NC Democracy : Eleven Elections

A brand new exhibition, NC Democracy: Eleven Elections, opens at the Greensboro History Museum on Saturday, April 23. The exhibition explores choices and change over 11 elections between 1776 and 2010. It illustrates the twists and turns of who could participate, how voters cast their ballots in 1868 or 1990, and what influenced decisions that are still shaping democracy today.

The museum has created NC Democracy: Eleven Elections to examine what democracy has meant to different people at key moments in the state’s history. The first state constitution declared that “all political power is vested in and derived from the people only.” But what that meant in reality – who could vote, who was represented and who held that political power – has been contested throughout the state’s history, as those without property, people of color, women, NC Native Americans and others have lost and gained opportunities to participate.

“While walking through the three large galleries of this exhibit I am overwhelmed by how hard the people of NC have worked to create democracy for all its people. And how many of the debates of today were also present at the beginning,” says Museum Director Carol Ghiorsi Hart.

Panels, reproductions and original objects tell the stories of each election and its historic context. Short videos share scholars’ Expert Takes on these elections and their historical moments. Visitors can sit down for a selfie with women suffragists or cast their own ballot about the state of democracy today. Upcoming programs, special events and webinars will explore this history of North Carolina democracy in even more depth.