At the Office of Archives and History, we aim to preserve and promote North Carolina history. What better way than to start with young children and their parents? To achieve that aim, Archives and History has launched a series of books designed to introduce young readers to our past.
Within Our Power: The Story of the Edenton Ladies' Tea Party
Sally M. Walker, author
Jonathan D. Voss, illustrator
In 1774, many people in thirteen of Great Britain’s North American colonies were angry. They had been ordered to pay money—taxes—to the government. However, they had no governmental representatives in faraway England to say how they wanted their money spent. The colonists rallied around the cry “Taxation Without Representation.” They boycotted tea, cloth, and other British products. Fearing punishment for protesting the unfair practice, some disguised themselves to avoid recognition, specifically when dumping tea in a harbor. Others wrote about it, but hid their identity by using an alias.
A group of fifty-one women in Edenton, North Carolina strongly opposed taxation without representation. At that time, women could not serve in the government, nor were they permitted to vote. But the Edenton ladies knew that their beliefs mattered. They decided they would make a difference. Like others, they would boycott British products. Unlike others, they shunned anonymity.
Using a “tea party” of a different sort, Edenton’s courageous women powerfully expressed their belief in a very public way. One that spread their belief and commitment not only throughout the North American colonies, but also across the Atlantic Ocean. The Edenton ladies’ courage still resonates today. They show us that people can join together and create a strong voice that stands firm against injustice.
Save Our Sand Dunes
Hannah Bunn West with Ann-Cabell Baum, authors
Larry McCarter and Anne Marshall Runyon, illustrators
Did you know that in the 1970s, the sand dune known as Jockey's Ridge was almost leveled and developed for residential housing? One day, Ann-Cabell, Inglis, and Gibbs Baum saw bulldozers where they often played at Jockey’s Ridge and ran home to tell their mom, Carolista. With her children’s urging, Carolista mobilized the community and relentlessly lobbied local and state leaders to save the dunes. In 1975, Jockey’s Ridge was designated as a North Carolina State Park. Learn more about collective environmental activism and its effects in Save Our Sand Dunes.
Bountiful Red Acres: Two Farms, Two Families, and a Year on the Land
Eileen Heyes, author
Dare Coulter, illustrator
Young readers can get a taste of farm life in the North Carolina Piedmont through Bountiful Red Acres. The story chronicles a year in the lives of two neighboring families —one Black and one White —moving from season to season through the year 1900. Despite the racial inequalities built into American life by both law and custom, the Sawyers and Hauser families share an abiding friendship as they rear children, tend crops, and build community.
Awards & Distinctions:
Library of Congress Center for the Book, 2024.
Notable Government Document (State and Local Selection), Government Documents Roundtable, American Library Association, 2024.
Longneedle
Anne Marshall Runyon, author and illustrator
Longneedle tells the life story of a longleaf pine in the longleaf pine savannas of the North Carolina Outer Coastal Plain. The fire-dependent tree persists through three hundred years of North Carolina history from 1696 to 1996 when Hurricane Fran brings its tale to an end. But her descendants live on! Longneedle is a story of survival and celebration as it explains the connections between spaces in a unique and beautiful southeastern American forest.
Awards & Distinctions:
2021 Riverby Award, John Burroughs Association
My N.C. from A to Z
Michelle Lanier, author
Dare Coulter, illustrator
Children will love learning their very first ideas about North Carolina in My N.C. from A to Z.
This colorful, sturdy board book celebrates pride of place, creates connections to North Carolina's rich African American heritage, and teaches children about human equality and social justice. A perfect first baby or toddler book!
Awards & Distinctions: 2020 Notable Government Document (State and Local Selection). Government Documents Round Table, American Library Association and Library of Congress, Center for the Book, 2020.
We Who Believe in Freedom: The Life and Times of Ella Baker
Lea E. Williams, author
This short biography of Ella Baker, the civil rights leader, is intended for middle school and high school readers.
Ella Baker, who grew up in Littleton, North Carolina, is best remembered for the role she played in facilitating in April 1960 the organizational meeting of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee at Shaw University, her alma mater.
The Life and Times of Thomas Wolfe
Jennifer Prince, author
In his short life of 38 years, the Asheville native took the literary world by storm. His Look Homeward, Angel remains a favorite of readers three generations later. A genius, a giant figuratively and literally, the mountain writer angered many in Asheville with his depictions. But, late in life, he did go home again, sitting with his mother on the steps of the boarding house and renewing old acquaintances. We hope that this book will introduce Wolfe to new readers, young and old.