We are excited to share our monthly recap, including exciting updates, important milestones, and more. Please take a moment to enjoy our highlights.

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On May 6, we presented a Community Conversation program at the University City Regional Library. Members of our community gathered to learn about housing justice, shared their own experiences, and joined the discussion on how to get involved. Thank you to Greg Jarrell for helping us present this special program, Val Brown for moderating and to everyone who joined us!

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Our podcast, Our New South, has won a 31st Annual Communicator Award for Excellence, Podcasts, 2025. This award represents the highest level of achievement, given to projects that demonstrate exceptional quality in the field. The Communicator Awards recognize excellence, effectiveness, and innovation across all areas of communication.

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Collections Corner

_{E.R.A. Campaign Button, displayed in the Levine Museum of the New South’s award-winning exhibit, Purses, Platforms, and Power: Women Changing Charlotte in the 1970s. Levine Museum of the New South Collections}

This Equal Rights Amendment (E.R.A.) guaranteed that the United States and individual States would not deny or abridge the equality of rights based on sex. The U.S. Senate and House of Representatives introduced the amendment in 1972. The National Organization of Women (NOW) led a campaign to convince legislatures to ratify the amendment throughout the 1970s, and early 1980s. It fell short of the necessary number of ratifications by the 1982 deadline.  

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Spring Fundraising Campaign

Support our Spring Giving Campaign and help Levine Museum of the New South continue to deliver inspiring programs, events, and experiences in the Charlotte community. To date, we have engaged with over 250,000 people using history to build community!

Help us keep history accessible in Charlotte and beyond. Find out more about our impact and how you can support us before June 30.

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We are excited to share our monthly recap, including exciting updates, important milestones, and more. Please take a moment to enjoy our highlights.

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Representation Through Art & History

On April 1, we partnered with Trinity Episcopal School and Northwest School of the Arts to present an exhibition, Reflections: Honoring Black Stories & Creativity through Art, where student artists showcased their original works inspired by Black artists and historical figures. It was an inspiring evening filled with thoughtful dialogue and firsthand accounts from the young artists about their creative inspirations.

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Empowering Girls Through History

We hosted the Hornets Nest Girl Scouts, on April 8, for “Belonging & Becoming: A Celebration of Women and Girls.” Young Girl Scouts explored the history of some of Charlotte’s most well-known women through our exhibition, Charlotte: Moving Forward, Looking Back. Inspired by what they learned, the girls created their own pins.

This program was made possible through the generosity of Publix and comedian Fortune Feimster.

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Creative Fun at Charlotte SHOUT

We had an amazing time during Charlotte SHOUT on April 15. Thank you to everyone who met us on The Green in Uptown, to decorate their very own story stone. Participants were encouraged to create a symbol representing Charlotte’s history. We met so many little artists during this event. 

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Fawn Weaver in Charlotte

We concluded our April programming with Fawn Weaver and Victoria Butler during their Love & Whiskey Tour on April 23. 350 attendees filled the venue, enjoying a fireside chat, whiskey tasting, a book signing, and opportunities for photos.

We want to extend a special thank you to our sponsor, Worth Advisors.

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Collections Corner

_{Levine Museum of the New South Collections.}

Congressional Gold Medal awarded to Reverend Billy Graham and his wife Ruth Graham in 1996, for their roles in creating the Ruth and Billy Graham Children’s Health Center at Memorial Mission Hospital in Asheville, North Carolina. 

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It Takes a Village

Thanks to generous donors and their gifts in-kind, we are fortunate to be able to provide much-needed items to support our events and programs.  Thanks to our friends at Publix, Blick Art Materials, and North Carolina native, Girl Scout alum and comedian Fortune Feimster, we were able to provide a special touch to two programs by providing snacks and gift certificates for young artists and Women’s history patches for Girl Scout event participants.

Learn more about how to support the museum through gifts in-kind. Your support makes a difference!

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We are excited to share our monthly recap, including exciting updates, important milestones, and more. Please take a moment to enjoy our highlights.

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A heartfelt thank you to all of those that made CataLysT a huge success. Through the generosity of our supporters, we raised over $155,000 to support the ongoing work of Levine Museum of the New South. Take a look at some memorable moments from CataLysT.

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Thanks for listening to and sharing Season 2 of our podcast, Our New South. We have had 165,000 downloads of Season 2 so far and 300,000 for both seasons. Listeners come from across the country and the world. While season 2 is complete, we encourage you to stay engaged as we consider possibilities for our next season.

Special thank you to our hosts Kevin Blackistone and Robert Greene II.

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Empowered Educators

On March 7 our Accessing Writing workshop was taught at Community School of Davidson’s annual Fresh Take Conference. Nearly 3,400 students will be impacted this school year by the teachers who attended these workshops.

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We Are Moving

We’re excited to announce that we will move out of our interim space located at 401 S. Tryon Street. Visit us Uptown before May 5th and view Charlotte: Moving Forward, Looking Back. Stay connected with us and find out what’s next.

