Known as the "Furniture Capital of the World," North Carolina is famous for its high-quality furniture. And for over a century, it's been the heartbeat of the American furniture industry. But in recent decades, that business has changed dramatically, decimating the workforce and leaving average American consumers with two less-than-ideal options: high-end luxury products or cheap and mostly disposable mass-produced stuff.

This episode originally published on October 24, 2024 and features a trip to the High Point Furniture Market. The 2026 Spring Market is scheduled for April 25–29.

Featuring:

• Zaki Khalifa, former owner of Zaki Oriental Rugs in High Point, NC
• Tammy Nagum, President and CEO of the High Point Market Authority
• Federico Contigiani, President of Hickory Chair
• Matt Hartman, reporter at The Assembly

Thanks to the team at the High Point Market Authority for their help during Market week, especially Ben Muller.

Special thanks also this week to NC State Libraries' Special Collections Research Center.

Links:

• Check out Matt’s reporting on the evolution of North Carolina furniture.
• You can find a transcript of this episode here.

Aspect: Order no. 329, Directed by Kine, 27 February 1961, ua102_400_309766_20221007_49866, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, North Carolina

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Fascinating new research is shedding light on how clothing culture during the American Civil war helped radically transform the nation during its darkest hour. Through the clothes they made, wore, mended, lost, and stole, Americans expressed their allegiances, showed their love, confronted their social and economic challenges, subverted expectations, and, ultimately, preserved their history.

Featuring:

• Sarah Weicksel, author of A Nation Unraveled: Clothing, Culture, and Violence in the American Civil War Era

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In March of 1944, two basketball teams in North Carolina played perhaps the most important game that nobody has ever heard of. It was the first interracial college basketball game in the Jim Crow South. And it remained a secret for half a century.

Featuring:

• Scott Ellsworth, author of “The Secret Game: A Wartime Story of Courage, Change, and Basketball’s Lost Triumph”

Links:

• You can check out Scott’s original 1996 article for The New York Times here.

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The Trump administration is considering major changes to the way that disaster response works in America, including ceding more responsibility to states. But is that really a good idea? North Carolina's spotty record of responding to hurricanes might provide some answers and offer a glimpse into the uncertain future of disaster relief.

Featuring:

• Rebecca Hersher, reporter on NPR's Climate Desk
• Ren Larson, reporter at The Assembly and a ProPublica Local Reporting Network fellow

Links:

• "As Helene Survivors Wait for State Help, Some Victims of Earlier Hurricanes Are Still Out of Their Homes"
• "3 big changes are proposed for FEMA. This is what experts really think of them"

Cover image: From NOAA, this colored infrared composite image of Hurricane Helene was captured on September 27, 2024 utilizing the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) aboard NOAA's GOES-16 satellite.

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In 1937, a man claimed to have discovered a rock in eastern North Carolina with a 400-year-old message carved into it from survivors of the Lost Colony of Roanoke. The announcement created an international media circus. And it led to one of the biggest archeological scandals in American history, one that would forever tarnish the artifact’s reputation. But was the Dare Stone authentic?

Featuring:

• David La Vere, history professor at UNC-Wilmington and author of “The Lost Rocks: The Dare Stones and the Unsolved Mystery of Sir Walter Raleigh’s Lost Colony”
• Bill Miller, geologist and professor emeritus at UNC-Asheville

Links:

• The 1937 Chowan River “Dare Stone”: A Re-Evaluation by David La Vere
• Double Deception: The 1937 Hoaxes of the Chowan River Stone and the Drake Plate of Brass, by Melissa Darby

Cover image: The front of the first Dare Stone, aka the Chowan River stone, courtesy of Brenau University in Gainesville, Georgia

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From public syllabi to surveillance, universities across the country are embracing unprecedented policies that professors say are undermining their academic freedom. And North Carolina is front and center.

Featuring:

• Brianna Atkinson, higher education reporter for WUNC News
• Keith Whittington, director of Center for Academic Freedom and Free Speech at Yale Law School and author of “You Can’t Teach That!: The Battle Over University Classrooms”

Links:

• You can find more of Brianna Atkinson’s reporting here

Cover Image: Liz Schlemmer

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When disaster strikes in the water, we turn to the US Coast Guard. Today, it’s renowned for its fast-moving cutters, skilled helicopter pilots and daring rescue divers. But a hundred and fifty years ago, the Coast Guard's predecessor, the US Life-Saving Service, was in total disarray and in desperate need of reform. In the treacherous waters of North Carolina's Outer Banks, an extraordinary group of Black men answered the call and saved hundreds of lives against all odds.

Featuring:

• Brad Campbell, writer for Our State Magazine
• Joan Collins, Director of Outreach and Education for the Pea Island Preservation Society

Links:

• Check out Brad's article about the Pea Island surfmen here.

Cover image provided by Joan Collins: The US Coast Guard's Herbert M. Collins served at the Pea Island Life-Saving Station in North Carolina's Outer Banks during World War II.

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As the story goes, hip-hop music was born a little over 50 years ago at a house party in the Bronx. But that version of history doesn't account for an entertainer from Durham, North Carolina with the incredible name Pigmeat Markham. In 1968, Markham released a hit song called “Here Comes the Judge.” The tune fused comedy, funk, and what can only be described as an early form of rapping—years before hip-hop officially burst onto the scene. So was this largely forgotten figure actually the first rapper?

Featuring:

• Mark Anthony Neal, James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of African & African American Studies at Duke University

Links:

• Check out a playlist of the songs mentioned in this episode and some others inspired by Pigmeat Markham here.

Cover image: The album cover art for Pigmeat Markham's 1968 single "Here Comes the Judge”

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