to the University of North Carolina to study sociology. Her application, against state law which required "separate but equal" institutions, garnered national attention. Her unsuccessful campaign for admission was the first time that she experienced what she would later summarize in saying that one woman with a typewriter constitutes a movement. "Despite having served jail time for refusing to sit at the back of a bus in Virginia, Murray was admitted to Howard Law School in 1941 where she experienced discrimination due to her gender rather than her race. When awarded a fellowship to pursue advanced legal education, she was rejected by Harvard, again, because of her gender. She went to California to study for a master's in law. Later she would wonder which was the bigger obstacle to her legal career, race or gender. "Murray published State's Laws on Race and Color in 1951. Thurgood Marshall called the work "the Bible for civil rights lawyers." Her second book, a biographical account, was Proud Shoes: The Story of an American Family (1956). In 1960 she travelled to Ghana to teach law at the University of Ghana and later authored the first English-language textbook on law in Africa. "Murray worked for civil rights and women's organizations, helped found the National Organization of Women (NOW), and was appointed by President John F. Kennedy to the Committee on Civil and Political Rights within his Commission on the Status of Women. She remained critical of the lack of leadership roles for women in many of the organizations. She published a volume of poetry, Dark Testament, in 1970. "In 1977 Murray became the first African American female Episcopal priest in the United States, and held her first Eucharist at the Chapel of the Cross in Chapel Hill, where her grandmother had been baptized as a slave. About the special day she wrote, "All the strands of my life had come together." Pauli Murray died on July 1, 1985, in Pittsburgh. She is buried in Cypress Hill Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York. Her autobiography, Song in a Weary Throat: An American Pilgrimage, was published in 1987." [Review 63 of 2025 - 4038 in North Carolina - 23631 overall]

This is not an official state of North Carolina marker but it still points out some important…read morehistory of the area. The marker reads, "In the late 1860s freed slaves founded Oberlin, the largest Reconstruction-era black settlement in Wake County. By 1880 some 160 families lived in Oberlin Village, named in tribute to the Ohio college that supported education for Negroes. They established Wilson Temple United Methodist Church in the late 1860s, Oberlin School about 1873, Oberlin Baptist Church about 1880, and Latta University about 1892. They buried their loved ones at Oberlin Cemetery (est. 1873), which exists 400 feet to the east/north east." In 1858, Jesse Pettiford, a free Black tenant farmer, purchased 16 acres of land along New Hillsborough Road west of Raleigh. After the Civil War, Lewis Peck, a wealthy white grocer, divided his farm into lots and sold them to African Americans at about $50 per acre. This area became known as Peck's Place and later Oberlin Village. Oberlin Village is a testament to the resilience and determination of its residents, who built a thriving community from the ground up. It stands as one of the longest-surviving and most intact Reconstruction-Era freedmen's colonies in North Carolina. [Review 2461 of 2024 - 3916 in North Carolina - 23473 overall]

This well-preserved marker is not listed on the official North Carolina highway markers site. I…read moredon't know who installed it, but I'm glad they did. It reads, "Melville B. Cox, 1799-1833. Minister of Edenton Street Methodist Church, 1831. First American Methodist Missionary to Africa, 1833. 'Let a thousand fall before Africa be given up.'" Online, I learn that Melville Beveridge Cox was born near Hollowell, Maine. He had a tough and short life. He contracted tuberculosis and was unable to preach. His wife and young daughter died of cholera and then he volunteered as missionary where he was sent to Liberia. He organized the first Methodist Episcopal church among the immigrants (freed slaves from the United States). He established a mission at Grand Bassa and another along the Niger with a school of agriculture and art. A month later, he contracted malaria and refused to return to America. He was dead within four months of his arrival in Africa. I am glad that he is remembered. [Review 11733 overall, 1515 of 2019.]

For the past three years, Husband & I have attended Preservation Chapel Hill's "Voices From The…read moreGrave" at this fascinating cemetery. This is a great way to experience its' history! Deep Dish Theater company puts on this dignified "show". A Tour Guide leads you to several different graves where Actors bring to life in an informative and entertaining way, that person's story. The writing this year was extra good, and the acting as well! So interesting!!! It is conducted at night, so you do have to be a bit careful walking around, but each group has a couple lanterns to help with that. Parking can be a PAIN since it's on campus and last year the night we went had a game going on to complicate that issue. Just allow extra time for dealing with that...we just know we'll have to walk a distance. This year we did notice there is a parking garage next to the cemetery, but can't attest to the availability of it. We walk. TIP: This event has been taking place in October...look for Living Social deals around that time...it is a VERY affordable event, and well-worth the small amount of money it costs.

I have visited this historic cemetery a number of times over the years. It is very old (founded in…read more1798), quite peaceful and attractive, and is located just across South Road from old Woollen Gym. There are many famous folks buried here, including legendary North Carolina basketball coach Dean Smith, band leader Kay Kyser, playwright Paul Green, novelists Alice Adams and Max Steele, university president Frank Porter Graham, university president Robert Burton House, university system president William Friday, and CBS newsman Charles Kuralt. I came on this day to pay my respects to Coach Smith, and Coach Guthridge (who's ashes were scattered in the adjacent Memorial Grove portion of the cemetery). It took awhile to find Coach Smith's plot as it still has no headstone or marker of any kind, other than the simple funeral home plaque - a bit surprising since it has been almost 18 months since his passing.

This small marker on the street facing the State Capitol remembers the birthplace of our 17th…read morePresident. Born here but moved to Tennessee at an early age, he was a successful tailor before election to the state legislature and then governor of Tennessee before he was US Senator from the Volunteer State from 1856 to 1862. Lincoln selected him an an attempt to heal the nation following the Civil War. He was Lincoln's running mate in the 1864 election and then President Johnson took office following Lincoln's assassination in 1865. He is remembered as a strict Constitutionalist but also among the worst Presidents for his strong opposition to federally guaranteed rights for African-Americans. Still, it's history. The birthplace referenced in the marker is indeed a mile away in Mordecai Historic Park, but the provenance of that building is... questionable... as it's been moved and rebuilt a couple of times. The marker reads: ANDREW JOHNSON, 1808-1875. President of the United States, 1865-69. Born near here in a kitchen now located 1 mile N.E.

This brief marker in south Raleigh is in front of the Dorothea Dix Hospital. It reads, "Authorized…read more1849, largely through work of Dorothea L. Dix, crusader for better care of the mentally ill. 500 yards southwest." Online, more information.... Dorothea Dix Hospital is a monument to the constant efforts of Dorothea Dix, who worked to accommodate the needs of the mentally ill within American society. Dix's proposal for a mental asylum in North Carolina took root after her success in establishing hospitals in other states, including Tennessee. The first patient arrived in February 1856 and by the beginning of the Civil War, there were 193 patients on the premises. Today, the hospital accommodates 682 patients and a staff of 1300. [Review 12192 overall, 1976 of 2019.]