WFU anthropologist to explore Gullah culture in Asheboro library talk

Dr. Andrew Gurstelle

ASHEBORO – Descended from enslaved Africans, the Gullah people of the southeast Atlantic coast have developed a unique culture rich with linguistic, religious and social practices influenced by their African heritage.

Using artifacts and images from the exhibition “Visions of Home: A Celebration of Gullah Culture in the Southeast” at the Wake Forest University Museum of Anthropology, museum academic director Dr. Andrew Gurstelle will explore Gullah history and culture in a talk at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, February 23, at the Asheboro library.

Gurstelle’s talk, sponsored by the Friends of the Library, is free and the public is invited.

As a museum anthropologist and archaeologist, his curatorial work emphasizes putting objects in context historically and culturally. He also is an assistant teaching professor.

“Visions of Home” is on display through April 22. The museum is located on Wake Forest’s Reynolda Campus.

The library is located at 201 Worth Street. For further information, call 336-318-6803.

‘NC KIDS’ ebook resource for children launches through state's public libraries

ASHEBORO – A massive new collection of downloadable ebooks, audiobooks and streaming videos for children pre-K through 4th grade is now available from North Carolina’s public libraries, including the Randolph County Public Library.

The NC KIDS Digital Library launched on February 1 with an initial collection of over 3,700 titles that can be checked out by any public library cardholder in the state.

Access is available 24/7 via the Randolph library’s website (www.randolphlibrary.org) and directly from the NC KIDS website (https://nckids.overdrive.com), or through the Overdrive ebook app. The collection is accessible on all major computers and devices, including iOS®, Android™, Chromebook™ and Kindle®.

The collection includes 3,029 ebooks, 689 audiobooks and 37 streaming videos. The ebooks include many suitable for reading along or reading and listening.

Most of the titles check out to one user at a time, like traditional library books, but 300 are available for simultaneous use, meaning they are available to all users anytime with no waiting lists. Users can check out up to five books at a time.

NC KIDS is an initiative of the North Carolina Public Library Directors Association (NCPLDA), with support from the State Library of North Carolina. The North Carolina General Assembly provided funding to the State Library for content in the current budget year, and the state’s 81 public library systems are chipping in to cover the cost of the OverDrive platform which provides access to the collection.

Additional titles will be added soon, and libraries will continue to provide funding to add new material and ensure that the collection remains current.

Although the NC KIDS collection will be separate from the Randolph library’s Digital Depot ebooks, it will be accessible in the same way and on any device. Instructions will be provided, and staff will be available to help users with downloads.

For further information or assistance using NC KIDS, visit the library or call 336-318-6804.

Author to share Strieby community history in Asheboro library talk

Margo Lee Williams

ASHEBORO – The unique history and impact of an African American community in southwestern Randolph County is the focus of historian Margo Lee Williams’s new book, From Hill Town to Strieby: Education and the American Missionary Association in the “Back Country” of Randolph County, North Carolina.

Williams will talk about the history and people of Strieby, and sign copies of her award-winning book, at 2 p.m. Saturday, February 18, at the Asheboro Public Library. Her appearance is sponsored by the Randolph Room, the library’s local history and genealogy department.

Hill Town grew in the 1840s around the homeplace  of Edward (Ned) Hill, a free person of color, and his wife Priscilla, a freed slave. In the 1880s, the community established a school, a Congregational church and a U.S. Post Office.

Renamed Strieby after a church leader, the community flourished.  Strieby was designated as a Local Cultural Heritage Site by the Randolph County Historic Landmark Preservation Commission in 2013, based on Williams’s nomination.

Central to the community’s history is the Rev. Islay Walden who, freed from slavery at the end of the Civil War, nearly blind and almost illiterate, walked to Washington, D.C., to gain an education and seek treatment for his poor eyesight.

He returned 10 years later as an esteemed academic, ordained minister and nationally known poet. His mission was to establish a school in Hill Town with the support of the American Missionary Association.

Willliams’s book documents Walden’s story and the continued development of education in the community. It also provides an exhaustive genealogy of Strieby families, profiles notable members of the community and takes a look at Strieby today.

The book received the 2016 Marsha M. Greenlee History Award from the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society, and the 2016 Historical Book Award from the North Carolina Society of Historians. It grew out of Williams’s research into her Lassiter family ancestors of the Lassiter Mill area in Randolph County, and picks up where her first book, Miles Lassiter, an Early African American Quaker, left off.

