The State of Things

Charlie Thompson wanted to learn more about his grandfather’s history in moonshine, so began investigating his hometown and the “Moonshine Capital of the World,” Franklin County, Virginia. What he found was a complicated picture of poverty and necessity juxtaposed with a hierarchy of power that was revealed during a famous conspiracy trial in 1935.

Visualize a Civil War soldier and a sepia colored picture of a white man likely comes to mind. But thousands of African Americans in North Carolina served in the Union Army during the Civil War. They trained in the town of New Bern after its fall in March 1962.

During the Civil War, the South lost the Battle of New Bern and the area became occupied by thousands of Union forces. New Bern is home to many historic sites, including the storied Tryon Palace. As part of our North Carolina Voices series on the Civil War, Host Frank Stasio talks to Kay Williams, director of Tryon Palace, about the new battle facing New Bern's tourism gem - the state budget calls for massive cuts to Tryon Palace starting in fewer than 20 days.

Heather Williams experienced racism for the first time when she moved to Brooklyn from Jamaica at 11 years old. That’s when she discovered that black was considered bad in the United States, though she didn't know why. Her high school library’s Black Studies section began her education in racial history. Her fascination with the subject would lead her to one day become a civil rights lawyer, and later, a teacher of history.