Episode Details

0:01:00

Mecklenburg County’s own Declaration of Independence?

May 20, 1775, is a date you may recognize from the North Carolina state flag. It represents what was supposedly the first declaration of independence made by any of the 13 colonies involved in the American Revolution. That date was added more than a century ago, but its authenticity was first contested by Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. This conversation originally aired on May 20, 2025.

Scott Syfert, author of ‘The First Declaration of Independence? The Disputed History of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence of May 20, 1775'

0:13:00

‘We (The People of The United States)’

As the United States turns 250 years old, a new book of poetry pays tribute to Black historical figures across the country and the centuries. Poet and professor Joshua Bennett talks with Due South’s Leoneda Inge about his poem “Chapel Hill, North Carolina” for George Moses Horton, the first African American man to publish a book in the South.

Joshua Bennett, Professor of Literature and Distinguished Chair of the Humanities at MIT and writer of the new poetry collection "We (The People of The United States)"

0:33:00

‘New Americans in North Carolina’

An educator and oral historian with the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources talk about "America 250 NC" and their project about “New Americans in North Carolina.”

Alana Gomez, Educator, America 250 NC, N.C. Department of Natural & Cultural Resources

John Horan, Oral Historian, State Archives of North Carolina, N.C. Department of Natural & Cultural Resources