North Carolina Now; North Carolina Now Episode from 02/05/1996

The It's Monday February 5th. Tonight tracing the history of an African American family in North Carolina. Good morning everyone I'm reading the tri welcome back for another week of North Carolina now. I hope you all manage to stay warm and safe during this past weekend for some of the coldest temperatures in our state's history. Record lows were reached in Raleigh and in

Nashville there were no new records set for the mountains but overnight the mercury dipped to eight degrees below zero and boom 13 below on the grandfather and beach mountains. And if those cold temperatures weren't bad enough the ice storm that swept across our state on Friday forced many of us to suffer through without power. An estimated sixty one thousand sea PNL customers were without power at some time during that ice storm. And an estimated three hundred thirty nine thousand Duke Power customers were also without electricity for many of us this weather has been just an inconvenience but for others it has been deadly. Eleven fatalities are blamed on the weather here in North Carolina seven of those deaths resulted from traffic accidents. Well the best advice stay inside stay warm and stay safe. We can't do anything about the weather but we can warm your heart a bit tonight with the story we air in honor of Black History Month. It's about a Burlington man and his personal quest to trace his family origins. Our guest tonight will be here to talk

about a major nationwide a video conference that will originate here from you and see TV tomorrow. The purpose of the conference is to find ways to reduce violence around the world. Also on tonight's program Maria Lundberg heads to the mountains to share with us some of the beautiful handicrafts. But we start our show with our continuing observance of February as Black History Month. You know African-Americans all over the country are taking a renewed interest in tracing their family histories often those histories are a bittersweet mixture of sorrow and triumph. That's certainly the case of one man from Burlington who has been on a six year journey of discovery of his past. Bob Gardner has the story. Any mother is a retired to be around salesman and checks to work. But at heart he's discovered he's a genealogist which is why today you'll sometimes find him visiting graveyards a distant relative once gave him a faded old photograph of a fifth cousin of his whom she said was famous and he stuck the picture away and forgot

about it for more than 20 years. When he finally got it out six years ago he decided to try to fill in the puzzle of his genealogy back to that fifth cousin and even further back. He learned to use libraries dig through courthouses and do research in archives. In the process he's discovered some fascinating things about his family and some things about himself. I never thought I could do something like this. Never and never come across me you know. I've been in says India. And then when I really got into it I said I one cannot do it. I thought I would take a chance on what song I'm going to the cause you know I thought well you don't know what you can do to get try. Yes there are. They have Bill essential in Eddie's history his great grandmother Amy was purchased as a sleep together with her four children at bay at Bill's old central market the buyer a Mr. Rogers from Alamance County near Graham. Amy's later husband John Peet Uncle Terry at Fayetteville was a free black man a harness

maker and he followed a meeting great Mr. Rogers brought her at that time when he would have been saying the mass of a good ambassador so they chant her he bought her a chance for them to grill a lodge room on a plantation day and John T aka tree. They need I hear they need to make because at that time I'm not a slave. Didn't have trades to live ignorants cases. So John P. aka tree where the good on is making. So he came there and weren't they on the plantation and he had other free black relatives in Fayetteville. Many were Park white in were known then as mulattos and he was able to trace them because as free persons they were included in the census match except that 1850 because there was no necessity. But I'm going on 83 to Cincy but if they had a been a slave that they would have not been on this since they were the math that kept a record of them. I'm in constant danger of being returned to slavery. Many of the free blacks decided to leave that

they had Bill area for the Free State of Ohio an opportunity a wagon train was formed and at least two of Eddie's relatives were on it. Mary Sampson married Larry Lewis Sheridan in Ohio. He later joined anti slavery crusader John Brown in the ill fated raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry West Virginia. He was killed during the battle by troops under the command of a young U.S. Army captain named Robert E. Lee. But Mary Sampson was already carrying Sheridan's child. It was a daughter who was to become the mother of the famous black poet Langston Hughes and Marie Sampson another of Eddie's long ago relatives also traveled to Ohio on that wagon train. She ended up marrying the son of a white slave holder who had helped finance the wagon journey to Ohio chestnut fought in the Civil War on the union side and after the war he returned to Fayetteville where his father gave him some property for his wife and a young son. The boy Charles Waddell chestnut was the man whose photograph Eddie was later given

