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This Date in History | Archibald Henderson, G.B. Shaw, and Mark Twain

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Remembering Cameron Village! We didn’t go to Raleigh like we did Greensboro when I was a boy but of the few places we did visit, aside from the NC State Fairgrounds and Dorton Arena, Cameron Village stands out. Raleigh, after all, meant The Wolfpack, and we were a Tar Heel family. In those days in #DeepChatham that the NC State (just ‘State’ will suffice) fans far outnumbered the Carolina ones was a given. Perhaps that is still the case, I don’t know. State was first and foremost an agricultural institution and Chatham County was a farming center. I’d venture that considerably more Chatham Central High (my Alma Mater) graduates attended State than Carolina. The number going on to 4-year schools was never that great anyway.

But State had been a basketball powerhouse from the mid-1940s into the 1980s, first with the “Silver Fox” Everett Case, then “Stormin’” Norm Sloan, and finally with the beloved Jim Valvano. Sloan presided over the dominating 1973-74 David Thompson/Tommy Burleson-led NCAA winners while Valvano’s “Heart-Attack Pack” 1983 national champions almost made rivals happy for them (I emphasize “almost”). But it was Case that laid the ground work of building that fan base through the ‘50s and ‘60s with consistent winners, fast-break offenses, and the nationally acclaimed Christmas-time Dixie Classic Tournament. The Wolfpack’s miracle run during last year’s March Madness surely awakened some of the allegiance to the Glory Days once so rampant in the outlands. It is interesting that the heyday of State hoops seems to coincide rather well with that of Cameron Village.

As a “planned residential subdivision with shopping services,” Cameron Village was like no other space to most folks. It bore a magical sense about it, especially during the holidays with the lights and sounds of Christmas everywhere. It was certainly like nothing down in #Bonlee. The layout, with blocks of shopping, easy parking, and homes and apartments all around was frankly, futuristic in a way - not in a Jetson’s way - but maybe a sort of imagined Big Apple kind of way. The design preceded the eventually ubiquitous mall but transcended the shopping strip landing somewhere in an outer limit of imagination - at least for a while in my own dreaming of a world beyond rural North Carolina during the 1960s and early 1970s.

In the mid-1970s I went off to my true fantasy destination of Chapel Hill and the sense of Raleigh as the home of my rival intensified. Duke/dook was an also-ran in most every way at that time - a laughable last-place finisher in all sports and already inhabited by zero folks from down home, unless they were in the hospital. State was the focus of most all of the enmity that bubbled up out of The Southern Part of Heaven in those days. There is great truth in the bumper sticker, “Duke is puke, Wake is fake, but the team I hate is NC State.”

I did return to Cameron Village (now known as The Village District) in the early 1980s and it was the unifying force of rock n roll, blues, and bluegrass that got me there. I didn’t go that often, after all we had The Cat’s Cradle in Chapel Hill, but a few times shows at The Pier in the Cameron Village Subway drew me east. Great bands played there like R.E.M. (there’s a YouTube of a 1982 show there online - look it up), Sonic Youth, Pylon, The dBs - all wasn’t Alt-Music either, one of my all-time favorite shows there was David Bromberg. I can’t name the artists here but I will mention one more - a 1981? visit to Raleigh by an about-to-be-discovered all-woman band, that thanks to WXYC, the campus station at UNC, I was aware of and had already been dancing to (Chapel Hill danced in the early ‘80s - shoe-gazing had yet to set in). I have friends that have adjacent stories about that show and meeting The Go Gos in a nearby supermarket.

Enough and on to our #OnThisDay…Suffice it to say that I’ve never come to know Raleigh well enough but I ‘get’ that it has its own mystique and grand history. There are folks that I associate with the town that are mighty cool (you know who you are) and the music that has rock and rolled out of there is some of NC’s finest. Fabulous Knobs, Connells, Corrosion of Conformity, The Hanks, and Tres Chicas ring bells right off. To bring it back around I’m always reminded of a fantastic show at The Pier that I missed - For years I have cherished my copy of the most beloved and listened-to Chatham County’s own, “The Bluegrass Experience: Live at The Pier” (1976).


