Event
Lecture: Dr. Antwain K. Hunter, author of A Precarious Balance
Fee:
Free.Location: LAT/LONG: 36.131211, -79.846285
The Theater is located in the park visitor center at 2332 New Garden Rd. Greensboro, NC 27410
Dates & Times
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Time:
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Type of Event
Description
Come join us in the Visitor Center Theater at 4:00 P.M. on Saturday, April 4 for a special lecture. Dr. Antwain K. Hunter will discuss his book, A Precarious Balance: Firearms, Race, and Community in North Carolina 1715-1865.
Spanning the 1720s through the end of the Civil War, his book explores how free and enslaved Black North Carolinians accessed, possessed, and used firearms—both legal and otherwise—and how the state and white people responded. North Carolinians, whether free or enslaved, Black or white, had different stakes on the issue, all of which impacted the reality of Black people’s gun use.
Antwain K. Hunter reveals that armed Black people used firearms for a wide range of purposes. They hunted to feed their families and communities, guarded property, protected crops, and defended maroon communities from outsiders. Further, they resisted the institution of slavery and used guns both against white people and within their own community. Competing views of Black people’s firearm use created social, political, and legal points of contention for different demographics within North Carolina and left the general assembly and white civilians struggling to harness Black people’s armed labor for white people’s benefit. A Precarious Balance challenges readers to rethink how they understand race and firearms in the American past.
This program is free, and seating is available first come first served in the Visitor Center Theater.