a brilliant student at the Howard School in Fayetteville. He became a teacher there at age 16 and later served at school grew over the years it's known today as Fayetteville State University. Charles chestnut eventually became a lawyer and he became the author of several books drawn from material and his own prolific journals. He struggled his whole life over whether he considered himself a white man or a black man. And there were times that against his better judgment he allowed himself to pass as white. Just not once got an invitation from another author named Mark Twain Mark Twain had a birthday party and he he he embodied a hundred and fifty off us to him by a party and I have my cousin. Cain invited to his party by Indian author and Mark Twain knew that he was a very famous oddity. So he summoned by our.

Today the library at Fayetteville State University is named for Eddie's cousin Charles Waddell chestnut and he feels right at home there. Not just because of what his relative did but because of what he's learned to do. I got into a novel really surprised that I could do days and a lot of people asked me today how do you do all of that you know where it is come naturally I let you know you come that's it to me you know it. It made me feel good because you know I'm OK you know because I really didn't think that I had my family so important you know me you know with amazing speed coming out of black families to do slave attack. Yeah you know I did these tests and they saw me saying yeah we do understand what a great story one of Eddie Hunter's big dreams is to be able to afford to take a trip to Cleveland Ohio where he expects to find another rich vein of his family's history. Coming up

finding grassroots solutions to the overwhelming problem of violence around the world. But right now it's time to check in with Michel Louis for a statewide news update. Mitch thanks Maria. Good evening everyone. Today was the last day for political hopefuls to officially file to run in this year's elections. And among the flurry of last minute filings. Democrat Harvey Gantt the former Charlotte mayor is running for a Senate seat. This marks the second time dad has run against incumbent Jesse Helms and was planning to kick off his race today by making a series of stops across the state. But he's put that off until next week because of the bad weather. And GOP Representative Fred Hileman will be running for re-election. He'll be in a rematch with former Congressman David Price the Democrat he defeated two years ago. HYNEMAN the former Raleigh police chief has made a name for himself on Capitol Hill on law and order issues but has been under fire from various environmental groups. Governor Jim Hunt met with officials in Washington today to get federal approval for toughening state welfare laws. HUD hopes

that by spring the state will be able to take benefits away from people who refuse to work. He's also seeking a two year limit on giving benefits to those on welfare. And he wants to deny extra support for any children born on public assistance. The governor's plan needs federal approval because it deviates from existing rules. A meeting in Virginia today could have an effect on fishing in North Carolina waters. The National Marine Fisheries Service met today in Norfolk to hear a lawsuit by the North Carolina Fisheries Association. The group wants to keep a proposed ban on weak fish harvesting in state waters from taking effect. The National Marine Fisheries Service says the number of weak fish also known as great trout have fallen to dangerously low levels. Taking a look at tomorrow's forecast you can expect the ice and snow to stick around a while longer. There will be little chance to thaw out as cold temperatures continue around the state. The mountains can expect highs in the low to mid 20s. While only Wilmington is expected to reach 40 partly cloudy skies are expected from the mountains to the coast

with a chance of more snow around Boone in business news a grocery store chain Lowe's foods is getting bigger and so are its stores. The Winston-Salem based chain has 50 stores in North Carolina and southern Virginia. Its newest stores will have more than 50000 square feet each. The company hopes that new customer surveys will help them put together a strategic plan. And now here's a look at what happened on Wall Street today. Tomorrow afternoon more than 30000 participants will join together in a national

