{|class="wikitable" style="float:right; clear:right; margin-right:0; margin-left:1em; font-size:81%; text-align:center" |+ |- style="background:#efefef;" !Ancestry||Percentage||Main article: |- |African !(21.6%) Of Total) |See African American |- |American !(13.9%) |See United States |- |English !(9.5%) |See English American |- |German !(9.5%) |See German American |- |Irish !(7.4%) |See Irish American |- |Scots-Irish !(3.2%) |See Scots-Irish American |- |Italian !(2.3%) |See Italian American |- |Scottish !(2.2%) |See Scottish American |}

{|class="wikitable" style="float:right; clear:right; margin-right:0; margin-left:1em; font-size:81%; text-align:center"

! County !! Seat !! 2010 Projection |- | Mecklenburg || Charlotte || 936,874 |- | Wake || Raleigh || 920,298 |- | Guilford || Greensboro || 480,028 |- | Forsyth || Winston-Salem || 352,810 |- | Cumberland || Fayetteville || 317,094 |- | Durham || Durham || 267,086 |- | Buncombe || Asheville || 234,800 |- | Union || Monroe || 207,738 |- | Gaston || Gastonia || 207,696 |- | New Hanover || Wilmington || 202,411 |} In 2007, the U.S. Census estimated that the racial makeup of North Carolina was as follows: 70% White American, 25.3% African-American, and 1.2% American Indian; 6.5% were Hispanic or Latino (of any race). North Carolina has historically been a rural state, with most of the population living on farms or in small towns. However, over the last 30 years the state has undergone rapid urbanization, and today most of North Carolina's residents live in urban and suburban areas, as in most of the United States. In particular, the cities of Charlotte and Raleigh have become major urban centers, with large, diverse, mainly affluent and rapidly growing populations. The state has received considerable immigration from Latin America, India, and Southeast Asia.

African-Americans

African-Americans make up nearly a quarter of North Carolina's population. The number of middle-class African-Americans has increased since the 1970s. African-Americans are concentrated in the state's eastern Coastal Plain and in parts of the Piedmont Plateau, where they had historically worked and where the most new job opportunities are. African-American communities number by the hundreds in rural counties in the south-central and northeast, and in predominantly African neighborhoods in the cities: Charlotte, Raleigh, Durham, Greensboro, Fayetteville, Wilmington and Winston-Salem.

Asian Americans

The state has a rapidly growing proportion of Asian Americans, specifically those of Indian, Vietnamese descent; these groups nearly quintupled and tripled, respectively, between 1990 and 2002, as people arrived in the state for new jobs in the growing economy. Recent estimates suggest that the state's Asian-American population has increased significantly since 2000.

European Americans

Settled first, the coastal region attracted primarily English immigrants of the early migrations, including indentured servants transported to the colonies and descendants of English who migrated from Virginia. In addition, there were waves of Protestant European immigration, including the English, many Scots Irish, French Huguenots, and Swiss Germans who settled New Bern; many Pennsylvania Germans came down the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia on the Great Wagon Road and settled in the western Piedmont and the foothills of the Blue Ridge. There is a high concentration of Scots-Irish in western North Carolina. A concentration of Welsh (usually included with others from Britain and Ireland) settled east of present Fayetteville in the 18th century. For a long time the wealthier, educated planters of the coastal region dominated state government. Americans of self-reported English ancestry make up 9.5% of North Carolinians, those of self-reported Scots Irish ancestry make up 3.2%, and those of self-reported Scottish ancestry make up 2.2% although all three of these ancestry groups are thought to be a much higher portion of the population than is reported. Most North Carolinians who self-identify as having "American" ancestry are actually of predominantly English and/or Scotch-Irish descent, but have ancestry that has been in North America for so long, in many cases since the early seventeenth century, that they choose to identify simply as "American".

Hispanics/Latinos

Since 1990 the state has seen an increase in the number of Hispanics/Latinos. Once chiefly employed as migrant labor, Hispanic residents of the 1990s and early 2000s have been attracted to low-skilled jobs. As a result, growing numbers of Hispanic immigrants are settling in the state.

Native Americans

North Carolina has the largest American Indian population of any state on the East Coast. The estimated population figures for Native Americans in North Carolina (as of 2004) is 110,198. To date, North Carolina recognizes eight Native American tribal nations within its state borders. Those tribes are the Coharie, Eastern Band of the Cherokee, Haliwa-Saponi, Lumbee, Meherrin, Sappony, Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation and Waccamaw-Siouan.

Religion

North Carolina, as other Southern states, has traditionally been overwhelmingly Protestant, mostly with denominations of British or American origin. The eighteenth-century Moravian settlements in the western Piedmont have provided an interesting variation, as has the late-nineteenth-century Italian Protestant Waldensian settlement in Valdese. By the late nineteenth century, the largest Protestant denomination was the Southern Baptists.

