On January 25, 1788, Weldon Edwards was born in Northampton County. Though not as ambitious or well-known as many contemporaries, the “venerable Democrat” was a major player on the stage of 19th century North Carolina politics. His political career extended from the close of the War of 1812 to the Reconstruction era.
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On January 25, 1942, Carl Lee Eller, a former professional football star and North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame member, was born in Winston-Salem. Twenty years later, as a University of Minnesota sophomore, he helped lead the Gophers to a 21-3 Rose Bowl victory over UCLA.
On January 29, 1901, North Carolina Congressman George H. White delivered his now-famous farewell address.White was the fourth of four African Americans to represent North Carolina’s Second District in the United States Congress in the late nineteenth century. He obtained a law license in 1879 and served in the North Carolina House of Representatives and the Senate before being elected to the first of two four-year terms as district solicitor for the Second Judicial District.
On January 20, 1840, North Carolina’s first public school opened in Rockingham County.The Common Law of 1839 authorized counties to hold elections in which voters might vote for or against taxes for public schools. During the elections in late 1839, 61 of the 68 counties that were then in existence voted to support school taxes. The remaining seven counties soon followed course. By 1846 every county had at least one public school.
On January 25, 1946, noted educator Orishatukeh Faduma died.Born in the South American country of Guyana to freed slaves from West Africa, Faduma settled in Sierra Leone while he was still in elementary school. Educated there by missionaries, Faduma was baptized with the name William James Davies.
On January 25, 1990, Johnston County native and world-famous actress Ava Gardner died in her London apartment.Born on a Grabtown farm, Gardner moved around North Carolina as a child, graduated from high school in Wilson County and began a program in secretarial studies at what is now Barton College.
On January 24, 1759, a group of men from Halifax and Edgecombe Counties rode to Francis Corbin’s house in Edenton and seized him during the night. The men were upset because Corbin had extorted money from them when collecting rents for Lord Granville who controlled the land on which they lived.
On January 24, 1961, a B-52G Stratofortress Bomber carrying two nuclear weapons crashed in rural Wayne County, 10 miles northeast of Seymour Johnson Air Force Base. At the height of the Cold War, U.S. policy was to keep armed nuclear aircraft in the air at all times in the event of a conflict
Scott with Evelyn Brent in a promotional card for the 1935 film Home on the Range. Image from the New York Public Library.