In the summer of 1967, the slaying of Brenda Joyce Holland, a college student working behind the scenes for The Lost Colony outdoor drama in Manteo, became one of North Carolina’s most high-profile murder cases of that era. The mystery behind her death endures.
Category: Place
The Pain and Joy of Black Fatherhood
Durham-based photographer and father Cornell Watson traveled the state photographing Black dads—capturing the complexity of raising Black kids.
Apple’s Big Bite
The tech giant’s proposed RTP campus, and its quieter investment in the foothills, demonstrates the unsettling power of global companies to shape a state like North Carolina.
Graves by the Sea
Across two narrow strips of sandy, marshy land, a team of volunteers is making Currituck County unique in answering a statewide call to document lost Black gravesites. What can their efforts teach us about remembrance and memorial?
Behind the Piece: “Today’s Outlaws”
An interview with writer Belle Boggs and a look at the reporting behind “Today’s Outlaws.”
Today’s Outlaws
Extraordinary actions by law enforcement in Graham, North Carolina, briefly captured national headlines last Halloween. But the long-rooted violence it exposed, and the protest movement that endured, are here to stay.
Memory and Monuments in Tarboro
A national reevaluation of Confederate monuments met small-town politics. As the statue came down, the town of 11,000 was left to ask, “What’s next?”
Oberlin’s Persistence
Buffeted by racism and urban development, Raleigh’s “premier African American suburb” was nearly lost in the wake of Cameron Village and Wade Avenue. As Raleigh reckons with its past, what’s next for a rising Oberlin?
Breaking Out of Purgatory
The North Carolina Zoo intentionally left the “city-zoo” model behind, with its sprawling footprint at the center of the state. Today, as zoos question their foundations and principles, that decision looks prescient.