North Carolina
“We Built This”: New exhibit at NC Central profiles the Black architects, builders of North Carolina
A new history exhibit showcasing the Black men and women who built and designed some of North Carolina’s iconic buildings launched recently at N.C. Central University’s James E. Shepard Memorial Library.
The exhibit is part of the university’s Black History Month event series.
It was created by Preservation North Carolina and presented by the Hayti Promise Community Development Corporation and Preservation Durham. It’s the first time NCCU has hosted the exhibit, titled “We Built This”.
The self-guided exhibit will be on display through March.
It features the profiles of the Black architects and builders going back 200 years – from enslaved people whose African construction knowledge was preserved in the South, to post-Civil War men who braved adversity to build their communities, to Durham’s Black Wall Street and the present day.
NCCU students who visited the exhibit, like sophomore history student Whitaker Antoine, say it opened their eyes about who built the places they’ve seen.
“Seeing these small little facts, it’ll take you a long way so you can teach other people,” said Antoine, 19. “Go out there, educate yourself, grow more in your mind so you can see the great things people of our color are doing.”
For instance, he says he didn’t know about William H. Houser, a formerly enslaved man from South Carolina who would go on to build facilities like Carter Hall at Johnson C. Smith University, an HBCU in Charlotte.
“So, you know, I can go home and be like, ‘Mom, you know who Mr. William H. Houser is? You know that Carter Hall we saw at Johnson C. Smith? It was built by this man.’ Now, I’m glad that I know this,” Antoine said.
The exhibit features historic people such as John Winters, a home builder who was the first African American on Raleigh’s City Council; Bishop Henry Beard Delany, who oversaw the building of Saint Augustine’s University campus in Raleigh; John Merrick of Durham’s Black Wall Street, who created the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company; and Julian Francis Abele, the chief designer of Duke University’s West Campus and Duke Chapel.
Fredrick Davis, a Black architect and builder of Durham public school facilities, said this history is essential for the American public.
“It brings me great joy to see the pioneers who came before me and it encourage me to continue in that effort,” said Davis. “For centuries, as architects and builders, we have been responsible for highlighting and improving the built environment.”
Cheryl Brown, board chair of the Hayti Promise Community Development Corporation, said she grew up around Black history in North Carolina, but has already learned new details at the exhibit.
“It kind of gives me chill bumps to understand the gravity of what we contribute to this community and North Carolina,” Brown said.
“We Built This” is making sure history is not forgotten, she said.
“In this current environment, our history is trying to be rewritten and it’s trying to be erased,” said Brown. “I encourage everybody to come by, learn from it, because this is how we keep this information moving forward.”
A calendar of other upcoming Black History Month events at NCCU is available on its website at this link.
North Carolina
2026 primary turnout report released for eastern NC counties; see your county’s numbers
Here are the voter turnout numbers for the 2026 primary election, according to the North Carolina State Board of Elections.
Hyde County had the highest voter turnout, while Onslow County had the lowest turnout. Check out what the voter turnout in your county was below:
BERTIE COUNTY
Ballots Cast:
31.85% (3,911 out of 12,280)
CARTERET COUNTY
Ballots Cast:
29.06% (16,543 out of 56,931)
CRAVEN COUNTY
Ballots Cast:
18.63% (14,119 out of 75,778)
DUPLIN COUNTY
Ballots Cast:
21.93% (6,981 out of 31,832)
EDGECOMBE COUNTY
Ballots Cast:
18.16% (6,428 out of 35,396)
GREENE COUNTY
Ballots Cast:
19.70% (2,147 out of 10,900)
HYDE COUNTY
Ballots Cast:
37.27% (1,123 out of 3,013)
JONES COUNTY
Ballots Cast:
25.91% (1,805 out of 6,966)
LENOIR COUNTY
Ballots Cast:
16.73% (6,251 out of 37,371)
MARTIN COUNTY
Ballots Cast:
17.61% (2,858 out of 16,228)
ONSLOW COUNTY
Ballots Cast:
11.44% (14,816 out of 129,537)
PAMLICO COUNTY
Ballots Cast:
24.03% (2,446 out of 10,180)
PITT COUNTY
Ballots Cast:
15.71% (19,429 out of 123,705)
TYRRELL COUNTY
Ballots Cast:
30.49% (723 out of 2,371)
WASHINGTON COUNTY
Ballots Cast:
28.66% (2,312 out of 8,067)
WAYNE COUNTY
Ballots Cast:
21.49% (16,408 out of 76,358)
Wednesday, March 4, 2026 6:41PM
RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — North Carolina schools and businesses took part in a statewide tornado drill Wednesday morning as part of Severe Weather Awareness Week.
The National Weather Service led the drill at 9:30 a.m., broadcasting it on NOAA Weather Radio and the Emergency Alert System. Schools, workplaces and households across the state were encouraged to join in.
The National Weather Service didn’t issue a follow up alert to mark the end of the drill. Instead, each school or business wrapped up once they felt they had practiced the procedures thoroughly.
Wednesday’s drill also replaced the regular weekly NOAA Weather Radio test.
SEE | New warning for parents amid new ‘fire-breathing’ social media trend
Make sure to download the ABC 11 Mobile App ABC11 North Carolina Apps for Connected TV, Mobile News, Echo
Copyright © 2026 WTVD-TV. All Rights Reserved.
Nida Allam in 2022; Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-NC) in 2025.
Jonathan Drake/Reuters; Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
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Jonathan Drake/Reuters; Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Incumbent Rep. Valerie Foushee holds a narrow lead over challenger Nida Allam in the Democratic primary for North Carolina’s 4th Congressional district as ballots continue to be counted.
In a race seen as an early test of whether Democratic voters desire generational change within the party, Foushee holds a lead of just over 1,000 votes with 99% of results in so far, according to the Associated Press.
Under state law, provisional votes will be counted in the coming days in a district that includes Durham and Chapel Hill. If the election results end up within a 1% margin, Allam could request a recount.
Successfully ousting an incumbent lawmaker is often extremely difficult and rare. However, there have been recent upsets in races as some voters are calling for new leaders and several sitting members of Congress face primary challengers this cycle.
Allam, a 32-year-old Durham County Commissioner, is running to the left of Foushee, 69, framing her candidacy as part of a broader rejection of longtime Democratic norms.
On the campaign trail, Allam ran on an anti-establishment message, pledging to be a stronger fighter than Foushee in Congress, both in standing up against President Trump’s agenda and when pushing for more ambitious policy.
“North Carolina is a purple state that often gets labeled red, but we’re not a red state,” she told NPR in an interview last month, emphasizing the need to address affordability concerns. “We are a state of working-class folks who just want their elected officials to champion the issues that are impacting them.”
She drew a contrast with the congresswoman on immigration, voicing support for abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Foushee has declined to go that far, advocating instead for ICE to be defunded and for broader reforms to the federal immigration system.
Allam also clashed with Foushee over U.S. policy towards Israel. As a vocal opponent of Israel’s war in Gaza, Allam swore off campaign donations from pro-Israel lobbying groups, such as AIPAC, and repeatedly criticized Foushee for previously accepting such funds.
Though Foushee announced last year that she would not accept AIPAC donations this cycle, she and Allam continued to spar over the broader role of outside spending in the race.
Their matchup comes four years after the candidates first squared off in 2022, when Allam lost to Foushee in what became the most expensive primary in the state’s history, with outside groups spending more than $3.8 million.
However, this year is poised to break that record. Outside groups have reported spending more than $4.4 million on the primary matchup, according to Federal Election Commission filings.
WUNC’s Colin Campbell contributed to this report.
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