The Keynote Presenter

It was a real fun night with a group from the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Raleigh last Saturday night. I spoke on “From Paddles to Pots to Privies: The History of the Outhouse.” The host for the night, Linda  Bestimt, did a bang up job of decorating. The toilet paper (including corn cobs) were hillarious and the bathrooms had door overlays complete with crescent moons. The audience used electronic responders to answer such questions as to why outhouses have crescent moons on the door, the reason for the two holer outhouses and other thought provoking questions.

It was a honor to speak to the Kirk of Kildaire Presbyterian Church in Cary to help them celebrate Black History Month. The presentation focused on how Booker T. Washington (President of Tuskegee  Institute) and Julius Rosenwald (the President of Sears-Roebuck) teamed up to build elementary schools in the south for black children. North Carolina had more Ronsenwald schools than any other state.  These schools were a major  improvement over the deplorable buildings where black children previously went to school. Agriculture and home economics were taught in these schools.