Tuesday, April 29

Hours: 10AM - 4PM

• 
  Fields of Fortune: North Carolina’s Legacy in Leaf and Labor
  Tuesday, April 29, 10AM–4PM
  ZSR Library, Special Collections & Archives Research Room (Room 625)
  Tobacco has played a significant role in shaping North Carolina’s cultural, economic, and social identity, even before the state’s official establishment. Early depictions of Native American communities along the coast at the end of the 16th century show cultivation and use of the plant.

  During the 19th century, tobacco became a cornerstone of the plantation economy, generating immense wealth for select families. In the 20th century, the rise of mass production and commercialization, along with an expanding labor force dedicated to its cultivation and processing, further embedded tobacco in North Carolina’s way of life. Marketing campaigns and iconic imagery tied to tobacco are deeply woven into the state’s historical narrative.

  This exhibit showcases images, artifacts, and records from Special Collections & Archives, spanning from the sixteenth century to the modern era. It also features contributions from North Carolina artists and photographers, including Daisha Bunn and Erin Kye and their families, as well as works by photographer Dan Routh.

• 
  To Tell Her Glories with a Faithful Tongue with Sauda Mitchell
  Tuesday, April 29, 3:30PM–4:30PM
  ZSR Library, Special Collections & Archives Research Room (Room 625)
  Special Collections will host a visit/presentation with Sauda Mitchell, our Samuel Gladding Fellow, where she will discuss her artist’s book she has created for our collections. The title of her remarks is To Tell Her Glories with a Faithful Tongue, which will pay homage to the literary and cultural contributions of Black Women Writers through the lens of archival material analysis and letterpress printing. This work of art in book form features student text inspired by course readings and analysis of primary sources from Special Collections, including the Maya Angelou Film & Theater Collection, Phillis Wheatley’s Poems and pamphlets. To Tell Her Glories with a Faithful Tongue embodies connectivity of thought, creativity, ideas, and reflection through poetry, letterpress, printmaking, and materiality. Refreshments will be served.