Anne Mitchell Whisnant, Ph.D., associate professor of the practice in the Social Science Research Institute and director of Graduate Liberal Studies at Duke University, will discuss a recent effort to expand the National Register of Historic Places documentation for Portsmouth Village (Carteret County) to include attention to the community's significant Black history.
Founded in 1753, Portsmouth was an essential community supporting commerce through Ocracoke Inlet during the decades before the Civil War. In the years after, the community experienced a steady decline before finally being incorporated into Cape Lookout National Seashore in the 1970s. Its initial National Register of Historic Places nomination in 1978 gave little attention to Black history.
History for Lunch is offered in-person and virtually via Zoom.