THIS WEEK IN HISTORY: The beginnings of NC public education
Jan. 20—THIS WEEK IN ROBESON COUNTY HISTORY
100 Years Ago: Use Library Paste for Food! Roaches eat everything- even library paste! They destroy books- pictures- important documents- anything, to get at library paste. They are a menace to your health! Wipe out these pests with Royal Guaranteed Roach Powder. (This advertisement appeared in the Jan. 18, 1923 issue of The Robesonian)
50 Years Ago: The semi-public Vietnam peace conference, deadlocked for four years whole parallel secret negotiations made headway, was indefinitely suspended today by agreement of the four delegations. There was no immediate explanation for the decision to suspend the conference. But it evidently was linked with progress made in the secret negotiations. (Jan. 18, 1973 issue of The Robesonian)
Five Years Ago: Anita Hammonds Blanks is the new speaker of the Lumbee Tribal Council, taking the position in a split vote Thursday night during meeting at which committee chairpersons were selected. (Jan. 19, 2018 issue of The Robesonian)
One Year Ago: An investigation continues into a Sunday crash that left one person dead and sent two others to the hospital after a police pursuit.
Lumberton resident Cynthia Coe, 55, lost her life after the white Hyundai Elantra she was driving on Second Street toward Water Street was hit head-on by a silver Ford Mustang operated by 57-year-old Howard McNair of Lumberton, according to the Lumberton Police Department. Coe and her passenger 36-year-old Jennifer Thompson of Lumberton were transported to UNC Health Southeastern's medical center with serious injuries, where Coe later died.
McNair also was hospitalized after receiving serious injuries, according to the police department. No update was available Monday afternoon on Thompson's or McNair's conditions.
Coe was employed as a newspaper carrier for The Robesonian, where she worked periodically for about 13 years. (Jan. 20, 2022 issue of The Robesonian)
Source: Robesonian Archives
THIS WEEK IN NORTH CAROLINA HISTORY
On Jan. 20, 1840, North Carolina's first public school opened in Rockingham County.
The Common Law of 1839 authorized counties to hold elections in which voters might vote for or against taxes for public schools. During the elections in late 1839, 61 of the 68 counties that were then in existence voted to support school taxes. The remaining seven counties soon followed course. By 1846 every county had at least one public school.
Notice of the opening of the Rockingham school first appeared on February 1, 1840, in the Greensborough Patriot and was reprinted the same month in the Raleigh Standard. The story did not specify the location of the school, but it did indicate that the county had been divided up into districts with more schools to be constructed shortly.
Tradition holds that the first school was located in what is now the Williamsburg community in the southeastern part of Rockingham County.
Source: North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources
THIS WEEK IN NATION AND WORLD HISTORY
On Jan. 19, 2005, the American Cancer Society reported that cancer had passed heart disease as the top killer of Americans age 85 and younger.
On Jan. 20, 1964, Capitol Records released the album "Meet the Beatles!"
On Jan. 20, 1986, the United States observed the first federal holiday in honor of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
On Jan. 21, 1924, Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin died at age 53.
On Jan. 21, 1977, on his first full day in office, President Jimmy Carter pardoned almost all Vietnam War draft evaders.
Source: The Associated Press