Williams, who lives in Silver Springs, MD,  operates a genealogical research firm, Personal Prologue. She holds masters degrees in sociology and religious education.

The library is located at 201 Worth Street. For further information, call the Randolph Room at 336-318-6815.

P.A.L. (Play and Learn) Club goes on the road in February

ASHEBORO – The Randolph County Public Library’s P.A.L. (Play and Learn) Club for children age 0-5 and their parents/caregivers goes on the road in February to learn about the shapes around us.

Build Play-Doh shapes, fill them up, sort them and make a shape collage – even make magic disappearing shapes – at four libraries:

• Archdale Public Library (10433 S. Main St.) — 10:30 a.m. Thursday, February 23;
• Liberty Public Library (239 S. Fayettevillle St.) — 11 a.m. Wednesday, February 15;
• Ramseur Public Library (1512 S. Main St.) — 10:30 a.m. Thursday, February 16;
• Seagrove Public Library (530 Old Plank Road) — 1:30 p.m. Thursday, February 9.

The P.A.L. club is free and all supplies are provided.

For more information, call 336-318-6804.

Gardeners: get ready for NC growing season in Asheboro library talk

Ben Grandon

ASHEBORO – North Carolina’s long growing season is almost here! Get ready with tips and techniques in “Backyard Gardening,” 6:30 p.m. Thursday, February 9, at the Asheboro Public Library.

Ben Grandon, Randolph County Cooperative Extension agriculture-horticulture agent, will talk about equipment and supplies, answer gardening questions, and share information on Cooperative Extension services.

The library is located at 201 Worth Street. Call 336-318-6803 for further information.

Check out wildlife camera from library, capture ‘Candid Critters’

Black bear photographed in Jones County.
(http://www.tinyurl.com/candcrit)
This work is licensed under a
CreativeCommons Attirbution-
NonCommercialShareAlike
4.0 International license.

ASHEBORO – What animals are frolicking in your backyard while you’re at work, or lurking there after the sun goes down?

Sign up for North Carolina’s Candid Critters, check out a camera from the Asheboro Public Library, and find out!

Candid Critters is a state-sponsored wildlife study that makes motion-triggered cameras available through public libraries. Participants check out the cameras to mount on private property or public land, and weeks later retrieve the images for viewing and uploading.

Anyone interested must first register at NCCandidCritters.org. Participants will receive an invitation to join and must complete an online training course.

Cameras for approved participants will be available at the Asheboro Public Library in mid-February for a series of three-week deployments. Library staff will be available to help with uploading images to the Candid Critters website.

Data will be used to map trends in animal populations across the state. Typical images from the project can be viewed at www.tinyurl.com/candcrit.

Candid Critters is a partnership among NC State University, the NC Museum of Natural Sciences, the NC Wildlife Resources Commission, the State Library of NC, NC Cardinal, North Carolina public libraries and the Smithsonian.

The library is located at 201 Worth Street. For further information, contact the library at 336-318-6803.

Asheboro library fills up February with fun for kids

ASHEBORO – From Arts and Crafts at the beginning of the month to two theatrical performances in one day at the end, the Asheboro Public library is full of fun for kids in February.

All the events are free.

Children of all ages are invited to make a Valentine-themed craft during the monthly Arts & Crafts event at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, February 2. All supplies are provided.

It’s “Take Your Child to the Library Day” from  11 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, February 4, featuring an open house in the Children’s Room with ongoing storytimes and other activities, appearances by Pete the Cat, and interaction with library therapy dogs.

During a Homeschool Meet & Greet at 2 p.m. Tuesday, February 7, parents can discover the library’s local history and genealogy services while tweens and teens learn about TeenZone activities and events, and younger children join in a craft and a storytime.

The P.A.L. (Play and Learn) Club, for children ages 0-5 and their parents/caregivers, will play and sing about love, and make wax paper hearts, at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, February 8.

Catch a movie – and a wave – at 4 p.m. Thursday, February 16 as the library screens Surf’s Up 2: Wavemania. Celebrate National Canned Food Month by bringing a canned food item for the CUOC food pantry.

This month’s Maker Series, at 4 p.m. Thursday, February 23, for ages 8-12, features a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) project.

Asheville’s Bright Star Touring Theatre will present two plays in celebration of Black History Month on Monday, February 27: Meet Dr. King at 10:30 a.m.; and Black History Heroes, Soldiers and Spies at 4 p.m.

The library is located at 201 Worth Street. For further information, call 336-318-6804.