#OTD (November 17) in 1949 Cameron Village (now The Village District) among The South’s 1st Shopping Ctrs, opened in Raleigh. Very popular in ‘50-60s, malls came along and to hurt business in the ‘70s but that same decade saw ‘The Underground’ thrive. Renovations have kept it alive to this day. Cameron Village Trend-Setter for Raleigh and the South
 

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donbosco said:
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Remembering Cameron Village! We didn’t go to Raleigh like we did Greensboro when I was a boy but of the few places we did visit, aside from the NC State Fairgrounds and Dorton Arena, Cameron Village stands out. Raleigh, after all, meant The Wolfpack, and we were a Tar Heel family. In those days in #DeepChatham that the NC State (just ‘State’ will suffice) fans far outnumbered the Carolina ones was a given. Perhaps that is still the case, I don’t know. State was first and foremost an agricultural institution and Chatham County was a farming center. I’d venture that considerably more Chatham Central High (my Alma Mater) graduates attended State than Carolina. The number going on to 4-year schools was never that great anyway.

But State had been a basketball powerhouse from the mid-1940s into the 1980s, first with the “Silver Fox” Everett Case, then “Stormin’” Norm Sloan, and finally with the beloved Jim Valvano. Sloan presided over the dominating 1973-74 David Thompson/Tommy Burleson-led NCAA winners while Valvano’s “Heart-Attack Pack” 1983 national champions almost made rivals happy for them (I emphasize “almost”). But it was Case that laid the ground work of building that fan base through the ‘50s and ‘60s with consistent winners, fast-break offenses, and the nationally acclaimed Christmas-time Dixie Classic Tournament. The Wolfpack’s miracle run during last year’s March Madness surely awakened some of the allegiance to the Glory Days once so rampant in the outlands. It is interesting that the heyday of State hoops seems to coincide rather well with that of Cameron Village.

As a “planned residential subdivision with shopping services,” Cameron Village was like no other space to most folks. It bore a magical sense about it, especially during the holidays with the lights and sounds of Christmas everywhere. It was certainly like nothing down in #Bonlee. The layout, with blocks of shopping, easy parking, and homes and apartments all around was frankly, futuristic in a way - not in a Jetson’s way - but maybe a sort of imagined Big Apple kind of way. The design preceded the eventually ubiquitous mall but transcended the shopping strip landing somewhere in an outer limit of imagination - at least for a while in my own dreaming of a world beyond rural North Carolina during the 1960s and early 1970s.

In the mid-1970s I went off to my true fantasy destination of Chapel Hill and the sense of Raleigh as the home of my rival intensified. Duke/dook was an also-ran in most every way at that time - a laughable last-place finisher in all sports and already inhabited by zero folks from down home, unless they were in the hospitable. State was the focus of most all of the enmity that bubbled up out of The Southern Part of Heaven in those days. There is great truth in the bumper sticker, “Duke is puke, Wake is fake, but the team I hate is NC State.”

I did return to Cameron Village (now known as The Village District) in the early 1980s and it was the unifying force of rock n roll, blues, and bluegrass that got me there. I didn’t go that often, after all we had The Cat’s Cradle in Chapel Hill, but a few times shows at The Pier in the Cameron Village Subway drew me east. Great bands played there like R.E.M. (there’s a YouTube of a 1982 show there online - look it up), Sonic Youth, Pylon, The dBs - all wasn’t Alt-Music either, one of my all-time favorite shows there was David Bromberg. I can’t name the artists here but I will mention one more - a 1981? visit to Raleigh by an about-to-be-discovered all-woman band, that thanks to WXYC, the campus station at UNC, I was aware of and had already been dancing to (Chapel Hill danced in the early ‘80s - shoe-gazing had yet to set in). I have friends that have adjacent stories about that show and meeting The Go Gos in a nearby supermarket.

