Greensboro Historical Museum

The Museum educates the community by presenting creative temporary and permanent exhibits, educational events and programs, and operating the Museum shop. Exhibits ongoing in 2023 included "by the book", "gerrymander madness", and "1940s flashback". Listed below are the highlights of the exhibits for 2023 by month:january - 81 people joined us at oden brewing co. where we launched a new year of by the book programs. Local beer historians and authors richard cox, david gwynn and erin lawrimore narrated the history of the triad brewing industry, from early moravian communities to the operators of 19th century saloons and from big beer factories to modern craft breweries. February - dr. diya abdo, author of american refuge: true stories of the refugee experience shared stories of seven refugees she met as part of every campus a refuge, an organization she founded at guilford college. Abdo is the recipient of several national community engagement awards, including the 2021 j.m.k. Innovation prize for her work with ecar. 16 people were in attendance.march - is women's history month, so there were a number of special social media posts and programs. We celebrated international women's day, march 8th, with an online program nursing in nc, with nurse, educator and historian phoebe pollitt. During the half hour program participants learned the history of nursing pioneers across north carolina. Pollitt, retired associate professor of nursing at appalachian state university, is the author of nearly 50 articles, three books, and numerous presentations, many of which tell the stories of north carolina's nursing heroes. April - 6th was an evening of serious/fun and gerrymander madness at the Museum. The event kicked-off at 5 with a special ticked pre-madness dinner event. Twenty-five attendees were able to enjoy conversation with our gerrymander panelists. The free event started at 5:30 and included beer for purchase, a jazz trio and democracy related games. The panel started at 6:30 as sixty attendees (wearing retro 3-d glasses) discovered what's behind electoral redistricting with experts from across the state. Following the panel discussion, visitors were able to experience our gerrymander madness vr game and enjoy a live onstage game show. The expert panel included 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. It was moderated by robby hassell, regional judicial outreach liaison aba judicial divisionmay - open to all, the Museum guild held its final meeting on may 15th, with a presentation by local lawyer and author bill slawter. Jim schlosser, a well-known journalist in Greensboro, interviewed bill about his book, sit-ins, drive-ins and uncle sam. Slawter grew up in Greensboro's glenwood neighborhood and attended Greensboro senior high, and his memoir about the 1950s and '60s triggered memories for the 35 people in attendance. June - by the book series, two award-winning authors discussed witnessing history, and how writing about black stories can explore the hopes and challenges of american democracy: david wright falad, author and filmmaker about north carolina's outer banks; and wake forest university professor and author phoebe zerwick. Falad's novel, black cloud rising, features the experiences of the union army's african brigade in northeast north carolina during the civil war. Zerwick's beyond innocence: the life sentence of darryl hunt is a deeply reported, gripping narrative of injustice, exoneration, and the crippling impact of incarceration. 21 people attended july - ghm's 1940s flashback on july 8 was a great success, with more than 300 visitors. World war ii reenactors braved rainstorms outside the Museum while guests inside learned about everything from scrap drives and victory gardens to the wartime journalism of edward r. murrow and nc a&t students' involvement in the b-1 navy band. Things got swinging after hours, as 120 showed up for a forties-inspired fashion show with vintage to vogue and a swing dance to the sounds of keenan mckenzie & the riffers.on august 9, glenn perkins took 10 leaders from the cone health system radiology team on a tour of voices of a city highlighting histories of medicine and social inequity in Greensboro. The tour was a follow-up from a may 2023 tour that was part of cone health's leadership retreat and included more than 20 individuals.september - the Museum anchored the family area of the annual nc folk festival, with hands-on activities for families. Over 400 people actively engaged with our activities about monuments and maps.october-the Museum presented culture & cuisine: sabores latinos, the second in a series of explorations of food, culture and immigration in Greensboro. We talked with food makers in person and on video created by the city of Greensboro gtn tv about dishes that connect their family traditions, stories and histories with their present home in Greensboro. Representatives from casa azul of Greensboro were on hand to highlight activities in the cultural and creative life of Greensboro's latino community. Taco bros food truck had authentic mexican food for sale. This free event was a partner program with casa azul of Greensboro, and the conexion and culture crew city of Greensboro employee resource groups.november - the Museum was open for the veteran's day city holiday on friday the 10th (62 visitors) as well as on veterans day. Special activities enabled 116 visitors to discover Greensboro veterans' history.december - over 355 people joined us during and after the downtown Greensboro holiday parade on saturday, december 2 to celebrate the winter season and the launch of the mousetastical holiday mouse hunt all around the Museum. Over 70 felted, mischievous mice hid in the Museum's exhibits during december. There were special visits from mrs. claus and santa claus in the Museum's mary lynn richardson historic park and visitors learned about our city's christmas, hanukkah, and kwanzaa traditions with hands-on activities for all ages. Children also explored the science and art (steam!) Of snowflakes. As they enjoyed complimentary hot cocoa and cookies.

