The Carolinian Newspaper

07/05/2024

The Black Girl Art Show Pulls Into Raleigh Union Station
By: Dominique Heath (Guest Columnist)
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The Black Girl Art Show held in Raleigh, North Carolina, on June 30th, celebrated the art and achievements of Black women artists, drawing attention to their creativity and passion through a diverse exhibition ranging from paintings to digital art. This event served as more than an art showcase; it was a movement promoting empowerment, heritage, and unity among artists and attendees alike. Including live performances and workshops, the show underscored the importance of community and art as tools for social change, leaving a lasting impact on all participants. Its success in Raleigh points to a promising future for the traveling show, furthering its mission to uplift Black women artists nationwide and demonstrating art’s power to inspire and unite.

See our Instagram and Facebook, , for footage of the event.

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07/05/2024

Hundreds attended the 37th Annual HBCU Scholarship Banquet in the RTP. The Keynote speaker was the new chancellor of NCCU, Dr. Karrie Dixon. Jasmine Jackson, a sophomore at ECSU, explains how the scholarship from the NC Legislative Black Caucus Foundation assisted her education. She is majoring in Kinesiology with a minor in public health.

The goal of the NC LBCF is to provide scholarships to students at all 10 public and private Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in North Carolina. Since 2010, over $1.9 million in scholarships have been awarded.

Mathias Bishop Photos

07/04/2024

The Often Overlooked Contributions Of Many Black Revolutionary War Patriots
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By: Jordan Meadows (Staff Writer)

Before the American Revolution, numerous freed African Americans supported the anti-British cause. One of the most notable figures was Crispus Attucks, a multiracial sailor who had escaped slavery and is believed to be the first person killed in the Boston Massacre in 1770. Both free and enslaved Black Americans also served in local militias, particularly in the North, defending their communities against Native American attacks.

As the Revolution unfolded, some Black men had already joined the rebels as minutemen — members of organized militia companies in New England trained in weaponry, tactics, and military strategies during the war. These minutemen were renowned for their readiness to mobilize at a moment’s notice. They were prepared to be called into action if British troops in Boston initiated hostilities.

In 1775, General Washington initially prohibited African Americans from serving in the Continental Army, but later reversed his decision due to pressing manpower needs. Some slave owners permitted enslaved individuals to enlist in exchange for promises of freedom, although many were returned to slavery after the war’s end.

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07/03/2024

RALEIGH - A new office to promote and celebrate North Carolina music, musicians and the music industry is being established within the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, Governor Roy Cooper announced.

The new North Carolina Music Office will facilitate a multitude of music-based programming and investments across the state; enhance economic development spurred by creative economies; further attract music industry investments; and increase awareness of the state’s vibrant music heritage, culture, and education. North Carolina joins a small number of states that have a state-supported music office, including Texas, Louisiana and Tennessee. Governor Cooper made the announcement and issued a proclamation during an event for Make Music Day, a global music celebration.

“North Carolina’s vibrant music industry is a key part of our state’s creative economy, driving economic growth and supporting nearly 45,000 jobs,” said Governor Roy Cooper. “An official N.C. Music Office will support this growing and important industry.”

07/02/2024

Organization Spotlight: National Sales Network Raleigh
By: Ms Jheri Worldwide (Staff Writer)
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According to Zippier, “The most common ethnicity among sales people is White, which makes up 56.2% of all sales people. Comparatively, 19.7% of sales people are Hispanic or Latino and 10.7% of sales people are Black or African American.” By employing a database of 30 million profiles, Zippia’s sales person estimates are verified against Bureau of Labor Statistics, Census, and current job openings data for accuracy.

Well over two million sales people are currently employed in America, emotional intelligence and business stamina are constantly tested, as with many avenues of the Black American experience. The resilience it takes to be in sales can be jarring to the most persistent among us. To overcome adversity in the office and out in the field can truly challenge the most patient and outgoing sales professional. Let’s look at an example.

Evelyn Smith Booker, in her book “A Winner in Spite of…”, shared about her experience as a media sales professional, “I distinctly remember the interview with the station manager. After a series of exchanges, he asked me if I felt being African American and female would negatively impact my performance on the team. I responded that I considered both to be assets, positives, and that clients were interested in once color - green - and how our reach could bring them more customers. I told him that the client’s bottom line was what kind of return they could expect from their investment … The ultimate decision was that I was their top candidate, and I was hired for the position.”

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07/02/2024

Citizen Spotlight: Dara Baldwin Is Living In Her Purpose
By Ms Jheri Worldwide (Staff Writer)
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Our next citizen spotlight highlights a Durham native with a unique eye for beauty and art! Early on, Dara Baldwin was able to explore painting, drawing, and sculpture in various art classes while attending Durham School of the Arts. Dara explained, “I received a very close to college level of exposure to the arts with full facilities, my parents were also supportive and let me draw or paint instead of being social.” A graduate of Savannah College of Art and Design studying art history and museum studies, Dara then transferred to UNC-Chapel Hill to complete her BA in Art History in 2018.

Dara is deeply rooted in the North Carolina culture and art, “During my time at SCAD, I had a year of online classes, so I interned at Historic Stagville. My final project was to curate an exhibition about arts in the enslaved communities, the focus ended up going toward quilting and textiles because that was where the majority of information led me. So I did research and was able to borrow quilts from the African American Quilting Society in Durham and display my research of markets along the coast, as well as some inventories from Stagville and other nearby locations. I have worked at a couple of local art stores, ARTPost (on Iredell Street in Durham), and the Scrap Exchange where I helped with outreach events.”

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07/01/2024

The 2nd Anniversary of Dobbs Decision Spurs Biden Campaign Advocates Lineup
By: Jordan Meadows (Staff Writer)
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Monday marked the second anniversary of the Supreme Court’s landmark Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision. This ruling overturned the long-standing precedent on abortion laws set by Roe v. Wade. On Friday morning in Raleigh, the Biden campaign orchestrated a press conference that made abortion access a central issue.

Democrats strategically linked former President Donald Trump to the Dobbs decision in a bid to energize voter turnout for November. During the event, Governor Roy Cooper and U.S. Representatives Deborah Ross (NC-02) and Valerie Foushee (NC-04) criticized Trump, portraying him as the driving force behind the Dobbs ruling. Trump has boasted about his role, attributing it to his appointments of three Supreme Court justices who aligned with the majority decision.

“We broke Roe v. Wade. And we did something that nobody thought was possible: we gave it back to the States. And the states are working very brilliantly — in some cases conservative, in some cases not conservative — but they’re working and it’s working the way it’s supposed to,” Trump said.

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06/30/2024

J.W. Ligon Class Of 1972 Walks Across The Stage After 52 Years

On June 12, 2024, the J.W. Ligon Jr./Sr. High School Class of 1972 had their wish come true when they walked across the Ligon Stage and received a Graduation Certificate of Recognition. The Class of 1972 attended Ligon for two years, and they have always regretted that they were unable to graduate from Ligon, because it was changed to a Magnet Middle School. Janet Jones Jeffries, made Ligon Magnet School administrators, Gary Duvall, Principal, and Meghan Retseck, Event Planner Coordinator, aware of this during the 70th Anniversary Roundtable discussion.

On the day of the Roundtable discussion, April 12, 2024, Meghan Retseck told Janet Jeffries that she was invited to take her Graduation Walk across the Ligon Stage during the 8th Grade Moving Up Graduation Ceremony with 150 plus students.

There are no words to describe how excited Janet was about this, and she started right away letting the other classmates of 1972 know how special this honor would be.

Students from the J.W. Ligon Class of 1972, one by one received a Certificate of Recognition, shook Gary Duvall’s hand, the Principal, and took “their long-awaited walk” across the Ligon Stage after 52-years including: Linda Mial Burt, Pauline Hall Dunn, Lucille Duel Fowler, Joan Griffith, King David Harris, Brenda Jeffers, Delorise Davis Jeffries, Janet Jones Jeffries, Claude Lee, Dovie Banks Saunders, and Kenneth Singletary. It was a day in history that will never be forgotten by these students, and they were just as proud and happy, as they would have been 52-eyars ago.

06/30/2024

Wake County Library Bond Projects
By Ms Jheri Worldwide (Staff Writer)
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On the November 5th ballot Wake County voters will vote on a $142 million bond referendum for Wake County Public Libraries. “By investing in the future of our public libraries, we are ensuring they remain hubs of learning and enrichment for generations to come,” Commissioner Vickie Adamson has stated. Libraries are the cornerstone of communities and literacy is directly tied to the social and economic outcomes of citizens. This library bond is an important conversation that we should be aware of.

Via their website: “Currently, almost all Wake County residents live within 20 minutes of a Wake County Public Libraries facility. Nearly 99% have a 15-minute travel time, and 84.7% are within 10 minutes of a branch. Projects funded by the proposed bond would bring the percentage of Wake County residents in that 10-minute category up to 87%.”

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Wake County offices will be closed Wednesday, June 19, in observance of Juneteenth. Some locations may have altered schedules. Check our Holiday Schedule for more information.

06/29/2024

18th Annual Minority Farmers And Land Owners Conference
By: Jordan Meadows (Staff Writer)
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The 18th annual Minority Farmers & Land Owners Conference was held in Raleigh from Thursday to Saturday. The event drew over 300 farmers, landowners, and ranchers from across the state.

The focus of the conference was addressing issues, concerns, and challenges related to achieving farming goals and objectives, particularly those affected by the 2023 Farm Bill—a legislative package updated approximately every five years that profoundly influences farming practices, food production, and agricultural diversity.

Sponsored by prominent institutions such as the North Carolina Department of Agriculture, Smithfield Foods, and Alcorn State University, the conference featured numerous booths in the common foyer. Participating organizations included the North Carolina Forest Service, Farm Bureau North Carolina, Economic Club of Africa, and the Black Belt Justice Center. Representatives from Shaw University and NC A&T University, along with representatives from the Josh Stein campaign, were also present at the conference.

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06/28/2024

The North Carolina FC and the Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC met in a USL-1 regular season soccer match at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, N.C. on June 22, 2024. The teams battled to a 0-0 tie. The game has the NCFC at a 4-5 win loss record with 6 draws.

Steve Worthy Photos

06/28/2024

The International African American Museum In Charleston, SC
By: By Ms Jheri Worldwide (Staff Writer)
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The never-ending search for our history as African Americans has a new safe space for us to visit for education, research, reassurance, and growth. The International African American Museum has been open for less than a year and explores the journey of a people brought by force from Africa to the Americas. The content of the architecturally intriguing space is moving and well-curated, the story is told but also felt by all who enter this sacred establishment. Speaking to the continuing legacy of descendants throughout South Carolina, the United States, and the global African Diaspora, this is truly an enlightening and empowering place and a must-see when visiting Charleston, South Carolina. Notable top contributors to this venture include The Boeing Company, the City of Charleston, the State of South Carolina, Dominion Energy, Song Group Corporation, the Mellon Foundation and many others listed on the website.

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06/27/2024

The Rise of Graffiti: A Look at Its History and Cultural Impact
By: Jordan Meadows (Staff Writer)
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The early roots of modern graffiti can be traced back to the 1920s on boxcars, but its contemporary movement emerged predominantly in the 1960s through the initiatives of political activists and gang members. The pioneering era of graffiti occurred between 1969 and 1974, primarily centered in New York City. Graffiti artists during this period aimed to achieve maximum visibility by tagging numerous locations across the city.