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Collections Corner

_{Harvey Gantt campaign button, ca. 1982, gifted to the museum by Jean Brayboy. Levine Museum of the New South Collections.}

Harvey Gantt served two terms as Charlotte’s first African American mayor, 1983-1987. Gantt was a strong advocate for civil rights and social justice, making significant strides in the progress of the African American community in Charlotte.

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We are excited to share our monthly recap, including exciting updates, important milestones, and more. Please take a moment to enjoy our highlights.

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The Levine Museum staff is hard at work with Our New South’s hosts Robert Greene II and Kevin Blackistone, recording voiceovers for Season 2 episodes. Season 2 of Our New South is off to a phenomenal start with over 100,000 downloads so far, thank you for all of your support.

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A Beautiful Moment at Levine Museum

Earline and her husband visited our museum in our interim space for the first time and were thrilled to discover a photo of her mom still on display.

She shared the inspiring story of her mother’s participation in a lunch counter sit-in with her classmates, which took place on February 9, 1960. Remarkably, their visit was on February 9, 2025!

These connections remind us of the lasting impact of the stories we preserve and share.

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We welcomed a group of 25 high school students from Carmel Christian School, a local Charlotte area private school.  As part of their programming for Black History Month, the school lead, Christina Gross, wanted the students to learn more about the history and contributions of African Americans in their own Charlotte community. 

The students were led on an interactive walking tour, using our KnowCLT app, of the historic Brooklyn neighborhood located in what was known as Second Ward. The tour was led by Karen Sutton, Director of Community Engagement, and Val Brown, Chief Education and Strategic Partnership Officer.

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Thank you to everyone who attended our discussion on food insecurity in historically Black neighborhoods hosted by Levine Museum and Queens University. We appreciate the insights shared by our panelists, Rickey Hall, Eboné Lockett, and Tina Postel, as they addressed important questions about food deserts in our community, and our moderators, Queens Hunger Ambassadors Ameyo Olivia Codjie and Jay Stone. Thank you for being a part of this critical dialogue!

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History Spotlight

Did you know the Museum’s website has 14 North Carolina History Case Studies for students written by our Educator Advisory Group? The case studies allow students to gain a deeper understanding of important historical events, eras and themes. February has been a popular month for our Desegregation of Charlotte’s Public Spaces case study.

One of the primary sources included in the case study is this photograph of African American golfers who challenged their exclusion from Charlotte’s whites-only Bonnie Brae golf course at Revolution Park starting in 1951. Thanks to their efforts and others in the city, the golf course desegregated in 1957.

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Collections Corner

Gifted to the museum by Francis Oakley and Paul Sanger in memory of their father, Dr. Paul Sanger, and Rodney and Reid Pitts in memory of their father, Dr. William R. Pitts. Dr. Sanger and Dr. Pitts were both members of the 38^th Evacuation Hospital Unit.
 
The 38th Evac, a medical unit of Charlotte doctors and nurses, supported front line aid stations and mobile surgical units during World War II. After receiving military training at Fort Bragg, the evac unit served in England, North Africa, and Italy from 1942 to 1945.
 
Time and Life magazines featured stories of these brave Charlotteans. They became one of the best-known medical units is during the war.

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We are excited to share our monthly recap, including exciting updates, important milestones, and more. Please take a moment to enjoy our highlights.

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Thank you to everyone who joined us, Fiestas Patrias, and Manolo’s Bakery for our Three Kings Day celebration on January 4. Your presence made the day extra special and filled with joy. The Rosca de Reyes was a hit, not a single slice was left over. Thank you to NC Brazilian Arts, Coro Cielito Lindo, Sheila Colón-Bagley, Saoko Dance, and Medley Boricua for their amazing performances.

And a special thanks to our sponsors, City of Charlotte and VozEs.

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This month, we also hosted our annual Martin Luther King Family Day event on January 20. The room was full of smiles, friendly faces, and community. Special thank you to Jazz Arts, Drums 4 Life, Readings of Hope, an Drummer King Price for contributing their talented gifts. Thank you to our sponsors, City of Charlotte, Crescent Communities, Monarch Market, One Independence Center, and Young Explorers Enrichment Center.

If you missed it, enjoy our recap video here.

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Out on the Road

On January 3, the Museum had the opportunity to take our teacher professional development program on the road! For the first time, we presented one of four teacher workshops outside of Mecklenburg County. 21 social studies teachers from Gaston County participated in our Facilitating Effective Classroom Debate and Discussion workshop presented by two of our Educator Advisory Group teachers, Kathleen McMillan and Arianna Sherrill, giving them tools to cultivate classroom communities rich with meaningful discussion and civil discourse. Levine Museum’s workshops help teachers to encourage the development essential 21^st Century learning skills in their students, including the four Cs of critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication.

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Collections Corner

Photograph of the Ho-Toy Restaurant from Byron Baldwin’s Central Avenue series ca. 1988. The Levine Museum of the New South has a complete set of Baldwin’s series in its permanent collection.

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Begin Your Monthly Support Today

Start the new year off right with signing up for the automatic monthly giving!

Your monthly gift will allow us to continue to bring quality programming and educational initiatives centered around New South identity to the Charlotte region and beyond.

Set it and forget it, while supporting the work of Levine Museum of the New South.

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