North Carolina

Photographer Otis Hairston's camera snapped nearly forty years of fond memories and historic Greensboro events--from community gatherings and North Carolina A&T Aggie homecomings to celebrations of the historic 1960 sit-in. This stunning photo collection depicts ordinary people, local heroes and national celebrities as it captures the strength of Greensboro's African American community. Picturing Greensboro is a landmark volume of spectacular images that will be cherished for years to come.

In 1928, Eli Reid purchased 400 acres of picturesque property on the banks of the Chowan River in Hertford County, North Carolina. Soon after he acquired the land, Reid began turning the area into a Segregation-era resort for African Americans, and Chowan Beach was born.

As the resort began to take shape in the late 1920s, it was clear that something special had been started. Wide sandy beaches were built, and construction was immediately started on guest cottages, bathhouses, a dance hall, photo studio, restaurant, picnic area and magnificent German-made carousel. Chowan Beach was an immediate success, and throngs of African Americans began to stream in from across North Carolina and the East Coast to relax and enjoy the atmosphere and spectacular views--an oasis of fun in a social desert of limited opportunities and unfair treatment. The water was cool and refreshing, the crowds were friendly, and the music was hot, as the beach was a popular stop for musicians touring on the "Chitlin Circuit," including B.B. King, James Brown, Sam Cooke and The Drifters.

In this nostalgic new book, author Frank Stephenson brings back the glory days of Chowan Beach with an array of vintage photographs and a brief history of the area. Come along as Stephenson revisits the past of this beloved beach and offers a reminder of what it meant to generations of African American visitors.

With their dip nets, pound nets, haul seines and juniper boats, residents of Eastern North Carolina waited for the river herring to come home in March, April and May to where they had been spawned. They waited for the muddy rivers, creeks, branches and small streams to flash with a white and silver.

In the past, millions of herring would swim up Eastern North Carolina's rivers and creeks from the Atlantic Ocean to spawn each spring. Herring fishermen at dozens of fisheries throughout the region pulled nets teeming with herring from the waters, and their catches provided food for residents and a product that was shipped nationwide and as far away as Europe.

Recent decades have seen a dramatic drop in the returning herring population, due in large part to the effects of pollution and excessive trawling by foreign fleets. In an effort to save the fish, a statewide ban on river herring fishing was recently instituted. What was once a thriving industry is now on the brink of extinction, and a colorful chapter in North Carolina's history could be coming to a close.

As a boy, Frank Stephenson fished for herring with his father and fondly recalls helping catch, clean and salt the silvery fish. With this collection of striking photographs that span half a century of herring fisheries in Eastern North Carolina, Stephenson tells the captivating story of an industry and helps to preserve a way of life and culture for generations to come.

Tucked away from the bustle of nearby Raleigh and Durham, Person County, North Carolina, is an oasis of easygoing Southern charm. The photography of John Wesley Merritt, shutterbug and lifelong Roxboro resident, brilliantly captures the spirit of this idyllic setting as it was in the 1940s and 1950s.

Producing a vivid portrait of a bygone era, Merritt had the rare talent of preserving a whole way of life through the details he recorded on film from streets and shops to fields and farm stands. Captions and essays by Eddie Talbert reveal what the photographs do not. Hard times and good times, historic facts and interesting details are all collected here in a unique edition that celebrates a cherished era in Person County's history.