teleconference called social workers and the challenge of violence worldwide. The teleconference will originate here from argue NC TV studio and we'll link up via satellite more than 300 sites around the country including universities hospitals social agencies and the like. The purpose of this interactive teleconference which will be moderated by North Carolina's own Charles Kuralt will be for communities around the country to learn from one another about what can be done to combat violence. Joining me now to talk about this major event is Jane Crosbie she is the director of the violence and development project with the National Association of Social Workers Miss Crosby Thanks for being here tonight. Thank you. First of all how did the idea for this Teluk. It's originating there is a growing movement among social workers I think to take on a broader more global view of the work that we do. Increasingly social workers want to look beyond the borders of the United States to see what other social problems there are around the world and how they relate to what we

do here in the United States. Both what we can learn from social workers and other people who work to combat violence in other countries and what we can share with people in other countries about what we know about the problem of violence. You said a key term there you said that you'd like to take a broader approach but it's interesting that for the purposes of this teleconference it also takes a broader approach to the term violence. It includes a lot of things that I normally would not think of as being violent. Explain that right. Well you know it's it. We've found that it's helpful for social workers to understand not only the direct physical kind of violence that you know you might imagine a fistfight or domestic violence battering even child abuse but it's helpful if we take the broader view of some of the systemic kinds of violence or social harms that people experience around the world and in here in the United States as social workers we're constantly bumping up against problems with people that can't get a job.

People who don't have health care people who don't even have a home to live and so were we naturally ask ourselves why is this why. Why do all the people that I'm working with you know living on this why are they living on the streets. Why aren't they taken care of by by our society so we start to look at well what are the underlying causes of some of these larger problems and we can say there are systemic reasons. For a lot of the problems that we deal with as social workers we can trace them back to policies we can trace them back to funding priorities for instance. And we can say with those those hurt people those problems hurt people deeply in some cases more deeply than you know a physical kind of violence that one might experience temporarily but then recover from. Now let's talk about the broad definition and in this teleconference it's going to include so many communities and so many problems. Is this too broad to be effective.

We you know it's it is challenging to take the perspective out this broad to include the whole world really but it's something that we feel we we must do and really do in a big way now with social work social work Hales traditionally been more focused on the U.S. but in fact because the U.S. is becoming so much more interconnected with all all the other countries around the world and specifically. In this video conference will be looking at developing countries or poor countries countries who have less resources than the United States. We're so interconnected now as as a world as a globe that it behooves social workers to to really understand what's happening around the world it informs our profession. It will give us ideas it will give us inspiration too. There's a lot we can learn particularly from some of the community development and organizing models that are coming out of developing countries. And I find it interesting that you are taking this very broad approach to the problem but yet when you're looking for solutions you're not looking for a wide ranging solution you're looking

for more grassroots solutions. Right. You know the point that we make in this video conference is the connection between the development of human potential and the abatement of violence. What we see is that when persons. Potential to develop themselves either individually or within their community or even within their nation. When that potential is frustrated then you have a situation where your your so you have a set up for violence first of all that can be looked at as we are in this conference. As a former violence in and of itself to squash somebody else's potential to develop themselves is a harm a social harm. And but it also creates a situation where you have a mounting frustration and anger that can erupt into violence. And you know if you know you can see around the world and here in the United States there's a lot of energy that's put in through police and other

kinds of militia to to keep that growing frustration down and that also can be looked at as a form of violence. So we're saying we need to create a way in which all people within the context of their communities and even their own nations can find a way to develop themselves to better their lives. One of the things we're going to point out in this conference are three major areas that are really that really prohibit and inhibit development of of humans human beings. The first one being poverty. Many people here in the United States don't realize that a fifth of the people in the U.N. in the world live in absolute poverty. And the other two are the other two ethnic conflict. Intolerance even a war really since the close out of the Cold War the large would the vast majority of wars in the world are ethnic conflicts conflicts between ethnic groups. Even here in the United States hate crimes are rising and the last one is violence

against women and one could even say sexism. The way that women are not allowed access to income to decision making about their own lives. Well Jane Cross me it is an interesting project and I wish you well with it and I hope the conference goes well and I want to thank you for being here tonight. Thank you it's been a pleasure. And every year thousands of tourists visit western North Carolina one of the reasons people are drawn to this area is the abundance of quality and crafts. Tonight Maria Lundberg shows us

the beauty and the importance of this craft industry in our state. Along with music and storytelling handcrafts are part of the cultural heritage in the mountains of western North Carolina. The Folk Arts Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway near Asheville contains some of the very best from traditional art forms like pottery woodwork and stained glass to contemporary metal sculpture and furniture with its own unique personality as home to the southern Highland handicraft Guild the Folk Art Center showcases the rich tradition of handwork in this region. Becky Anderson is the executive director of handmade in America our purpose and goal is to build on the history and tradition in western

