The S.S. Winston-Salem goes to war…

Winston-Salem Journal, December 28, 1919 On December 27, 1919, Dewitt Chatham, a twenty year old resident of Fourth Street in downtown Winston-Salem raised her arm and said “I dub thee ’The City of Winston-Salem’ and broke a bottle over the bow of a 400 foot, 10,000 ton ship, which then slid down the way into…

Madge Roberts: The true story…

Darda, the yearbook of Trevecca Nazarene College, 1949 Madge Lee Belk was a good girl. When she was just a toddler, her Bible quoting great uncle Allison Belk took her under his wing because her mother, Geneva, had better things to do than rear a child. When Madge asked Geneva who her father was, her…

1960 sit-ins: Twin City leads the way…

In May, 1942, a group of young Chicagoans led by James Farmer, a founder of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), sat down in a Jack Spratt Coffee Shop in the Windy City and requested service. Spratt management withheld service and demanded that they be arrested. The Chicago PD responded that they had not broken…

A half century of Ask SAM…where is it going?

Once upon a time, there was this guy named Roy Thompson, who worked for Piedmont Publishing Company, the publisher of the Winston-Salem Journal and the Twin City Sentinel. When he was in reporter mode, Roy was one of the best reporters the local newspapers ever had. But it was his columnist mode that made him…

Vikings were not exactly who we thought they were…

Say the word “Viking” and most people see an image of blonde, blue-eyed Scandinavian warriors. But a recent exhaustive study of DNA extracted from over 400 Viking burial site says that that image should show much more diversity in its content. Since many of those who derive from western European ancestry have bits of Viking…

It all began at the Central Library, 660 West Fifth Street…

  At 6:30 PM, Monday, February 26, 1979 a new exhibit opened at the Central Library on West Fifth Street in Winston-Salem. It was created by Vernon Logan, the local leader of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, headed nationally by David Duke. It consisted of documents and artifacts, including hoods and robes, relating…

Babe Ruth’s strange day in the Twin City…

George Scott, who hit a few while becoming one of the Twin City’s most popular minor league players ever, called his home runs “Long Taters”. On April 8, 1920, Babe Ruth hit three “Long Taters” in an exhibition game at Piedmont Park in Winston-Salem, yet came away with nothing more than two doubles and a…

Brown Memorial Baptist Church…fe

In 1889, Baptists living in the Broad Street area founded a new congregation, the Broad Street Baptist Church. In 1906, they bought a lot at the corner of West Fourth and North Spring Street for a new church building. Ground was broken in November and the first three bricks laid by the misses Lillie Leak,…

Kurfees Curve…the true story…

Kurfees Curve Strikes Again! The Killer Curve! Disaster Over Hawthorne! On A Fast Track! Death Trap! (quote from a local mayor) Drama queen headline writers loved it. It was, they said, the curve that killed. And killed. And killed again. Dozens had died. And the back story was that it had been conceived in one…

News & Observer, 1880 – present, added…

  The Raleigh News & Observer from 1880 to present has just been added to our digital newspaper collection. Since it is the state’s newspaper of record, this is a much awaited event. Go to: forsyth.cc/library ⇢ “Online Resources” ⇢ “Genealogy & History” ⇢ “Historic North Carolina Digital Newspaper Collection (ProQuest)” Type in your library…