Dr. Charles Irons, right, assistant professor of history and a member of the faculty of the Department of History and Geography at Elon University, and Dr. William Vincent, Director of the Alamance Historical Museum, Inc., will help lead a discussion on the history and heritage of textile manufacturing in Alamance County on Monday evening March 14 at 7:30 p.m. at the Alamance Community College.
Joining Dr. Irons on the panel will be Dr. Robert Korstad, Professor of Public Policy Studies and History at Duke University, Dr. William Vincent, Director of the Alamance Historical Museum, Inc., and a lecturer in history and anthropology at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and Mr. John Neathery, an instructor in the Department of Social Sciences at Alamance Community College..
In addition to the professional scholars and educators, the panel will include the participation of distinguished local curators and public historians Kathy Barry and Jerrie Nall of the Glencoe Textile Heritage Museum, Inc., and Gail Knauff, director of the Haw River Historical Museum, Inc.
Program moderator is Peggy Boswell, curator of the Scott Family Collection at the Alamance Community College.
The panel discussion is part of the “Alamance Reads: One Book, One Community” project sponsored by the Central Carolina Public Library System, in cooperation with the Alamance Public Libraries, the Alamance Community College Learning Resources Center and the Elon University Library, and funded in part by the Alamance County Arts Council. The first book in the program is the novel “The Bridge” by Pulitzer prize-winning editorial cartoonist Doug Marlette whose book draws heavily upon the history of Alamance and Orange Counties in North Carolina during the 1934 nationwide general strike in the textile industry. The “Alamance Reads” program will conclude on Saturday afternoon March 19 with a picnic and “family reunion” on the grounds of the Captain White House in Graham, NC. Entertainment for this community celebration of literacy will include African American fiddle legend, Joe Thompson, and the stringband Mebanesville.
Monday’s panel discussion will take place in the Community College’s auditorium on its main campus at 1247 Jimmie Kerr Road, Graham, NC (at Exit 150 on Interstate 85/40), and is free and open to the public.
For more information about the textile legacy panel discussion, contact Peggy Boswell, Scott Family Collection, Learning Resources Center, Alamance Community College, 506.4203. For more information about “Alamance Reads,” go to www.alamancereads.com.