The rapid influx of northerners, people from Florida and immigrants from Latin America, which began in the late twentieth century, is steadily increasing the number of Roman Catholics and Jews in the state, and refugees and other recent immigrants from Asia have brought Buddhism with them. The Baptists do remain the single largest denomination in the state, however.

The religious affiliations of the people of North Carolina, as of 2007, are shown in the chart.

Economy

According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the state's 2008 total gross state product was $400.2 billion, making it the ninth wealthiest state in terms of gross domestic product. Its 2007 per capita personal income was $33,735, placing 36th in the nation. North Carolina's agricultural outputs include poultry and eggs, tobacco, hogs, milk, nursery stock, cattle, sweet potatoes, and soybeans. However, North Carolina has recently been affected by offshoring and industrial growth in countries like China; one in five manufacturing jobs in the state has been lost to overseas competition.

There has been a distinct difference in the economic growth of North Carolina's urban and rural areas. While large cities such as Charlotte, Raleigh, Greensboro, and others have experienced rapid population and economic growth over the last thirty years, many of the state's small towns have suffered from loss of jobs and population. Most of North Carolina's small towns historically developed around textile and furniture factories. As these factories closed and moved to low-wage markets in Asia and Latin America, the small towns that depended upon them have suffered. The first gold nugget found in the U.S. was found in Cabarrus County in 1799. The first gold dollar minted in the U.S. was minted at the Bechtler Mint in Rutherford County.

Agriculture and manufacturing

The responsibilities in regulatory and service areas covering different aspect of Agriculture and manufacturing are overseen by the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Over the past century, North Carolina has grown to become a national leader in agriculture, financial services, and manufacturing. The state's industrial output—mainly textiles, chemicals, electrical equipment, paper and pulp and paper products—ranked eighth in the nation in the early 1990s. The textile industry, which was once a mainstay of the state's economy, has been steadily losing jobs to producers in Latin America and Asia for the past 25 years, though the state remains the largest textile employer in the United States. Over the past few years, another important Carolina industry, furniture production, has also been hard hit by jobs moving to Asia (especially China).

North Carolina is the leading producer of tobacco in the country. As one of North Carolina's earliest sources of revenue, it remains vital to the local economy. Agriculture in the western counties of North Carolina (particularly Buncombe and surrounding counties) is presently experiencing a revitalization coupled with a shift to niche marketing, fueled by the growing demand for organic and local products.

Employment

North Carolina is an at-will employment state, meaning employees in the private sector may be dismissed without prior notice or reason.

In January 2010, the state's unemployment rate was 11.8%; in April 2010, it was 12.9%.

Finance, technology, and research

Charlotte, North Carolina's largest city, continues to experience rapid growth, in large part due to the banking & finance industry. Charlotte is now the second largest banking center in the United States (after New York), and is home to Bank of America and Wells Fargo subsidiary, Wachovia. The Charlotte metro area is also home to 5 other Fortune 500 companies.

BB&T; (Branch Banking & Trust), one of America's largest banks, was founded in Wilson, North Carolina in 1872. Today, BB&T;'s headquarters is in Winston-Salem, although some operations still take place in Wilson.

The information and biotechnology industries have been steadily on the rise since the creation of the Research Triangle Park (RTP) in the 1950s. Located between Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill (mostly in Durham County), it is a globally prominent research center home to over 170 companies and federal agencies and is the largest and oldest continuously operating research and science park in the United States. Anchored by the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, Duke University in Durham, and North Carolina State University in Raleigh, the park's proximity to these research universities has no doubt helped to fuel growth.

, the growing capital of North Carolina.]]

The North Carolina Research Campus underway in Kannapolis (approx. northeast of Charlotte) aims to enrich and bolster the Charlotte area in the same way that RTP changed the Raleigh-Durham region. Encompassing , the complex is a collaborative project involving Duke University, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and N.C. State University, along with private and corporate investors and developers. The facility incorporates corporate, academic, commercial and residential space, oriented toward research and development (R&D;) and biotechnology.

Similarly, in downtown Winston-Salem, the Piedmont Triad Research Park is undergoing an expansion. Approximately thirty miles to the east of Winston Salem's research park, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and North Carolina A&T; State University have joined forces to create the Gateway University Research Park, a technology-based research entity which will focus its efforts on areas such as nanotechnology, biotechnology & biochemistry, environmental sciences, and genetics among other science-based disciplines.

