Upcoming Events

 

“Unlocking the Doors of Opportunity: Rosenwald Schools of NC” - Film Viewing & Discussion
Presented by the Davidson County Historical Museum and The Edward C. Smith Civic Center

Free Admission
Thursday, February 27th, 2025
Doors open at 6:00, Program Begins at 6:30
Edward C. Smith Civic Center
217 S. Main St., Lexington, NC 27292

Featured Guests:
Producers Tom Lassiter and Jere Snyder
Historian Dr. Tom Hanchett
Esteemed alumni of Dunbar on 4th Street and Smith Avenue

Film Description: In the early 1900s, North Carolina and other Southern states largely ignored their responsibility to provide education for rural Black children. Unlocking the Doors of Opportunity illustrates how educator Booker T. Washington and philanthropist Julius Rosenwald hatched a plan that broke Jim Crow’s grip on funding for Black schools. The results helped change the South and the nation, one student at a time.
Preview available on PBS: https://www.pbs.org/video/preview-unlocking-doors-opportunity-c0wx4e/

Discussion Description: North Carolinians established over 787 Rosenwald schools and 26 related facilities, leading the nation in this historic educational initiative. Among these were Dunbar on 4th Street and two of the first libraries open to Black citizens in the South—one in Thomasville and the other at Dunbar School. Alumni of Dunbar 4th Street and Smith Avenue, film producers Tom Lassiter and Jere Snyder, along with historian Dr. Tom Hanchett, will participate in a panel discussion. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn about state and local history!

More About Our Guest Speakers:
Dr. Tom Hanchett helped reawaken national interest in the Rosenwald Schools with a 1988 article in the North Carolina Historical Review. His website, HistorySouth.org, offers extensive Rosenwald resources to explore. He is also author of Sorting Out the New South City (a book tracing the roots of racial segregation), and a new study of the history of affordable housing (to be published by UNC Press this May).

Tom Lassiter (writer and producer) is a reporter, photographer and editor who worked at daily newspapers in Virginia and North Carolina before becoming a free-lance journalist. He has collaborated with videographer Jere Snyder for more than 25 years, producing documentary-style films for universities, not-for-profit organizations, and corporate clients.
Lassiter and Snyder founded Longleaf Productions in 2015 to make documentary films about cultural, historical, educational, and environmental topics, primarily in the South. “Three Towns / Three Rivers,” about the impact of flooding associated with back-to-back hurricanes in 2016 and 2018, aired on UNC-TV in 2020 and has been seen on public television stations nationwide.
A journalism graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill, he resides in Greensboro with his wife, Nancy. He is president of Longleaf Productions.

Jere Snyder (director and editor) has been in film production for more than 50 years. A native of Nebraska, he learned his craft at the U.S. Naval Schools of Photography, Pensacola, Florida.
After military service, he worked as a cinematographer and filled in as an editor for CBS and ABC news bureaus in Washington, D.C. He oversaw all public information films released by NASA’s Manned Spacecraft Center in the early years of manned spaceflight, including “The Voyage of Friendship Seven,” NASA’s account of the historic circumnavigation of the globe by Astronaut John Glenn.
Snyder has worked as an independent filmmaker since the late 1960s, creating productions for corporate and non-profit clients. He began collaborating with Tom Lassiter in the early 1990s. Together they have created dozens of documentary-style productions.

 

Ongoing Programs

 

African American Heritage Project

The mission of the Davidson County Historical Museum’s African American Heritage Project is to collect, preserve, and interpret material culture and oral histories reflecting the lives and culture of the African American community in Davidson County.

The African American Heritage Project has issued an ongoing Call for Oral Histories and a Call for Artifacts. The success of these projects relies on community participation, volunteers, and donors. See more information below on how to get involved.

 
 

Escape the Museum

Escape the Museum is a family-friendly Escape Room-style experience, where children and adults work together to solve puzzles and riddles, find hidden objects, and unlock clues as they advance through a series of challenges placed throughout museum exhibits. The object of the game is to beat every challenge, advance through every exhibit, and ultimately Escape the Museum in under 1 hour!

Escape the Museum is a BEGINNER LEVEL escape room game. It was created for, and best played by, children (approximately ages 7-11) with adults (at least 1 adult player is required per team.)

Only available Tuesdays-Fridays, 4:00-5:00. Reservation Required. $15 per group.

 

Celebrating Immigrant Communities and Stories: Oral History Project

The Davidson County Historical Museum will kick-off a new project that Celebrates Local Immigrant Communities and Stories at the annual Lexington Multi-Cultural Festival. Seeking volunteers including:

  • Oral History Interviewees (1st, 2nd, and 3rd Generation Immigrant Stories and all Cultures.)

  • Translators to help conduct or transcribe interviews, which can be conducted in English or preferred language.

  • Exhibit Design Assistants/Artifact Donors (Artifacts, objects, and information needed to represent the lives and culture of local immigrant communities in future museum exhibits and programs.)

To get involved or to find more information, stop by our table at the Multi-Cultural Festival:
05/07/2022 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM, Breeden Amphitheater, Latino Village, 333 S Main Street, Lex., NC 27292

Or contact the museum @ dch.museum@davidsoncountync.gov or call 336-242-2035