The death of an African American soldier in Durham, N.C., soon will be commemorated with an N.C. Highway Historical Marker.In 1944, Private First Class Booker T. Spicely, who was stationed at Camp Butner, boarded a Durham city bus owned and operated by Duke Power Company. After Spicely objected to segregated seating, he disembarked at West Club Boulevard and what is now Berkeley Street. The white driver, Herman Lee Council, followed Spicely, who was unarmed, off the bus and shot him twice at close range in view of bus passengers.
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A highly decorated war veteran from North Carolina soon will be recognized with a North Carolina Highway Historical Marker.Lt. Gen. Robert Sink, a career U.S. Army officer who served in both World War II and the Korean War, was born in 1905 in Lexington, N.C. He attended Trinity College (now Duke University) for a year before transferring to the United States Military Academy at West Point where he graduated in 1927 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant.
A school in western North Carolina founded in the late 1880s that provided educational opportunities to underserved populations, including African American women, soon will be recognized with a North Carolina Highway Historical Marker.
A North Carolina Highway Historical Marker soon will recognize an African American woman who revolutionized entertainment as one of the founders of stand-up comedy in the United States.The marker commemorating the life of Loretta Mary Aiken, who was known as Jackie “Moms” Mabley, will be placed in Brevard near the site of her childhood home Friday, Oct. 20.
A North Carolina business that by 1890 was the largest herbarium in the world soon will be recognized with a North Carolina Highway Historical Marker.
A U.S. Supreme Court ruling on a major civil rights employment case with North Carolina ties soon will be commemorated with an N.C. Highway Historical Marker.
The contributions made by North Carolina women mathematicians to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will be commemorated with a North Carolina Highway Historical Marker.In the early days of aerospace engineering, people — not machines — performed the mathematical calculations necessary to put humans in space. Women comprised the majority of these “calculators” or “computers.” Among them were many from North Carolina who participated in some of the most widely recognized American aerospace achievements of the 20th century.
North Carolina's First Woman Supreme Court Chief Justice to be Featured on Highway Historical Marker
A North Carolina Highway Historical Marker soon will recognize the first woman chief justice of the N.C. Supreme Court.The marker commemorating the life of Susie Marshall Sharp will be placed in Reidsville, N.C., near the site of her residence Friday, Sept. 29.
A North Carolina Highway Historical Marker soon will be placed recognizing the efforts made at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill to train officers, pilots, and cadets during World War II.The marker commemorating the U.S. Navy Pre-Flight School at Chapel Hill will be dedicated at 300 E. Franklin St., Sept. 30 at 2 p.m.This training program was one of only five such schools in the country during World War II. It served two linked purposes — to offer rigorous training for budding aviators and to keep open the doors of participating universities.
A notorious 1830 state Supreme Court decision often cited by abolitionists in the 1850s soon will be commemorated with a North Carolina Highway Historical Marker.The marker, which will be placed in Edenton, N.C., near the site of the original offense, chronicles the outcome of State v. Mann. When the North Carolina Supreme Court overturned the conviction of John Mann, it gave the absolute right of control over an enslaved person to a slaveowner, and, by proxy, someone in temporary possession of an enslaved person.