Film and the arts

Film studios are located in Shelby, Raleigh, Durham, Charlotte, Asheville, Wilmington, and Winston-Salem. Some of the best-known films and television shows filmed in the state include: Forest Gump, Bull Durham, Richie Rich, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, All the Real Girls, The Secret Life of Bees, Being There, Blue Velvet, Bull Durham, A Walk to Remember, Glory, The Color Purple, Cabin Fever, Super Mario Bros., Cape Fear, Children of the Corn, The Crow, Cyborg, Dawson's Creek, Dirty Dancing, Evil Dead 2, The Fugitive, The Green Mile, Hannibal, The Last of the Mohicans, Maximum Overdrive, Nell, One Tree Hill, Patch Adams, Junebug, Shallow Hal, , Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3, Leatherheads, Nights in Rodanthe and 28 Days. Half of Stephen King's movies were filmed in North Carolina.

The television show most associated with North Carolina is The Andy Griffith Show, which aired on CBS-TV from 1960 to 1968. The series is set in the fictional small town of Mayberry, North Carolina, and was based on the real-life town of Mount Airy, North Carolina, although it was filmed in California. Mount Airy is the hometown of actor Andy Griffith. The show is still popular in reruns and is frequently shown in syndication around the nation. North Carolina is also home to some of the Southeast's biggest film festivals, including the National Black Theatre Festival, RiverRun International Film Festival in Winston-Salem, Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in Durham, North Carolina, and the BluMoon Film Festival in Greenville, North Carolina.

Tourism

Tourism destinations in the state include amusement parks, golf, wineries, beaches, meetings and conventions and sports venues. The North Carolina tourism industry employs more than 190,000 people. The state is the 6th most visited in the country (preceded by Florida, California, New York, Nevada and Pennsylvania). The North Carolina Department of Commerce maintains a Tourism Services providing matching funds and consultation for development tourism in the state including rural tourism.

Tax revenue

North Carolina personal income tax is slightly progressive, with four incremental brackets ranging from 6.0% to 8.25%. The base state sales tax is 5.25%. Most taxable sales or purchases are subject to the state tax as well as the 2.5% local tax rate levied by all counties, for a combined 7.75%. Mecklenburg County has an additional 0.5% local tax for public transportation, bringing sales taxes there to a total 8.25%. The total local rate of tax in Dare County is 3.5%, producing a combined state and local rate there of 8.75%. In addition, there is a 30.2¢ tax per gallon of gas, a 45¢ tax per pack of cigarettes, a 79¢ tax on wine, and a 48¢ tax on beer. There are also additional taxes levied against food, normally totaling 2%, and some counties assess a 1% tax on prepared food.

The property tax in North Carolina is locally assessed and collected by the counties. The three main elements of the property tax system in North Carolina are real property, motor vehicles and personal property (inventories and household personal property are exempt). Estimated at 10.5% of income, North Carolina's state and local tax burden percentage ranks 23rd highest nationally (taxpayers pay an average of $3,526 per-capita), just below the national average of 10.6%. North Carolina ranks 40th in the Tax Foundation's State Business Tax Climate Index with neighboring states ranked as follows: Tennessee (18th), Georgia (19th), South Carolina (26th) and Virginia (13th).

Jacksonville recently began a trial bus system called the LOOP, which runs two routes through the city and nearby Camp Lejeune. But this loop has yet to be made permanent.

Major highways

The North Carolina Highway System consists of a vast network of Interstate highways, U.S. routes, and state routes. North Carolina has the largest state maintained highway network in the United States, with of roadway. Major highways include: {|width="100%"| |- valign=top | style="width:33%;"| Interstate 26 Interstate 40 Interstate 73 Interstate 74 Interstate 77 Interstate 85 Interstate 95 | style="width:33%;"| U.S. Highway 1 U.S. Highway 13 U.S. Highway 15 U.S. Highway 17 U.S. Highway 19 U.S. Highway 52 U.S. Highway 64 U.S. Highway 70 U.S. Highway 74 U.S. Highway 501 |}

Politics and government

North Carolina has a large number of statewide elected executive officials.

The Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, Commissioner of Agriculture, Commissioner of Insurance, Commissioner of Labor, Superintendent of Public Instruction, State Treasurer, and State Auditor form a ten-member North Carolina Council of State. Ten other executive department heads appointed by the governor form the North Carolina Cabinet. The state's current governor is Democrat Bev Perdue, the first woman to serve as governor of the state.

The North Carolina General Assembly is the state legislature. Like all other states except for Nebraska, the legislature is bicameral, consisting of the 120-member North Carolina House of Representatives and the 50-member North Carolina Senate. Both the state House and the state Senate currently have Democratic majorities. The lieutenant governor is the ex officio president of the state Senate. The Senate also elects its own president pro tempore and the House elects its speaker.

