Is Gov. Mike Easley changing his tune on the lottery? In years of campaigning to get the General Assembly to create a state lottery, the mantra among its promoters was that lottery money wouldn’t be used to replace state funding, but would be in addition to it. Now, however, the governor’s office is saying something […]
Mosi Secret
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Lottery will replace $1B in state money
When Gov. Mike Easley signed the bill establishing a state lottery, it contained language that supported years of promises he made about the purpose and intent of the new source of revenue: “[N]et revenues generated by the lottery shall not supplant revenues already expended or expected to be expended for those public purposes, and lottery […]
Posted inNews
Firing up the faithful
In the evening of Jan. 26, the members of the Halifax County branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, most of them gray-haired and sharply dressed, gathered in a community center in Roanoke Rapids to see the new face of their movement: the Rev. William J. Barber II of Goldsboro, the […]
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Herald-Sun is improving relations with the black community
Black folks in Durham, particularly black elected officials, are getting the sense that the new management of The Herald-Sun is making a concerted effort to improve its relationship with the black community. Editor Bob Ashley has been seen at numerous events and meetings. “I think I’m the only editor of The Herald-Sun that ever sat […]
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in lessons from grandad
“So I speak to the deceased. I call his name: Jesse James Langley Sr., my grandfather. The spoken word is more powerful than we will ever know…. He is listening.” So writes Kenji Jasper in The House on Childress Street, in which Jasper delves into the personal history of his late grandfather and emerges with […]
Posted inArt
Love fest
Although she won’t be offering “Passionate Kisses,” Mary Chapin Carpenter will sit down with Kaye Gibbons to talk about inspiration and mutual admiration. Pat Conroy will chat with Doug Marlette about friendship and collaboration. Robert Olen Butler (Had a Good Time: Stories from American Postcards) and his wife, playwright/novelist Elizabeth Dewberry (His Lovely Wife), will […]
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Racial reconciliation leader is in need
The death last month of C.P. Ellis, former Exalted Cyclops of the Durham Ku Klux Klan, refocused attention on the special relationship he shared with Ann Atwater, a longtime Durham black activist. In a July 1971 forum on the integration of Durham’s schools, Ellis, then an avowed white supremacist, and Atwater, none too fond of […]
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Imperfect harmony
What’s in a song? For the Durham Carolers, a black a cappella group that’s been performing for more than 60 years, it’s a lot more than the lyrics, the harmony and the melody. Like any group with a repertoire and a style that has remained consistent for so long, their songs are laced with history […]
Posted inMusic
In the spirit
The six black men stride single file into Christmas parties wearing dark suits, polished black shoes and bright ties. Their entry quiets the mirth and merriment of gathered celebrators, who, year after year, have joined their friends and family in some of the nicest homes in Durham to be moved by the muscular voices of […]
Posted inGuides
Dr. Evelyn Schmidt
Dr. Evelyn Schmidt is leading the way, any tour of the Lincoln Community Health Center in East Durham will be an educational experience. The tour will wind through the center’s various clinics, past its smiling nurses and medical technicians and its stark, utilitarian examination rooms. You’ll see bands of mostly poor, mostly uninsured folks sitting […]