North Carolina the crafters plain and to reunite Western with camels. It's a nation that's a big ole And a big purpose but we believe the tradition the history the culture and our economy is well-suited to that. In fact Kratz have a big economic impact in North Carolina particularly in the western region. A study done by handmade in America indicates that the craft industry puts one hundred twenty two million dollars into the state's economy each year. We simply counted incomes of full time producers part time producers and the sale in retail of Kraft. We have found that we do so with 47 million dollars of retail easily easily in the western part of the state. And over 60 percent of that comes from our tourist. So tourism and craft molded together a major major part of our economy. And in this part of the state you can find crafts all around you.

The community of black mountain east of Asheville is a virtual haven for craft lovers. This is a place where you can watch artists right at work in their studios making everything from pottery to woodwork. In the workshop next to Black Mountain gallery Eddie Hollyfield and his father Marshall takes scrap wood and turn it into art. They both started working with wood about four years ago and what began as a hobby turned into a business. There is a lot of traditional crafts and arts in this area and we're trying to do our part to further it. What makes their beautiful pieces unusual is that they give new meaning to the concept of recycling. If a tree needs to be taken down at the end Marshall use the wood to create works of art. Nearby Gustavo Hobbs designs and makes fine jewelry in the back of his shop.

Visitors have a chance to talk to him personally about his creations which use gold silver and find gem stones. Across the street you'll find Dan Howard seen at Black Mountain Ironworks where he makes sculpture furniture and just about anything else that can be made out of iron. Dan has worked with handmade in America to promote the region as a craft center and believes the increased awareness will enhance the area for more artists whether it's going to bring a lot of new people into this area and make them aware that there is a large market of people here producing you know finally craft items and I'm really enthusiastic about seeing some of the artists that I've run into around here and seeing the quality of art that is out there at a shop called Burn and IDs the pottery of Floyd Kemp is on display featuring designs drawn from nature. The reputation of the area for crafts is what drew Floyd and his wife here a few years ago. He also believes it's important to promote and preserve handcrafts in this region a region that has the tradition for but beyond that

and crafts are beautiful things that have qualities that you can't get in manufactured objects. For Jerry Reed Smith those qualities come out in each hammered dulcimer he makes for 21 years he's been making these instruments which carry on a special mountain music tradition in this age of technology that's just seems to be going wild I find even more interest in people these days really even more interesting when I first started and I think it's sort of because of that it's juxtaposition against the the technology there's something about working with your hands and creating something with your hands that seems to be really meaningful to people. Becky Anderson agrees that sharing the experience of creating handcrafts is one way to ensure these important traditions will continue to be

valued. There is a way the public and the person who makes those objects has a passion of their lives and when they're connected to magical things happen. And if you know quality and you promote education then you're without a doubt promoting the best of who we are. The rest of the world. Handmade in America is a nonmember organization which has brought artists educators and business people together to promote hand crafts for all communities in Western North Carolina. No matter how big or small. For more information about handmade in America call 7 0 4 2 5 2 0 1 2 1. Well that's our show for tonight we are already busy preparing tomorrow night's program. Our guest will be a fascinating woman who started up a small business in her home and turned it into one of the largest companies of its kind in the state. She is quite inspirational. Also Shannon Viguerie profiles a

successful Greensboro program which is working to keep children out of trouble. That and more on tomorrow night's edition of North Carolina now in the meantime stay warm. Have a good evening.