The state court system is led by the Supreme Court of North Carolina, the state supreme court, which consists of seven justices. The North Carolina Court of Appeals is the state's intermediate appellate court and consists of fifteen judges who rule in rotating panels of three. Together, the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals constitute the appellate division of the court system.

The trial division includes the Superior Court and the District Court. The Superior Court is the state trial court of general jurisdiction; all felony criminal cases, civil cases involving an amount in controversy in excess of $10,000, and appeals from the District Court are tried (de novo review) in Superior Court. A jury of 12 hears the criminal cases.

The District Court is a court of limited jurisdiction. It has original jurisdiction over handles family law matters (divorce, child custody, child support); civil claims involving less than $10,000; criminal cases involving misdemeanors and lesser infractions; and juvenile cases involving children under the age of 16 who are delinquent and children under the age of 18 who are undisciplined, dependent, neglected, or abused. Magistrates of the District Court may accept guilty pleas for minor misdemeanors, accept guilty pleas for traffic violations, and accept waivers of trial for worthless check and other charges. In civil cases, the magistrate is authorized to try small claims involving up to $5,000 including landlord-tenant and eviction cases. Magistrates also perform civil marriages. District Court conduct only bench trials, with no jury.

State constitution

The state constitution governs the structure and function of the North Carolina government. It is the highest legal document for the state and subjugates North Carolina law. Like all state constitutions in the United States, this constitution is subject to federal judicial review. Any provision of the state constitution can be nullified if it conflicts with federal law and the United States Constitution.

North Carolina has had three constitutions:

as the first constitution of the independent state. The Declaration of Rights was ratified the preceding day.

1868: Framed in accordance with the Reconstruction Acts after North Carolina was readmitted into the Union. It was a major reorganization and modification of the original into fourteen articles. It also introduced townships which each county was required to create, the only southern state to do so.

1971: Minor consolidation of the 1868 constitution and subsequent amendments.

Federal apportionments

North Carolina currently has 13 congressional districts, which, when combined with its two U.S. Senate seats, gives the state 15 electoral votes. In the 111th Congress, the state is represented by eight Democratic and five Republican members of congress, plus one Republican and one Democratic Senator.

Politics

North Carolina is politically dominated by the Democratic and Republican political parties. Since the 19th century, third parties, such as the Green Party and Libertarian Party, have had difficulty making inroads in state politics. They have both run candidates for office with neither party's winning a state office. After engaging in a lawsuit with the state over ballot access, the Libertarian Party qualified to be on the ballot after submitting more than 70,000 petition signatures

Historically, North Carolina was politically divided between the eastern and western parts of the state. Before the Civil War, the eastern half of North Carolina supported the Democratic Party, primarily because the region contained most of the state's planter slaveholders who profited from large cash crops. Yeomen farmers in the western Piedmont and mountains were not slaveholders and tended to support the Whig party, seen as more moderate on slavery and more supportive of business interests.

Following the Civil War, Republicans, including newly enfranchised freedmen, controlled the state government during Reconstruction. When federal troops were removed in the national compromise of 1877, the Democratic Party gained control of the state government, partly through white paramilitary groups conducting a campaign of violence against African-Americans to discourage them from voting, especially in the Piedmont counties. Despite that, the number of African-American officeholders peaked in the 1880s as they were elected to local offices in African-American-majority districts.

Hard pressed poor cotton farmers created the Populist Party to challenge the establishment. Conditions turned much worse in the Panic of 1893, as cotton prices fell. In North Carolina, largely-black Republican Party formed a fusion ticket with the largely-white Populist, giving them control of the state legislature in 1894. In 1896 the Republican-Populist alliance took control of the governorship and many state offices. In response, many white Democrats began efforts to reduce voter rolls and turnout. During the late 1890s, conservative Democrats began to pass legislation to restrict voter registration and reduce voting by African-Americans and poor whites.

With the first step accomplished in 1896 by making registration more complicated and reducing African-American voter turnout, in 1898 the state's Democratic Party regained control of the state government. Contemporary observers described the election as a "contest unquestionably accompanied by violence, intimidation and fraud - to what extent we do not know - in the securing of a majority of 60,000 for the new arrangement". Using the slogan, "White Supremacy", and backed by influential newspapers such as the Raleigh News and Observer under publisher Josephus Daniels, the Democrats ousted the Populist-Republican majority. By 1900 new laws imposed poll taxes (voters had to pay a $1 tax, but not non-voters), residency requirements, and literacy tests. Initially the grandfather clause was used to exempt illiterate whites from the literacy test, but many were gradually disfranchised as well. By these efforts, by 1904 white Democratic legislators had completely eliminated African-American voter turnout in North Carolina. Disfranchisement lasted until it was ended by the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965.