Enough and on to our #OnThisDay…Suffice it to say that I’ve never come to know Raleigh well enough but I ‘get’ that it has its own mystique and grand history. There are folks that I associate with the town that are mighty cool (you know who you are) and the music that has rock and rolled out of there is some of NC’s finest. Fabulous Knobs, Connells, Corrosion of Conformity, The Hanks, and Tres Chicas ring bells right off. To bring it back around I’m always reminded of a fantastic show at The Pier that I missed - For years I have cherished my copy of the most beloved and listened-to Chatham County’s own, “The Bluegrass Experience: Live at The Pier” (1976).


#OTD (November 17) in 1949 Cameron Village (now The Village District) among The South’s 1st Shopping Ctrs, opened in Raleigh. Very popular in ‘50-60s, malls came along and to hurt business in the ‘70s but that same decade saw ‘The Underground’ thrive. Renovations have kept it alive to this day. Cameron Village Trend-Setter for Raleigh and the South
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Must have been about 1961 Mom took us to cameron for "school is about to open " shopping. To get there you had to go through the swamp on 54
 
Downtown and Cameron Village. Where to shop 50s and 60s.

The upper building close to Oberlin housed my pediatrician's office along with a bunch of others. The Hobby Shop a long tine tenant was the home of model trains, model kits and all kinds of neat shit kids and some adults loved.

I've posted before on IC that the Sears store (where HT is - both up and downstairs) had the White and Colored drinking fountains. My brother and I would wait for the blue/white haired ladiies to come by and drink from the Colored. Shocking! We said the water always tasted better from that one. If mom was nearby she would agree and sometimes take a gulp herself. Our little form of Civil Rights protest.

Knew a couple girls who worked in the "mod/hip" clothing stores in the Subway and waited at the Pier as well. Later a friend lived in one of those townhouses right behind the Subway. Spent quite a few nights on the couch there... Buffet decided he needed a regular backup band while hanging around the Pier one night after a show; thus the Coral Reefers. Cafe Deja View was a more jazzy place. Many memories and even more lost from the fog and haze of the times.

Now weekend nights might find you driving around a while trying to find a parking space if you want to dine there.
 
In re: Entertainment venues under Cameron Underground, a/k/a, The Villiage Subway. Back in the day, there were rumors of some sort of government facility under Cameron Underground. Some time in the late 1970's a reporter for the News & Observer, who--just by happenstance I'm sure--was accompanied by an Otis Elevator repairman, somehow pushed the wrong button on a elevator and was taken down to a level below the nightclubs and music venues in Cameron Underground. Immediately upon disembarking from the elevator, the reporter and repairman were surrounded by what the reporter described as, IIRC, government types, who escorted them back to the surface level and advised them not to return. I was unable to find anything on the internet about this story/incident/place, but I swear I read it at the time.
 
05C40 said:
In re: Entertainment venues under Cameron Underground, a/k/a, The Villiage Subway. Back in the day, there were rumors of some sort of government facility under Cameron Underground. Some time in the late 1970's a reporter for the News & Observer, who--just by happenstance I'm sure--was accompanied by an Otis Elevator repairman, somehow pushed the wrong button on a elevator and was taken down to a level below the nightclubs and music venues in Cameron Underground. Immediately upon disembarking from the elevator, the reporter and repairman were surrounded by what the reporter described as, IIRC, government types, who escorted them back to the surface level and advised them not to return. I was unable to find anything on the internet about this story/incident/place, but I swear I read it at the time.
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Saw a few passed out folks in the elevator back in the day. 😁
 
05C40 said:
In re: Entertainment venues under Cameron Underground, a/k/a, The Villiage Subway. Back in the day, there were rumors of some sort of government facility under Cameron Underground. Some time in the late 1970's a reporter for the News & Observer, who--just by happenstance I'm sure--was accompanied by an Otis Elevator repairman, somehow pushed the wrong button on a elevator and was taken down to a level below the nightclubs and music venues in Cameron Underground. Immediately upon disembarking from the elevator, the reporter and repairman were surrounded by what the reporter described as, IIRC, government types, who escorted them back to the surface level and advised them not to return. I was unable to find anything on the internet about this story/incident/place, but I swear I read it at the time.
Click to expand...