Graffiti refers to writing or drawings inscribed or sprayed illicitly on walls or other public surfaces. It ranges from simple words to intricate murals and remains a persistent issue for cities due to its defacement of public spaces.

One notable figure from the rise in Graffiti was TAKI 183, a youth from Washington Heights, Manhattan, employed as a foot messenger. His tag, TAKI, derived from his name Demetrius (Demetraki), and his street number, 183rd. Constantly traveling on the subway, TAKI 183 began placing his tags throughout his routes, garnering media attention with a 1971 article in The New York Times. Another early graffiti artist, Julio 204, though less recognized outside the graffiti subculture at the time, also contributed to the movement’s early development.

During this period, there was a shift from graffiti appearing mainly on city streets to becoming prominent on subways. Competition among graffiti artists also began to emerge, with the primary goal being to spread as many tags and pieces (known as bombs) across various locations.

Artists started to break into subway yards to paint trains, aiming to cover them extensively with larger, more intricate artworks on the sides of subway cars, often with reduced risk compared to painting in public spaces.

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06/26/2024

SNCC’s Impact On Civil Rights History
By: Jordan Meadows (Staff Writer)
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In the early 1960s, young Black college students across America staged sit-ins to protest restaurant segregation. Civil rights activist Ella Baker, an official with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), convened a meeting in April 1960 at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina. Participants included notable activists Diane Nash, Marion Barry, John Lewis, and James Bevel.

The conference was attended by 126 student delegates representing 58 sit-in centers across 12 states, as well as 19 northern colleges, and delegates from several prominent organizations including the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR), the National Student Association (NSA), and Students for a Democratic Society (SDS).

Out of this gathering emerged the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), primarily composed of Black college students committed to nonviolent direct action protests. Baker advised SNCC to maintain its independence from affiliations with the SCLC and other civil rights organizations. SNCC played pivotal roles in several significant civil rights campaigns during the 1960s. Among their earliest endeavors was the Freedom Rides of 1961, where members challenged segregated interstate travel, enduring violent attacks from the Ku Klux Klan and law enforcement, and numerous arrests.

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06/19/2024

Celebrating Freedom and Community. This Juneteenth, we honor the enduring spirit and rich heritage of our ancestors. As a proud Black family-owned newspaper for 84 years, The Carolinian Newspaper is more than a publication; we are a living legacy of resilience and progress. Today, let's reflect on the path trodden and the journey ahead. Join us in embracing our history, advocating for justice, and celebrating the achievements of the African American community. Happy Juneteenth to all our readers and supporters!

06/19/2024

Citizen Spotlight: Auntie Bev Speaks
By Jheri Worldwide
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Our next citizen spotlight is a content creator known widely as “Auntie Bev Vocabulary Builder.” Words matter and communication skills are essential. I often follow folks on social media who value words and communicate in innovative, creative ways. One day, the algorithm blessed me with Auntie Bev. Since following Beverly Mahone I’ve learned new words, gained a better grasp of how to leverage language, and deep in the comments have found others who value grammar and language just as much to connect with.

Hailing from Ohio, Beverly and her husband of over 18 years are longtime North Carolina residents. Auntie Bev’s love of communications runs deep. A veteran journalist with over 30 years in the industry on TV and radio, Mahone has kept journals of words that now influence her content and online lessons to help people of all ages and walks of life learn. As we discussed her teaching style across Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok Auntie Bev emphasized, “We don’t all learn the same, the way I learned is not the way to teach young people today. I think the old ways are dead and gone. To teach young people today, you have to educate and entertain so they can be empowered to receive.”

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06/18/2024

Next Up Coaches Conference
By: Jordan Meadows (Staff Writer)
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LeVelle Moton, the men’s basketball coach at North Carolina Central, and Mike Tomlin, head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, organized the inaugural Next Up Coaches Conference in Raleigh on Thursday and Friday. The event welcomed coaches, administrators, and hiring firms to exchange insights and advice on career advancement in the field.