By 1900 North Carolina joined the "Solid Democratic South", with the blacks still members of the Republican Party but powerless in state and local affairs. However, some counties in North Carolina's western Piedmont and Appalachian Mountains continued to vote Republican, continuing a tradition that dated from their yeoman culture and opposition to secession before the Civil War. In 1952, aided by the presidential candidacy of popular war hero Dwight Eisenhower, the Republicans were successful in electing a U.S. Congressman, Charles R. Jonas.

In the mid-20th century Republicans began to attract white voters in North Carolina and other Southern states. This was after passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 under Democratic President Lyndon Johnson, which extended Federal protection and enforcement of civil rights for all American citizens. Because the Democratic Party had supported civil rights at the national level, most African-American voters initially aligned with the Democrats when they regained their franchise. In 1972, aided by the landslide re-election of Richard Nixon, Republicans in North Carolina elected their first governor and U.S. senator of the twentieth century.

Senator Jesse Helms played a major role in renewing the Republican Party and turning North Carolina into a two-party state. Under his banner, many conservative white Democrats in the central and eastern parts of North Carolina began to vote Republican, at least in national elections. In part, this was due to dissatisfaction with the national Democratic Party's stance on issues of civil rights and racial integration. In later decades, conservatives rallied to Republicans over social issues such as prayer in school, gun rights, abortion rights, and gay rights.

Except for regional son Jimmy Carter's election in 1976, North Carolina voted Republican in every presidential election from 1968 to 2004. At the state level, however, the Democrats still control most of the elected offices. President George W. Bush carried North Carolina with 56% of the vote in 2004, but in 2008 Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama narrowly defeated Republican candidate John McCain in North Carolina; he was the first Democratic presidential nominee to win the state in 32 years. The Democratic Party's strength is increasingly centered in densely-populated urban counties such as Mecklenburg, Wake, Durham, and Guilford, where the bulk of the state's population growth has occurred. The Republicans maintain a strong presence in many of North Carolina's rural and small-town counties, which have become heavily Republican. The suburban areas around the state's larger cities usually hold the balance of power and can vote both ways, and in 2008 trended towards the Democratic Party. State and local elections have become highly competitive compared to the previous one-party decades of the 20th century. For example, eastern North Carolina routinely elects Republican sheriffs and county commissioners, a shift that did not happen until the 1980s. Currently, each party holds a U.S. Senate seat. The Democrats hold the governorship, state supreme court, and a seven to six majority of U.S. House seats from the state. However, in 2010 the Republicans won a majority of both houses of the state legislature for the first time since 1898.

Two Presidents of the United States were born and raised in North Carolina, but both men began their political careers in neighboring Tennessee, and were elected President from that state. The two men were James K. Polk and Andrew Johnson. A third U.S. President, Andrew Jackson, may also have been born in North Carolina. However, as he was born almost precisely on the state line with South Carolina, both states claim him as a native son, and historians have debated for decades over the precise site of Jackson's birthplace. On the grounds of the old state capitol in Raleigh is a statue dedicated to the Presidents who were born in the state; Jackson is included in the statue. Jackson himself stated that he was born in what later became South Carolina, but at the time of his birth, the line between the states had not been surveyed.

North Carolina remains a control state. This is probably due to the state's strongly conservative Protestant heritage. One of the state's counties - Graham, which is located in a rural area - remains "dry" (the sale of alcoholic beverages is illegal). However, the remaining 99 North Carolina counties allow the sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages, as is the case in most of the United States. Even in rural areas, the opposition to selling and drinking alcoholic beverages is declining, as the decreasing number of "dry" counties indicates.

In 2005, following substantial political maneuvering, the state legislature voted to implement a state lottery, thus altering North Carolina's reputation as the "anti-lottery" state, where owning a lottery ticket from another state was once a felony. By 2005, every state surrounding North Carolina had a lottery in operation. The North Carolina Education Lottery began selling tickets on March 31, 2006. The lottery has had unexpectedly low sales since its inception.

Education

Elementary and secondary education

Elementary and secondary public schools are overseen by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. The North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction is the secretary of the North Carolina State Board of Education, but the board, rather than the superintendent, holds most of the legal authority for making public education policy. In 2009, the board's chairman also became the "chief executive officer" for the state's school system. North Carolina has 115 public school systems, each of which is overseen by a local school board. A county may have one or more systems within it. The largest school systems in North Carolina are the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, Wake County Public School System, Guilford County Schools, Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools, and Cumberland County Schools. In total there are 2,338 public schools in the state, including 93 charter schools. to skiing in the mountains. North Carolina offers fall colors, freshwater and saltwater fishing, hunting, birdwatching, agritourism, ATV trails, ballooning, rock climbing, biking, hiking, skiing, boating and sailing, camping, canoeing, caving (spelunking), gardens, and arboretums. North Carolina has theme parks, aquariums, zoos, museums, historic sites, lighthouses, elegant theaters, concert halls, and fine dining.