I read this once upon a time as well...can't say where though.
 
On this day (November 18) in 1980 a Guilford Superior Court jury acquitted six Klan/Nazis in the killing of five members of the Communist Workers Party. An independent investigation found, twenty-five years later, that the murderers had planned their actions and that the police had purposefully withdrawn from the area and through a paid informant knew of the Klan/Nazi plans to attack, shooting to kill, a “Death To The Klan” protest march sponsored partly by the CWP in the Morningside Heights section of Greensboro, a predominantly African American part of town. (https://greensborotrc.org) No one was punished for these murders though there were many eyewitnesses as well as film.

Indeed, on the Right the terrorist Ku Klux Klan had deep roots in the region. In 1979 in Greensboro the Workers Viewpoint Organization was working to energize and organize African American communities and workers in general to realize their civil rights. Connections with the Communist Workers Party were growing among the group’s membership. Some members were already CWP. The KKK found that type of action, especially because it was seeking to break down racism, as anathema. Both groups were aware of the natural hostility extant in their worldviews.

When the word went out that a battle had happened in Greensboro - which then became clearer and clearer was an ambush that turned into a massacre - the paramilitary presence of the KKK in our lives hit home for many of us like never before. Over 40 years later we stand on the precipice of a moment when racist thugs, wrapped in flags - The Confederate Stars and Bars as well as banners sporting Swastikas maddeningly mingled with Old Glory - slouch and slither among us with a boldness unknown in our lifetimes.

The murders of 1979 and the trial verdict of 1980 taught us that unhooded, regular seeming folk among us were deadly and determined enough to murder AND that they could get away with it in court. The NO JUSTICE verdict rendered in Greensboro 1980 wounded a generation but also passed down a sense of impunity to a new spawning of hate that we see so strong around us today.

There was No Justice realized over the Rightist murders that went down in Greensboro and our nation still suffers that travesty for the emboldening it brought on. That is, sadly, why today none of us can relax. The KKK has been joined by The Proud Boys, The Oath Keepers, and myriad other militarist anti-democratic combines - and as Greensboro 1979 and January 6, 2021 and many other operations have shown us - they will kill. Watch one another’s backs. Be on guard. Vigilance may very well be what eventually stems the tide. Countless acts of resistance may yet save the day. We have no real idea how often that it has previously halted The Worst. Let that sink in and invigorate you in these current dark times.

The very headline from ‘The Greensboro Daily News’ is telling in the use of the word “Shootout” instead of the accurate term, ‘Ambush.’

There is a good deal more to tell about the injustice of Greensboro 1979 than I’ve related here. At the link directly below read an excellent piece with a great many hot links and attributions by Guilford College grad, Eric Ginsburg. Don’t let the publication source fool you, this is legit historical writing.


IMG_5653.jpeg
 
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donbosco said:
On this day (November 18) in 1980 a Guilford Superior Court jury acquitted six Klan/Nazis in the killing of five members of the Communist Workers Party. An independent investigation found, twenty-five years later, that the murderers had planned their actions and that the police had purposefully withdrawn from the area and through a paid informant knew of the Klan/Nazi plans to attack, shooting to kill, a “Death To The Klan” protest march sponsored partly by the CWP in the Morningside Heights section of Greensboro, a predominantly African American part of town. (https://greensborotrc.org) No one was punished for these murders though there were many eyewitnesses as well as film.

Indeed, on the Right the terrorist Ku Klux Klan had deep roots in the region. In 1979 in Greensboro the Workers Viewpoint Organization was working to energize and organize African American communities and workers in general to realize their civil rights. Connections with the Communist Workers Party were growing among the group’s membership. Some members were already CWP. The KKK found that type of action, especially because it was seeking to break down racism, as anathema. Both groups were aware of the natural hostility extant in their worldviews.

When the word went out that a battle had happened in Greensboro - which then became clearer and clearer was an ambush that turned into a massacre - the paramilitary presence of the KKK in our lives hit home for many of us like never before. Over 40 years later we stand on the precipice of a moment when racist thugs, wrapped in flags - The Confederate Stars and Bars as well as banners sporting Swastikas maddeningly mingled with Old Glory - slouch and slither among us with a boldness unknown in our lifetimes.

The murders of 1979 and the trial verdict of 1980 taught us that unhooded, regular seeming folk among us were deadly and determined enough to murder AND that they could get away with it in court. The NO JUSTICE verdict rendered in Greensboro 1980 wounded a generation but also passed down a sense of impunity to a new spawning of hate that we see so strong around us today.

There was No Justice realized over the Rightist murders that went down in Greensboro and our nation still suffers that travesty for the emboldening it brought on. That is, sadly, why today none of us can relax. The KKK has been joined by The Proud Boys, The Oath Keepers, and myriad other militarist anti-democratic combines - and as Greensboro 1979 and January 6, 2021 and many other operations have shown us - they will kill. Watch one another’s backs. Be on guard. Vigilance may very well be what eventually stems the tide. Countless acts of resistance may yet save the day. We have no real idea how often that it has previously halted The Worst. Let that sink in and invigorate you in these current dark times.

The very headline from ‘The Greensboro Daily News’ is telling in the use of the word “Shootout” instead of the accurate term, ‘Ambush.’

There is a good deal more to tell about the injustice of Greensboro 1979 than I’ve related here. At the link directly below read an excellent piece with a great many hot links and attributions by Guilford College grad, Eric Ginsburg. Don’t let the publication source fool you, this is legit historical writing.


IMG_5653.jpeg
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Wow, I had never heard of this. Thanks for sharing.
 
On this date in 1928, Walt Disney released “Steamboat Willie,” the first animated short film to feature Mickey Mouse.

IMG_0500.jpeg
 
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grimes70 said:
My sister was there. Walking by and decied to join in.
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I was there as well and eventually became friends with the guy in the photo (whose last name is actually spelled Kueny -- he passed away about a year ago -- radical to the very end).
 
farce© said:
On this date in 1928, Walt Disney released “Steamboat Willie,” the first animated short film to feature Mickey Mouse.

IMG_0500.jpeg
Click to expand...


Took a big chance on a cartoon rat. In fact, in Latin America in the early years at least, it was Pato Donaldo that was the big Disney star for exactly the reason that a duck was quite a bit more lovable than such vermin.
 
donbosco said:
Curious. Did you go to High School in North Carolina? Did you take NC History in college?
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I went to all levels of public school in NC, majored in American history and poli sci at Carolina. Think I took NC History to 1865 but not since 1865.

In other words, if I don’t know about it, I’d wager 99.9% of those in my age cohort also don’t know about it.
 
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sringwal said:
The massacre itself (Nov. 3rd, 1979) was three days before I was born. I'm honestly surprised that this is new to you - it's literally the defining moment in the North Carolina protest movement since the Greensboro Four.
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I’m just as surprised as you lol.
 
Paine said:
I’m just as surprised as you lol.
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I get our disconnect now, and suspect that we will be more on the same page once you've learned more about the event - many people that I grew up with attended the rally, and survived. It's why I have a different view of Boomers than others do. They put in far more work than people realize, and were willing to sacrifice far more than people understand. Look up John Kenyon Chapman, who was one of the survivors, and whose house I went to for much of my childhood. Do a google search for the "John Kenyon Chapman Papers" but also search for the name I knew him by, "Yonni."
 
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