Inspired by Where the Crawdads Sing—the bestselling novel by Delia Owens that is now a major motion picture—Connecting the Docs explores true stories that happened in the wild marshes of eastern North Carolina. This episode, the first of a three-part series, is an examination of the resilient, dynamic Black communities that inhabited this land in the 18th and 19th centuries. Samantha Crisp, director of the Outer Banks History Center, and Morgan Johnson, oral history assistant, lead host John Horan into North Carolina’s maroon communities, like those hidden in the Great Dismal Swamp, as well as post-Civil War villages of emancipated African Americans, such as the Roanoke Island Freedmen’s Colony and James City. These communities come to life through the voices of descendants, presented in fascinating clips of oral history interviews held at the State Archives.
Sources Mentioned:
Olmsted, Frederick Law. A Journey in the Seaboard Slave States; With Remarks on Their Economy. New York; London: Dix and Edwards; Sampson Low, Son & co., 1856. Published online by Documenting the American South. University Library, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. https://docsouth.unc.edu/nc/olmsted/menu.html
An Interview with Marilyn Morrison (b. 1950), 2021, Roanoke-Hatteras Tribe Oral History Project, OH.RHTRIBE.001.
An Interview with Gemaine Gillis (b. 1947), 2021, Roanoke-Hatteras Tribe Oral History Project, OH.RHTRIBE.002.
An Interview with Leesa P. Jones (b. 1951), 2020, She Changed the World Oral History Project, OH.SHE.017
Interview with Darrell Colllins on Outer Banks Black History (Dare County Current TV), 17 February 2021, AV_5319_03. Outer Banks History Center.
James A. Bryan and wife vs. Washington Spivey et al. from North Carolina Reports [1890 : February, v.106]. Raleigh, NC: North Carolina Supreme Court, Judicial Department, 1890. https://digital.ncdcr.gov/digital/collection/p16062coll14/id/86257/rec/1
Mobley, Joe A. James City, a black community, 1863-1900. Raleigh, NC: North Carolina Division of Archives and History, 1980. https://digital.ncdcr.gov/digital/collection/p16062coll6/id/982/rec/7
Photograph of James City School, a Rosenwald Fund school, Craven County [c. 1924-1925]. Department of Public Instruction: School Planning Section, School Photographs File, Box 3. https://www.flickr.com/photos/north-carolina-state-archives/51417673688/in/photolist-at618p-2mi6Lnj-2mi6Khi-Sw1Mrq-2miaCzE-RYaCpa-2mi1ygQ-2mi1xF1-2mi5qUg-2mi9ecU-Td5nLx-SCcUo9-T9tPod-2mkB22j/
Uncovered Stories, Episode 3: The Revolutionary Ruthey Jackson Letter
Uncovered Stories, Episode 2: Marginalized Communities in Early Statehood General Assembly Records
Uncovered Stories, Episode 1: Finding Enslaved Labor in the Treasurer’s and Comptroller’s Papers
Ask an Archivist: Fan Letters
Year of the Trail: Interview with Special Guest Secretary D. Reid Wilson
We Beg Your Pardon: The Saga of Slow Poke
Year of the Trail: Indian Trading Paths
Year of the Trail: Mountains to Sea Trail
Resiliency in Records Management: Disaster Preparedness and Protecting Essential Records
Resiliency in the Face of Natural Disasters: Other Storms and Natural Disasters
Resiliency in the Face of Natural Disasters: North Carolina Hurricanes
Ballads and Banjos and Fiddles, Oh My: Appalachian Music Spotlight
Call the Granny Woman: Appalachian Dialect Spotlight
Searching for a Spy: A Conversation with Dr. David Cecelski on Discovering the Legend of Abraham Galloway
Exploring Island Life in the John Wilson IV Papers: A Summer Internship at the Outer Banks History Center
True Stories Behind Where the Crawdads Sing: Oyster Wars
True Stories Behind Where the Crawdads Sing: Education and Truancy in Eastern North Carolina
Murder, Mystery, and Mayhem Revisited: The True Stories behind North Carolina Murder Ballads
The Journey of an Archival Record. Part III: Digitization and Access
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