North Carolinians enjoy outdoor recreation utilizing numerous local bike paths, 34 state parks, and 14 national parks which are the Appalachian National Scenic Trail, the Blue Ridge Parkway, Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Cape Lookout National Seashore, Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site at Flat Rock, Croatan National Forest in Eastern North Carolina, Fort Raleigh National Historic Site at Manteo, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Guilford Courthouse National Military Park in Greensboro, Moores Creek National Battlefield near Currie, the Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail, Old Salem National Historic Site in Winston-Salem, the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail, Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, Uwharrie National Forest.

Other information

Music

North Carolina is known particularly for its tradition of old-time music, and many recordings were made in the early 20th century by folk song collector Bascom Lamar Lunsford. Musicians such as the North Carolina Ramblers helped solidify the sound of country music in the late 1920s, while the influential bluegrass musician Doc Watson also came from North Carolina. Both North and South Carolina are a hotbed for traditional rural blues, especially the style known as the Piedmont blues. Ben Folds Five, originated in Winston-Salem, broke up with Ben Folds himself still recording and residing in Chapel Hill. Contemporary Jazz musician LeRoi Moore, now deceased, of the Dave Matthews Band was born in Durham, North Carolina.

The Triangle area has long been a well-known center for folk, rock, metal, and punk. James Taylor grew up around Chapel Hill and his 1968 song "Carolina in My Mind" has been called an unofficial anthem for the state. Also, famous musicians Chris Daughtry and Randy Travis are from North Carolina, as well as The Avett Brothers.

Also coming from Chapel Hill is the band Squirrel Nut Zippers, who played a big part in the 1990s swing revival.

Famous food and drinks from North Carolina

A state culinary staple of North Carolina is pork barbecue. There are strong regional differences and rivalries over the sauces and method of preparation used in making the barbecue. The common trend across Western North Carolina is the use of Premium Grade Boston Butt, which is high in vitamins B₁, B₂, niacin (B₃), B₆, and selenium. Western North Carolina pork barbecue uses a tomato-based sauce, and only the pork shoulder (dark meat) is used. Western North Carolina barbecue is commonly referred to as Lexington barbecue after the Piedmont Triad town of Lexington, home of the Lexington Barbecue Festival which attracts over 100,000 visitors each October. Eastern North Carolina pork barbecue uses a vinegar and red pepper based sauce and the "whole hog" is cooked, thus integrating both white and dark meat.

Krispy Kreme, an international chain of doughnut stores, was started in North Carolina; the company's headquarters are in Winston-Salem. Winston Salem is also the birthplace of R.J. Reynolds tobacco. R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (RJR), founded by R. J. Reynolds in 1874, is the second-largest tobacco company in the U.S. (behind Altria Group). RJR is an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Reynolds American Inc. which in turn is 42% owned by British American Tobacco. Pepsi-Cola was first produced in 1898 in New Bern. A regional soft drink, Cheerwine, was created and is still based in the city of Salisbury. Despite its name, the hot sauce Texas Pete was created in North Carolina; its headquarters are also in Winston-Salem. The Hardees fast-food chain was started in Rocky Mount. Another fast-food chain, Bojangles', was started in Charlotte, and has its corporate headquarters there. A popular North Carolina restaurant chain is Golden Corral. Started in 1973, the chain was founded in Fayetteville, with headquarters located in Raleigh. Popular pickle brand Mount Olive Pickle Company was founded in Mount Olive in 1926. Cook Out, a popular fast food chain featuring burgers, hot dogs, and milkshakes in a wide variety of flavors, was founded in Greensboro in 1989 and has begun expanding outside of North Carolina.

Over the last decade, North Carolina has become a cultural epicenter and haven for internationally prized winning wine (Noni Bacca), internationally prized cheeses (Ashe County), "L'institut International aux Arts Gastronomiques: Conquerront Les Yanks les Truffes, 15/01/10" international hub for truffles (Garland Truffles), and beer making as tobacco land has been converted to grape orchards while state laws regulating alcohol content in beer allowed a jump in ABV from 6% to 15%. The Yadkin Valley in particular has become a strengthening market for grape production while the city of Asheville recently won the recognition of being named 'Beer City USA.' Asheville boasts the largest breweries per capita of any city in the United States. Recognized and marketed brands of beer in NC include Highland Brewing, Duck Rabbit Brewery, Mother Earth Brewery, Weeping Radish Brewery, Big Boss Brewing, Foothills Brewing and Carolina Brewing Company. As of March 27, 2010, Wilmington, North Carolina hosts Noni Bacca winery which earned 12 medals at the coveted Finger Lakes International Wine Competition.

