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50 years ago on July 19, 1969 , the Apollo 11 entered lunar orbit and hours later on July 20, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed the lunar module the Eagle on the surface of the moon. It was there Armstrong famously said “One small step for man, one giant step for mankind.” The moon landing was watched with bated breath by the entire nation, which had been engaged throughout the 1960s in an intense “space race” with the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War. The landing also fulfilled the promise President John F. Kennedy had made in a famous speech in 1962 that before the decade was out, America would go to the moon.
Many resources on DigitalNC show how North Carolinians celebrated the moon landing and how they viewed it in relation to the space race.
Poem written by the editor of the New Bern Mirror commemorating the moon landing
The front page of the New Bern Mirror published the Friday after the landing described how many of New Bern’s citizens were glued to their televisions to watch the grainy footage come back to Earth of Aldrin and Armstrong, starting off with “Like us, you’ll find it hard to believe, but there were New Bernians who didn’t have their television sets turned on Sunday afternoon and night.” and later referring to the event as the biggest thing since “Christ rose from the dead.” The front page spread also included a poem by the editor of the paper about the landing.
Frank Count, a well known local columnist for the Franklin Times’ take on the moon landing.
The Franklin Times had a full page spread about the landing in their July 22, 1969 issue, pulling in not only national press materials but also including a short Frank Count column stating “Me and them…we’re mighty proud of the Ask-her-naughts and we’re mighty proud to be Americans.”
Headline from the Carolina Times published after the moon landing.
Some publications took a slightly different tone; while being inspired by the scientific feat of getting to the moon, the Carolina Times, the African-American paper in Durham, noted that while it was great the United States got to the moon, on Earth there were still wars being fought, people in extreme poverty, and many other unresolved problems. The editor closed the editorial wishing for Americans to be inspired to think differently and broader now that they knew they could reach the moon. “The moon landing undoubtedly dramatized the rapidity of change in the world and may therefore encourage new approaches, new attitudes, and new policies toward contemporary problems. In a way, this great achievement focused the mind of the entire race on a single event and said to the world what Lincoln said to the American people in 1862. ‘As our case is new, we must think anew and act anew. We must dis-enthrall ourselves and then we shall save our country.'”
Introduction of the 1970 Junius Rose High School yearbook.
Showing the landing still had an impact a year later, a 1970 yearbook from Junius Rose High School in Greenville, NC compared the graduates of Rose High School to the astronauts who landed on the moon and commented on their next move to make “a giant leap” into adulthood as they leave high school behind.
This is just a small sampling of the many reactions in the newspapers in communities across the state, as well as other materials on our site related to interest in the space race and Cold War, which you can look at here. The overwhelming feeling from almost all of them is a strong pride in being American and thus a part of this great scientific achievement and a sense that now anything was possible for the country.
A headline from the June 22nd, 1934 issue of The Franklin Times gives the film “Tarzan and His Mate” a rave review!
On June 29th, 1934, the 12 year old National Spelling Bee winner from Maine was featured on the front page of The Franklin Times.
More issues of The Franklin Times, provided by our partner, Louisburg College, are now available online. The issues are from the years 1912-1944 and 1963-1972, and join previously digitized issues from 1909-1911. Established in 1870, The Franklin Times covers news in Louisburg, North Carolina, as well as statewide and national news of note. The Franklin Times continues to publish issues on a weekly basis both online and in print form and is distributed throughout Franklin County.
The issues from this batch span a large period of Louisburg’s history, and the paper includes articles on municipal decisions, social and cultural events, meetings, contests, and more at the local level. Large national news stories are also covered, and the paper allows for a glimpse both at life inside and outside Franklin County through the eyes of Louisburg residents throughout much of the 20th century.
To browse through all digitized issues of The Franklin Times, click here. To see more materials from Louisburg College, take a look at their partner page or visit their website.
