NC Democracy: Eleven Elections

Join us for a special evening with Martha S. Jones, Professor of History at Johns Hopkins University and author of Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All, winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in History.

The book explores how Black women fought for voting rights and representation long before and after passage of the Nineteenth Amendment. In it, she draws on her own family connections to Bennett College and her grandmother’s work to support voter education campaigns here in the Gate City.

This 2024 Dortch Endowment Event is free and open to the public. Signing to follow talk with copies for sale from Scuppernong Books.

The Dortch Endowment was established in 1985 in memory of Greensboro attorney John Johnson Dortch to enhance the museum’s offerings for the community with engaging programs, each with ties to regional history and museum collections. This program is also made possible thanks to the generous support of the Women’s Professional Forum Foundation of Greensboro. 

2024 Wicker Endowment Lecture: Malinda Maynor Lowery
April 11, 2024
Historian, author, and filmmaker Malinda Maynor Lowery discusses “The Lumbees’ Long Fight to Reimagine Democracy.” Lowery is Cahoon Family Professor of American History at Emory University. Her books include The Lumbee Indians: An American Struggle. Free program in partnership with UNCG Department of History and Guilford Native American Association.

Reconstruction History Reconsidered
October 12, 2023
Celebrated historian Fergus M. Bordewich discusses his new book KLAN WAR: Ulysses S. Grant and the Battle to Save Reconstruction at the Greensboro History Museum for the annual Dortch series. KLAN WAR looks at the rise of the white supremacist terrorist organization immediately following the Civil War and the battles undertaken at federal and state levels to combat horrific acts against newly emancipated Black Americans and their white allies, including in North Carolina. Panel discussion with UNC Greensboro professors Mark Elliott and Deborah H. Barnes follows.

Lifted Voices: Civic Season
June 24, 2023
Celebrate the season of civic engagement between Juneteenth and July Fourth at the museum as living history interpreters share stories from the NC Democracy: Eleven Elections exhibition. Drop by and wander the museum galleries. You’ll discover
Sarah Dudley Pettey, 19th-century Black journalist and reformer; William Hooper, NC signer of the Declaration of Independence; Abraham Galloway, Union spy, Freedmen’s Convention representative, and NC Senator; Lonnie Revels, Guilford Native American Association founder and Greensboro councilperson; and more! Free, family-friendly program. Join us for history in first person.

GHM After Hours: Gerrymander Madness
April 6, 2023
It’s a night of fun and games plus serious Expert Takes around gerrymandering in NC. Discover what’s behind electoral redistricting with experts from across the state. (Experts include Tyler Daye, Policy and Civic Engagement Manager for Common Cause NC; J. Michael Bitzer, Chair of Political Science at Catawba College and author of the book Redistricting and Gerrymandering in North Carolina: Battle Lines in the Tar Heel State; and Jim Clotfelter, UNCG Vice Chancellor Emeritus & Professor of Political Science Emeritus. Moderated by Robby Hassell, Regional Judicial Outreach Liaison · ABA Judicial Division.) Try your hand at our Gerrymander Madness VR experience and enjoy a live onstage game show. Plus, live jazz duo from UNCG Miles Davis Jazz Studies Program, adult beverages for sale from Little Brother Brewing, and much much more!

Deeper into Democracy: Voting & Elections in NC Today
October 2, 2022
What’s on voters’ minds this fall ahead of midterm elections? How are court decisions shaping the state’s political landscape? How are the latest electoral maps influencing contests? Political scientist Christopher A. Cooper talks with veteran political reporter Lynn Bonner about what may be shaping North Carolinian’s choices this November in a free public program.

Belles of History: Bennett College & the 1960 Sit-Ins
September 25, 2022
Enjoy a live History Notes podcast as host Rodney Dawson, Curator of Education, talks with Bennett Belles who took part in the 1960 Sit-Ins and other Greensboro civil rights protests. Plus, catch a preview of Triad Stage’s world premiere of Rebellious by NC playwright Mike Wiley. Program takes place in partnership with Triad Stage at its Upstairs Cabaret theater. Refreshments served.

History Lunch Break Dine-In: Women’s Equality Day
August 26, 2022
Celebrate Women’s Equality Day with an in-person History Lunch Break at the Greensboro History Museum. Join us for a conversation about North Carolina suffrage stories from the exhibition NC Democracy: Eleven Elections and beyond with Meredith College History Department’s Angela Robbins and Charlotte Hawkins Brown Museum & State Historic Site’s Liz Torres Melendez .

GHM After Hours: Democracy Games Night
July 28, 2022
Play, participate, party! Drop by for fun and games including terribly tricky team Democracy Trivia, an elaborate museum-wide History Scavenger Hunt, a chance to undermine democracy with our Gerrymander Madness VR game and much much more. Plus there will be crafts, a DJ, ZeeYum Kitchen food truck, and delicious beverages for sale from Little Brother Brewing! Bring your friends and enjoy this latest installment of GHM After Hours.

Juneteenth Bike Tour: Pedals and Politics
June 18, 2022
Discover some of East Greensboro’s political pioneers on a five-mile family friendly guided bicycle tour of places and people that helped reshape what democracy looked like in Greensboro. We’ll learn about Zoe P. Barbee, Dr. William Hampton, Justice Henry Frye and more. Check-in starts 12 pm. Tour departs 12:30 and returns to museum by 2 pm. Free event. Registration required through Bicycling in Greensboro.

History Lunch Break: NC Pride PAC and LGBTQ+ Political Organizing
June 10, 2022
The 1990 U.S. Senate race, featured in the museum’s NC Democracy: Eleven Elections exhibition, was watched nationwide. In North Carolina it sparked new kinds of LGBTQ+ organizing with the founding of the NC Pride Political Action Committee. We’ll talk with Mandy Carter, longtime voting rights advocate and one of the founders of NC Pride PAC about the early days of the organization and its continuing influence on LGBTQ+ political participation.