Ships named for the state

Several ships have been named for the state. Most famous is the , a World War II battleship. The ship served in several battles against the forces of Imperial Japan in the Pacific theater during the war. Now decommissioned, it is part of the USS North Carolina Battleship Memorial in Wilmington. Another , a nuclear attack submarine, was commissioned in Wilmington, North Carolina on May 3, 2008.

State symbols

State motto: Esse quam videri ("To be, rather than to seem") (1893)

State song: "The Old North State" (1927)

State flower: Dogwood (1941)

State bird: Cardinal (1943)

State colors: the red and blue of the N.C. and U.S. flags (1945)

State toast: "The Tar Heel Toast" (1957)

State tree: Longleaf Pine (1963)

State shell: Scotch bonnet (1965)

State mammal: Eastern Gray Squirrel (1969)

State salt water fish: Red Drum (also known as the Channel bass) (1971)

State insect: European honey bee (1973)

State gemstone: Emerald (1973)

State reptile: Eastern Box Turtle (1979)

State rock: Granite (1979)

State beverage: Milk (1987)

State historical boat: Shad boat (1987)

State language: English (1987)

State dog: Plott Hound (1989)

State military academy: Oak Ridge Military Academy (1991)

State tartan: Carolina tartan (1991)

State vegetable: Sweet potato (1995)

State red berry: Strawberry (2001)

State blue berry: Blueberry (2001)

State fruit: Scuppernong grape (2001)

State wildflower: Carolina Lily (2003)

State Christmas tree: Fraser Fir (2005)

State carnivorous plant: Venus Flytrap (2005)

State folk dance: Clogging (2005)

State popular dance: Shag (2005)

State birthplace of traditional pottery: the Seagrove area (2005)

Armed forces installations

According to former Governor Mike Easley, North Carolina is the "most military friendly state in the nation." Fort Bragg, near Fayetteville, is the largest and most comprehensive military base in the United States and is the headquarters of the XVIII Airborne Corps, 82nd Airborne Division, and the U.S. Army Special Operations Command. Serving as the airwing for Fort Bragg is Pope Air Force Base also located near Fayetteville.

Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune which, when combined with nearby bases Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Cherry Point, MCAS New River, Camp Geiger, Camp Johnson, Stone Bay and Courthouse Bay, makes up the largest concentration of Marines and sailors in the world. MCAS Cherry Point is home of the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing. Located in Goldsboro, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base is home of the 4th Fighter Wing and 916th Air Refueling Wing. One of the busiest air stations in the United States Coast Guard is located at the Coast Guard Air Station in Elizabeth City. Also stationed in North Carolina is the Military Ocean Terminal Sunny Point in Southport.

See also

References

Further reading

Powell, William S. and Jay Mazzocchi, eds. Encyclopedia of North Carolina (2006) 1320pp; 2000 articles by 550 experts on all topics; ISBN 0807830712. The best starting point for most research.

Clay, James, and Douglas Orr, eds., North Carolina Atlas: Portrait of a Changing Southern State 1971

Crow; Jeffrey J. and Larry E. Tise; Writing North Carolina History (1979) online

Fleer; Jack D. North Carolina Government & Politics (1994) online political science textbook

Hawks; Francis L. History of North Carolina 2 vol 1857

Kersey, Marianne M., and Ran Coble, eds., North Carolina Focus: An Anthology on State Government, Politics, and Policy, 2d ed., (Raleigh: North Carolina Center for Public Policy Research, 1989).

Lefler; Hugh Talmage. A Guide to the Study and Reading of North Carolina History (1963) online

Lefler, Hugh Talmage, and Albert Ray Newsome, North Carolina: The History of a Southern State (1954, 1963, 1973), standard textbook

Link, William A. North Carolina: Change and Tradition in a Southern State (2009), 481pp history by leading scholar

Luebke, Paul. Tar Heel Politics: Myths and Realities (1990).

Powell William S. Dictionary of North Carolina Biography. Vol. 1, A-C; vol. 2, D-G; vol. 3, H-K. 1979-88.

Powell, William S. North Carolina Fiction, 1734-1957: An Annotated Bibliography 1958

Powell, William S. North Carolina through Four Centuries (1989), standard textbook

Ready, Milton. The Tar Heel State: A History of North Carolina (2005) excerpt and text search

WPA Federal Writers' Project. North Carolina: A Guide to the Old North State. 1939. famous WPA guide to every town

Primary sources

Hugh Lefler, ''North Carolina History Told by Contemporaries (University of North Carolina Press, numerous editions since 1934)

H. G. Jones, North Carolina Illustrated, 1524–1984 (University of North Carolina Press, 1984)

North Carolina Manual, published biennially by the Department of the Secretary of State since 1941.