Moton, a native of Raleigh and the longest-tenured Division I men’s basketball coach at a Historically Black College and University, said that helping other coaches develop is mandatory, and emphasized the importance of giving back, considering it not only a social duty but a moral imperative.

“It’s not only a social responsibility for us, it’s a moral obligation. Someone helped us along the way. People ask me all the time why I do so much, and the answer is simple. Because so much was done for me,” said Moton. His sentiments echoed Tomlin’s approach, drawing inspiration from the latter’s success, including the Steelers’ triumph in the 2008 Super Bowl. Moton’s connection with Tomlin traced back to their mutual acquaintance, John Calipari, the former University of Kentucky coach.

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06/17/2024

Supersizing Success: The Holder Family’s McDonald’s
By: Jordan Meadows (Staff Writer)

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In 1990, encouraged by a TV ad featuring McDonald’s operator Robert Lee Dunham, former Flight Attendant Deborah Holder from New York was drawn to the notion of owning a McDonald’s franchise. After connecting with Dunham, she embarked on a rigorous 2.5-year unpaid training spanning from burger flipping to attending Hamburger University, preparing her for franchise ownership's challenges. Her husband, Will Holder, transitioned from law enforcement to join her in this endeavor, bringing a firm understanding of the import of preparation, inspired by Ray Kroc's legacy.

By 1992, they broke new ground with the first-ever McDonald’s in LaGuardia Airport. Years later, their daughter, Amanda Giles, after a detour from a potential career in public health, embraced the family business, bringing a fresh perspective, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic with enhanced safety measures. The Holder family’s collective journey reflects a deep dedication to hands-on business acumen, community engagement, and pursuing excellence within the McDonald’s franchise system, while also navigating the complexities of modern business challenges and aiming for both expansion and meaningful societal contributions.

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06/16/2024

Celebrating all the amazing dads out there—whether you're a father, grandfather, uncle, or play any role in nurturing and shaping lives, we’re sending love and happiness your way.

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06/16/2024

AKA Sorority Incorporated (R) May Mental Health Awareness
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Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated ® Alpha Theta Omega Chapter’s Build Our Economic Wealth and Empower Our Families Initiatives and Disaster Relief sponsored a program for May’s Mental Health Awareness month entitled “Prioritizing the Mental Well-Being of Women in the Workforce” on May 16, 2024.

The program included three panelists who shared their insight and expertise. The first panelist who was anonymous spoke from the heart about her serious condition, Graves Disease. She shared her story of being in denial about her condition for years. She now suffers with anxiety, which she constantly battles. She created a safe place for others to share about their mental health.

The second panelist, Alley Richardson; Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor of Animal Assisted Therapy of the Triangle shared information on issues unique to women, such as pregnancy, menopause, and postpartum depression. The main takeaway from her discussion was to seek help early.

The third panelist was Andrea Clinkscales, Division Director of Total Rewards of Office of State Human Resources. Her main points were your right to Employee Assistance Program, Family Medical Leave, and Short/Long Term Disability. She suggests contacting Human Resources if these resources are needed.

The event was successful and well attended. Attendees were provided with meaningful information to apply as they take steps in prioritizing their well-being in the workplace.

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06/15/2024

Old Hillside Bourbon Company Celebrates 4th Anniversary
By Ms Jheri Worldwide (Staff Writer)
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June first marked four years since four black men with roots in Durham, North Carolina created Old Hillside Bourbon Company. “Founded in friendship” and rooted in American history, to watch these men work together and build successfully is a testament to what the right team can do. As we all know, together, everyone achieves more. Named in honor of Hillside High School, the historic black institution in North Carolina and the oldest black high school that still exists, Old Hillside Bourbon is not only delicious and flavorful, but the depth of the flavor reflects the deep roots of the brand.

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