The following microfilmed newspapers were selected for digitization in 2017-2018. Thanks to supplemental funding from the State Library of North Carolina, we were able to complete more reels than in previous years. Reels were chosen from nominations according to our Criteria for Selecting Newspapers to Digitize from Microfilm.
| Title |
Years |
Nominating Institution |
| Alamance Gleaner (Graham, N.C.) |
1927-1947 |
Alamance County Public Libraries |
| Carolina Indian Voice (Pembroke, N.C.) |
1977-1995 |
UNC Chapel Hill |
| Carteret County News-Times (Morehead City, N.C.) |
1948-1960 |
Carteret County Public Library |
| Charlotte Post |
1971-1987 |
Johnson C. Smith University |
| The Cherokee Scout (Murphy, N.C.) |
1944-1988 |
Murphy Public Library |
| Duplin Times (Warsaw, N.C.) |
1962-1985 |
Duplin County Library |
| Enterprise (Williamston, N.C.) |
1934-1942 |
Martin Memorial Library |
| Farmville Enterprise |
1942-1947 |
Farmville Public Library |
| Franklin Press and the Highlands Maconian (Franklin, N.C.) |
1943-1960 |
Fontana Regional Library |
| The Franklin Times (Louisburg, N.C.) |
1925-1944; 1963-1969 |
Louisburg College |
| Hertford County Herald (Ahoskie, N.C.) |
1914-1923 |
Chowan University |
| Journal-Patriot (North Wilkesboro, N.C.) |
1947-1950 |
Wilkes County Public Library |
| Mount Airy News |
1917-1929 |
Surry Community College |
| News-Record (Marshall, N.C.) |
1976-1988 |
Madison County Public Library |
| Perquimans Weekly (Hertford, N.C.) |
1944-1989 |
Perquimans County Library |
| Pilot (Southern Pines, N.C.) |
1948-1965 |
Southern Pines Public Library |
| The Roxboro Courier (Roxboro, N.C.) |
1927-1935 |
Person County Public Library |
| Smithfield Herald |
1901-1911 |
Johnston County Heritage Center |
| Transylvania Times (Brevard, N.C.) |
1933-1940 |
Transylvania County Library |
| Watauga Democrat (Boone, N.C.) |
1950-1963 |
Watauga County Public Library |
| Waynesville Mountaineer |
1952-1956 |
Haywood County Public Library |
| Winston-Salem Chronicle |
1997-2016 |
Forsyth County Public Library |
A column in the Feb 11, 1910 issue urging boys from Franklin County to enter an upcoming corn growing competition.
Over 100 issues of The Franklin Times, provided by our partner, Louisburg College, are now up on DigitalNC. These issues are from 1909-1911, and were published on a weekly basis. Louisburg is the seat of Franklin county, and The Franklin Times reports on news taking place in Louisburg, Franklin County, North Carolina, and the United States. In fact, the tagline printed at the top of the paper reads “the County, the State, the Union.” Although some large national news stories are covered, many of the issues focus primarily on Louisburg and Franklin County. For example, one weekly column, “The Moving People,” tracks “those who have visited Louisburg the past week” and “those who have gone elsewhere for business or pleasure.” The column lists individuals who returned from trips and those who visited from afar. This is indicative of the paper’s local interest. Local meetings, contests, municipal issues, social events, and more are recounted each week.
Part of the “Moving People” column from the February 11, 1910 issue.
The Franklin Times was established in 1870, but still runs weekly with a print and online version. The Franklin Times website states, “it is the only newspaper published in the county and its content is focused on local government, local schools, the communities and the people who call this rapidly growing area home.” Although many years have passed, the focus of the paper remains the same.
To see more materials from Louisburg College, visit their partner page, or website.
The following microfilmed newspapers have been selected for digitization in 2016-2017. Around 70 reels were chosen from over 1,100 nominated reels, according to our Criteria for Selecting Newspapers to Digitize from Microfilm.
| Title |
Years |
Nominating Institution |
| Carolina Indian Voice (Pembroke, N.C.) |
1996-2005 |
UNC-Chapel Hill |
| The Cherokee Scout (Murphy, N.C.) |
1923-1943 |
Murphy Public Library |
| The Daily Advance (Elizabeth City, N.C.) |
1923-1927 |
Pasquotank County Public Library |
| Farmville Enterprise (Farmville, N.C.) |
1914-1941 |
Farmville Public Library |
| The Franklin Times (Louisburg, N.C.) |
1909-1924 |
Louisburg College |
| The Future Outlook (Greensboro, N.C.) |
1941-1972 |
UNC-Greensboro |
| The Roxboro Courier (Roxboro, N.C.) |
1922-1929 |
Person County Public Library |
| State Port Pilot (Southport, N.C.) |
1935-1949 |
Margaret and James Harper Jr. Library |
| Washington Daily News (Washington, N.C.) |
1909-1916 |
George H. and Laura E. Brown Library |