External links

;General

;Government and education

North Carolina state government

North Carolina State Databases - Annotated list of searchable databases produced by North Carolina state agencies and compiled by the Government Documents Roundtable of the American Library Association.

North Carolina Department of Commerce

North Carolina state library

Energy & Environmental Data for North Carolina

USGS real-time, geographic, and other scientific resources of North Carolina

North Carolina facts from US Department of Agriculture ERS

North Carolina Court System official site

North Carolina facts from US Census Bureau

North Carolina Travel and Tourism Website

NC ECHO - North Carolina Exploring Cultural Heritage Online

North Carolina Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Green 'N' Growing: The History of Home Demonstration and 4-H Youth Development in North Carolina - hosted by NCSU Libraries Special Collections Research Center

NC Office of Archives and History

NC Museum of History

NC Employment website

;Other

Old Growth Forest Wilderness Areas in Western North Carolina

Old Growth Forest Wilderness Areas in Eastern North Carolina

The Appalachian Trail

Updates of statewide trends since publication of The North Carolina Atlas in 2000

Lost Colony Blog

Sketches of North Carolina by William Henry Foote (1846) - Full-text history book

==Related information==

Category:States of the United States Category:States of the Confederate States of America Category:States of the Southern United States Category:Former British colonies Category:Spanish colonization of the Americas Category:States and territories established in 1789

Caption	Bias after being selected in the 1986 NBA Draft.
Position	Forward
Height ft	6
Height in	8
Weight lb	210
Nationality	USA
Birth date	November 18, 1963
Birth place	Landover, Maryland
Death date	June 19, 1986
Death place	Riverdale, Maryland
College	Maryland
Draftyear	1986
Draftround	1
Draftpick	2
Draft team	Boston Celtics
Awards	ACC Athlete of the Year (1986), ACC Player of the Year (1985-86)}}

Leonard Kevin "Len" Bias (November 18, 1963 – June 19, 1986) was a first team All-American college basketball player. He was selected by the Boston Celtics as the second overall pick in the 1986 NBA Draft on June 17, but died two days later from cardiac arrhythmia induced by a cocaine overdose. He is considered by some sportswriters to be one of the greatest players not to play at the professional level.

Early years

Bias was known to friends and family by his childhood nickname "Frosty". He was given the nickname by his good friend and pastor Rev. Gregory Edmond because he was "tall and cool and quiet and unassuming".

College career

From Landover, Maryland, Bias graduated from Northwestern High School in Hyattsville, Maryland, and subsequently attended the University of Maryland where he became an All-American player.

Bias impressed basketball fans with his amazing leaping ability, his physical stature and his ability to create plays and was considered one of the most dynamic players in the nation. By his senior year, scouts from the various National Basketball Association teams viewed Bias as the most complete forward in the Class of 1986. According to Celtics scout Ed Badger, "He's maybe the closest thing to (Chicago guard) Michael Jordan to come out in a long time. I'm not saying he's as good as Michael Jordan, but he's an explosive and exciting kind of player like that," then in his second professional season with the Chicago Bulls.

NBA selection and overdose

On June 17, Bias was selected by the defending NBA champion Celtics as the second overall pick in the 1986 NBA Draft, which was held in New York City at Madison Square Garden. Arnold "Red" Auerbach, as Boston Celtic President and General Manager, dealt guard Gerald Henderson and cash to the Seattle Supersonics for the pick in June 1986. After the draft, Bias and his family returned to their suburban Maryland home.

On June 18, Bias and his father flew to Boston, Massachusetts, from Washington, D.C., for an NBA Club draft acceptance and product endorsement signing ceremony with the Celtics' coaches and management, as well as with Reebok's Sports-Marketing Division. Bias reportedly signed a $3 million shoe contract with Reebok.

Later that day, his father left Boston to return to Washington in the late afternoon. There he gave a short press conference for the local Washington media at Washington National Airport. The media was at the airport expecting to interview Bias, so his father stood in, reporting on their "day with the Celtics" and their appreciation of the beginning of a new chapter in his and his son's lives.

Bias, who returned home later that night, retrieved his newly-leased sports car and drove back to his room on the campus of the University of Maryland.

However, prior to, and concurrent with, some of the given timelines of his activities at the campus, Bias's vehicle was observed and recorded by undercover agents of the Washington, DC metropolitan police department "cruising" one of the city’s most notorious drug neighborhoods along Montana Avenue, in the northeast section of the city. