Press Releases

Hear excerpts by authors, musicians, poets, scholars, orators, and more as we celebrate literature during Black History Month! A free read-in hosted by the North Carolina African American Heritage Commission will take place at the Pure Life Theatre in the Historic Royal Bakery Building, 3801 Hillsborough St., Raleigh on Saturday, Feb. 29 from 1-4 p.m.

See video of museum staff treating cold-stunned sea turtles here. Please credit: Courtesy of N.C. Dept. of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Nominations are open for the North Carolina Heritage Award, the state’s highest honor for traditional artists, until Friday, May 1. Artists who are recognized within their communities as keepers of North Carolina’s living traditions may be nominated for the award. Past recipients have included musicians, craftspeople, storytellers, dancers, and practitioners of traditional occupations. The award has honored both professionally acclaimed artists and those who practice their art in family and community settings. 

Advance tickets for the country’s largest Civil War re-enactment of 2020, the 155th anniversary of the Battle of Bentonville slated for March 21-22, are limited but still available. Other weekend family activities are free. 

The origins and impact of slavery in Cabarrus County, North Carolina, and the benefits of slave labor to Reed Gold Mine will be examined during Black History Month. Reed Gold Mine State Historic Site will offer “Black Gold – African American Gold Miners in North Carolina” tours Saturdays in February at 1 p.m. and examine the area’s social and economic environment during John Reed’s lifetime. Join us Feb. 8, 15, or 29. 

Rarely seen Civil War-era artifacts will be on view when the “Treasures from the Vault” exhibit opens Feb. 5 at the CSS Neuse Civil War Interpretive Center. The temporary exhibit will display unseen items from the museum’s collection and also present eastern North Carolina’s Civil War history more broadly. 

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920, guaranteeing and protecting the right of women to vote. To honor this historic event, the

The North Carolina African American Heritage Commission and the Office of Archives and History this month released a new children’s book, “My N.C. from A to Z,” that celebrates and creates connections to North Carolina’s rich African American heritage.

 The North Carolina Arts Council’s 2020-21 grant guidelines for organizations are now available at

RALEIGH, N.C — Wake Forest has been awarded a 2019 federal Historic Preservation Fund grant for Certified Local Governments from the National Park Service, administered by the North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office (HPO) of the Office of Archives and History.