To celebrate International Women's History Month, the UNC Greensboro University Libraries hosted a Book Talk & Signing by Hal E. Pugh and Eleanor Minnock-Pugh. After twenty-five years of researching and writing, they published the book, "Naomi "Omie" Wise: Her Life, Death and Legend." The event, held in the Oakley Room at the Alumni House at UNCG, the event was free and open to the public. Naomi "Omie" Wise was a young woman from Randolph County, North Carolina who was born in or before 1789 and was murdered in 1807. Her murder resulted in a trial that was held in Guilford County and in the end, the suspect was acquitted due to nothing more than circumstantial evidence. This murder happened in an era when news spread through newspapers, books, and oral tradition. The case generated much interest. Many of the details of the murder are derived from the 147 various texts and fragments appearing about the case. Hal Pugh was intrigued by the case because he is related to the family back 5 generations.
One of the most famous ballads about Naomi Wise is Bob Dylan's 1961 version. However, we likely owe all of the information about Naomi Wise to the great storytelling in North Carolinian Braxton Craven's 1851 book, "Naomi Wise, or the Victim." However, the Pughs say if the truth is a straight road, Braxton Craven's version was a curvy, embellished one. However, the story has endured for 217 years. If you read the Pughs' book, you will not only learn about a North Carolina woman whose story only endures because of her horrific demise, you will learn how meticulous research unfolds. The Pughs told us they are glad the research lasted for twenty-five years, because in recent years so many records and pieces of archival material have been made available through the internet, making it possible for them to search documents and records without having to travel hundreds of miles. In their spare time, when not research and writing about Naomi Wise, the Pughs are busy producing original redware and stoneware pottery.
The Greensboro community is lucky to have access to university-sponsored events like this one.
Happy Friday!
Terrific portrait of the authors.
Posted by: William Kendall | Friday, March 22, 2024 at 04:12 PM