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


Thanks to your voting and support, our podcast, Our New South, won Silver and a Listener’s Choice award in the 2024 Signal Award’s Public Service and Activism category.
Shoutout to our podcast team, Franky Abbott, Chief Content Strategist, Alexander Piñeres, Director of Programs & Digital Production, Karen Sutton, Director of Community Engagement and Cliff Whitfield, Digital Projects Manager,as well as the podcast hosts Kevin Blackistone and Robert Greene II, for their hard work and dedication to season one of the podcast.
Thank you to our supporters for helping us reach over 120,000 downloads so far. And more good news—season two is coming in 2025, allowing us to continue providing a platform for diverse voices in the changing South.
Group Experiences
In October the Museum welcomed 50 members from Unite Here, a labor union with a local Charlotte chapter. The union represents 300,000 people in the hotel, gaming, food service, manufacturing, textile, distribution, laundry, transportation, and airport industries. The group has been doing political canvassing around Charlotte and wanted to learn more about the city’s past and present through our immersive walking tour of the historic Brooklyn neighborhood in Second Ward, led by Lindsay Fairbrother-Henige, Director of School Programs, and Patrick Stepp, Programs Manager.
That’s a Wrap!
Please join us in congratulating our digital projects team, Franky Abbott, Alexander Piñeres, and Cliff Whitfield, for completing 50 Places in Charlotte, a digital history project highlighting the city’s rich story through fifty places throughout the Charlotte-Mecklenburg area.
50 Places quickly became a crowd favorite, highlighting hidden gems and exploring the history in Charlotte’s backyard.
Collections Corner
Charlotte native, William Hoke “Bill” Sumner Jr. (1912-1993), began his photography career in 1940 at The Charlotte News, and later opened his own photography business. During his career, Sumner photographed news events, weddings, buildings, business meetings, sports events, store openings, ribbon cuttings, social gatherings, and numerous other activities in Charlotte.
Among the celebrities he photographed were Eleanor Roosevelt, President Dwight D. Eisenhower at Freedom Park, and Marian Anderson singing at the Armory Auditorium before one of Charlotte’s first integrated audiences. Sumner’s work is an invaluable resource for documenting Charlotte’s history during the twentieth century.
Are You a Visionary?
Levine Museum of the New South relies on the generosity of supporters to bring the great programming our constituents have come to love. Our podcast, Southern Accents series, Family Days and Education Program all need your support to thrive and continue.
Consider being a Museum Visionary and join our Visionary Circle today!
Cheers to another month of igniting dialogue and engagement that connects the community through history, culture, and celebration. We look forward to seeing you at an upcoming engagement soon!