Listed below are the highlights of the education and programming for 2023 by month:january - over 600 people at our lunar new year celebration. Special programs included little lions, educator sarah maske and volunteers presented a book about the chinese zodiac race to about 50 children/parents. There were activities with our partners Greensboro chinese association, uncg japanese club, uncg vietnamese club, and the uncg asian pacific islander caucus. The Greensboro chinese association performed. February - we had over 220 people at our 10th annual lifted voices: black history month program. The day included our little lions program relating to the story of maco beauty college. Costumed interpreters shared stories of african americans in Greensboro. Portrayals included: freedom seeker ede; photographer otis hairston jr., works from 1970s to the early 2000s; educator dr. charlotte hawkins brown, who organized an elite preparatory boarding school for black students in guilford county in the early 1900s; and civic leader harmon unthank, there was also a panel presentation organized by juneteenth gso including a video presentation on history of Greensboro's mlk parade, plus watch night observations, as well as presentations by the kwanzaa collective and juneteenth gso. March - over 90 visitors attended the lifted voices: women's history and experienced Greensboro women's successes and struggles from nine costumed interpreters in the Museum galleries. Stories included: mary mendenhall hobbs, dr. willa b. Player, laura weill cone, miley caper, and penelope barker, edenton. The little lions program continued this month with a special women's history edition with snacks, selfies and fun with some of Greensboro leading suffragists like laura weill cone and harriet elliott. 30 children and family members participated.our Greensboro birthday post had almost 12,000 impressions, 85 likes and 26 shares on facebook.twitter's favorite was a st. patrick's day post of grasshoppers' miss babe ruth in her green vest, with almost 5000 impressions.april -the first in our new culture & cuisine series, highlighting middle east and north african traditions in honor of arab american month. Zeeyum food truck was on site. While attendance was very light, this free program, organized with (gtn) and the city of Greensboro's culture crew employee resource group, provided collaboration that will continue.may - the Greensboro history Museum hosted and provided staff support for four Greensboro bound literary festival events, including the unmaking of america and the future of north carolina with authors abraham rieseman and gene nichol and for the love of banjo with kristina gaddy and justin harrington. The Greensboro history Museum was selected as a american association for state and local history (aaslh) 2023 award of excellence winner by the leadership in history awards committee for nc democracy: eleven elections. The aaslh leadership in history awards is the nation's most prestigious competition for recognition of achievement in state and local history. The 2023 awards will be presented at a special luncheon as part of the aaslh annual conference in boise, id. June - ghm's 3rd annual juneteenth bike tour, featured black business from beauty shops to banks. Riders discovered twentieth-century black businesses near downtown - from beauty shops to banks. Architect edward jenkins, haberdasher harold cotton, beautician pauline farrar mccain, business owner eunice dudley and other entrepreneurs large and small on an approximately 5 mile, family-friendly ride were featured. 35 in attendance. June 19th, our monthly little lions saturdays on the south lawn in lebauer park discover Greensboro's history through fun activities for children and families! 25 children & adults.july - the Museum celebrated the season of civic engagement between juneteenth and july fourth with lifted voices: civic season. Visitors met living history interpreters sharing stories from the nc democracy: eleven elections exhibition including: 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. 84 visitors for the program.july also saw the launch of gta's downtown hopper. Our by the book series continued, with a talk featuring university of Kentucky professor patrick lee lucas. The program, co-sponsored with preservation Greensboro Inc., 64 people attended. August - beyond piggly wiggly was the topic of our continuing evening by the book series. In conversation with j. david gwynn, uncg libraries and founder of the groceteria website, unc Greensboro professor of history lisa c. tolbert dove into the popularization of self-service grocery stores as explored in her new book, beyond piggly wiggly: inventing the american self-service store. Approx. 50 people attended.on august 29, education & engagement team members catherine johns, sarah maske, and alyson witte represented the Museum at uncg at an all-day learning fair sponsored by unc Greensboro's office of leadership & campus engagement. They collected information from 65 students potentially interested in volunteering and connected with university departments and city nonprofits about possible collaborations. September - glenn perkins and catherine johns led a bus tour of Greensboro history for 53 people as part of the Greensboro chamber of commerce leadership gso's 2023 class. Museum staff worked with gta's kevin elwood to map the tour highlighting key historic places around central greensboro.visitors were able to meet firefighters from the Greensboro fire department and see real fire engines from the 1880's & 2020's at this month's little lions saturday. Families explored the Museum's re-creation of steam fire engine station no. 1 in the welcome to the gate city exhibition, and Museum educators and members of the Greensboro fire department highlighted differences in firefighting between the 1800s and today. This month's little lions was a partner program with the Greensboro fire department and Greensboro downtown parksoctober - celebrated historian fergus m. bordewich discussed his new book klan war: ulysses s. grant and the battle to save reconstruction at the Greensboro history Museum for the annual dortch series. Bordewich was joined for the panel discussion was dr. mark elliott, professor of history at uncg and author of color-blind justice: albion tourge and the quest for racial equality from the civil war to plessy v. ferguson. Also on the panel is dr. deborah barnes, visiting lecturer in uncg's african american & african diaspora studies program and member of the steering committee for the guilford county community remembrance project. 44 people attended. The Museum's annual ghoulash! Unliving history and more event. We got a little scary with activities at the Museum's lebauer park terrace including little lions saturday craft activity and ghost tales with storyteller cynthia moore brown. Lifted voices: unliving history. Cemetery tours, were given. Ghoulash! Is an annual festival featuring fall and halloween themed activities. Archaeology day was in partnership with unc Greensboro's department of anthropology and archaeology program, 133 people attended.november - collections in action: furniture care demonstration was held at the Museum. Visitors were able to meet curator ayla amon and registrar susan nye as they performed conservation work on a thomas day sofa. The event was livestreamed and had over 400 views on instagram.over 80 visitors met young artists and enjoyed snacks as part of the past is present: generations of immigrant/refugee stories & legacies. Original short film "my mother's hands," a panel discussion with immigrant and refugee family youth, and the mda young scholars award presentation.december - late november through the end of january, the Museum lobby also presented celebrating over 100 years of learning & camaraderie created by the round table study club of Greensboro. The community voices space at Greensboro history Museum hosts displays developed and produced by local organizations to highlight significant and sometimes unheard parts of our city's history.