Commemoration Collection
North Carolinians struggled to make sense of slavery, war, and reconstruction in its aftermath. This collection contains primary sources, mostly documents and still images, that reveals how North Carolinians remembered this turbulent time period. Historical actors in North Carolina authored these primary sources. Students in history classes at North Carolina State University and other contributors added the primary sources to this collection.
D. H. Hill, "Governor John W. Ellis and Secession," 1907
In this excerpt from his Young People's History of North Carolina, D. H. Hill focused on slavery as the cause of secession.
ROTC students view Civil War exhibit at NCSU, 1960
In this photograph, two Reserve Officers' Training Corps students view a Civil War exhibit at D. H. Hill Library at North Carolina State College of…
North Carolina and the Civil War exhibit, 1999-2005
The North Carolina Museum of History in Raleigh, North Carolina, showed an exhibit entitled "North Carolina and the Civil War" from 1999 to 2005. The…
Kelsey Griffin, "The Memory of the Civil War is Hard to Shake," April 29, 2012
I was born in West, Texas, a small town west of Waco. I grew up in Lorena, Texas, but have also lived in Massachusetts, Illinois and North Carolina. …
Seth A. Frederiksen, "All Sides and All Stories Should be Taken into Account," April 29, 2012
Born in Los Angeles and moved to North Carolina to finish my bachelor's in history, I am interested in promoting and elevating the status of history…
Sean Hilliard, "The Confederate Flag," May 7, 2012
I am a graduating senior at NC State University. Having grown up in North Carolina for my entire life and lived in a very racially mixed neighborhood,…
Rachel Huffman, "Plagued by Misinterpretation," May 10, 2012
I am currently finishing up my Junior year at NC State University. I am double majoring in History and Communications with a concentration in Public…
Charles F. Irons, "Hiding Sin behind Virtue is Bad History," Burlington Times-News, October 5, 2006
In this editorial, Charles Irons, history professor at Elon University, demonstrates that slavery was the primary cause of the Civil War. He provides…
North Carolina Museum of History Press Release, "Part Two of Civil War Exhibit Series Opens at NC Museum of History," November 11, 2012
In this press release from the North Carolina Museum of History website, the museum announced the opening of the second part of its exhibit series,…
Steven Boyer, Photographs of the Endor Iron Furnace, 2013
This is a series of images I took of the Endor Iron Furnace which depict its size, and its level of decay over the years.
Michael Moore, Exhibit panel in "From Real to Reel: The Making of Gone with the Wind," 2013
Though it provocatively addresses the racism and romanticization of Gone with the Wind, this panel stands virtually alone in the scheme of the broader…
Michael Moore, Costumes in "From Real to Reel: The Making of Gone with the Wind," 2013
The majority of “From Real to Reel†follows the production process behind Gone with the Wind. Featured artifacts include costumes, posters,…
Michael Moore, Exhibit panel in "North Carolina and the Civil War," 2013
This panel illustrates a tone that, while accurate in its portrayals of the atrocities of the American Civil War, functions more in a context which…
Michael Moore, Exhibit case in "North Carolina and the Civil War," 2013
Material artifacts in the exhibit also mask efforts to seriously question the ideology of Confederate soldiers. In this case, battlefield hospitals…
Michael Moore, Exhibit panel in "North Carolina in Crisis," 2013
This panel challenges the general assumption that all North Carolinians believed in and fought for the Confederacy. Here, the stories of North…
Michael Moore, Exhibit case in "North Carolina in Crisis," 2013
This mannequin presents a powerful image to the visitor who might expect interpretive efforts to be entirely focused on the Civil War as experienced…
Steven Boyer, Save Endor, March 30, 2013
This image taken by me depicts a parade float and banner used to draw attention to the ongoing effort to restore the Endor Iron Furnace.
Stefanie King, Confederate Monument in Pittsboro, November 22, 2012
This is a photograph of the Confederate Monument that stands in front of the Courthouse in Pittsboro, North Carolina. It was erected in 1907 by the…
Michael Moore, Exhibit panel (2) in "Real to Reel," 2013
This panel briefly addressed the “aftermath†of the Atlanta premiere by discussing frustration over racial stereotypes among the African American…
Michael Moore, Exhibit case (2) in "North Carolina and the Civil War," 2013
Weaponry displayed in “The Civil War in North Carolina†no doubt remained a proverbial crowd-pleaser, but did little to add to the interpretive…
Michael Moore, Exhibit display in "North Carolina in Crisis," 2013
A life-size statue of a weeping widow in front of a graveyard sat at the conclusion of “North Carolina in Crisis.†While the power of such an…
Michael Moore, Exhibit case in "Living Together," 2013
Exhibit displays such as this one in “Living Together†provided an important historical contextualization for the following exhibit, “North…
Blake Cooper, Exhibit at North Carolina Museum of History, 2013
This exhibit display is about Lydia, the rented slave who was shot in the back by John Mann. This case was first ruled in Chowan County, NC and then…
Confederate Women's Monument (1914)
The monument is dedicated to women's efforts during the Civil War. It depicts a women seated with a young boy beside her. He is holding a sword, and…