Explore N.C. History Topic Ideas

In 1971, Durham held a ten-day “charrette” called “Save Our Schools (S.O.S.).” Federally-funded, the charrette’s method was a new approach meant to bring Durham residents together to find solutions and address problems integrating Durham’s schools. Its two co-chairs formed an unlikely friendship - one being president of the local KKK chapter and the other being a prominent local civil rights activist.

Starting in 1584 the English tried to establish colonies on the coast of current day North Carolina. The "New World" was seen as a frontier to the English, but that was not the case to the many people who already lived here in established communities. Two of these people, Manteo and Wanchese, even traveled to England which would have been a frontier from their perspective. Primary source material on this topic is harder to find and is predominately, if not all, from the English's perspective. However, piecing together this part of our history from Manteo or Wanchese's perspective could be a unique approach, and a chance to present a different side of a very famous story. Click here to see how to properly cite the secondary source article linked below in a bibliography.

North Carolina had at least two pioneers in X-Ray technology - Henry Louis Smith who did early experiments in North Carolina at Davidson College and Margaret Kennedy Goodwin who did early work in radiology. Either Smith or Goodwin could make an interesting topic for this year's theme.