'A Sojourn for Harriet Jacobs'; NC family has seven living generations; NC Highway Historical Marker program

Due South

Earlier this year, a group of Black women traveled to Edenton, North Carolina for a cultural experience they wouldn’t forget called “A Sojourn for Harriet Jacobs.” It was a trip to honor the life of Jacobs, a Black woman who lived from 1813 to 1897 and wrote the book Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl about her early life.

Co-host Leoneda Inge traveled along on the sojourn, which was organized to amplify the voice of Jacobs and share her legacy with artists, scholars, writers, cultural workers. Leoneda is joined in the studio by Johnica Rivers, Curator-At-Large with The Harriet Jacobs Project, and Michelle Lanier, Director of the North Carolina Division of State Historic Sites and Properties and Director of The Harriet Jacobs Project.

Then, a North Carolina-based family is trying to earn a spot in Guinness World Records for having the most living generations in a single family. Natonya Walker and Terri Boyd from the Aycock/Crawford family join Leoneda Inge to talk about the moment they realized they have seven living generations in their extended family, from a 103-year-old elder to a toddler, and about what it’s meant to reconnect branches of the family after so many years of separation.

And, North Carolina highway historical markers can be seen all across the state — and these markers can make a big difference when it comes to which NC places, historical moments, and people are memorialized and commemorated. Leoneda Inge talks to Ansley Herring Wegner of the NC Office of Archives and History about how markers are approved and what it takes to get a marker erected and noticed by the public.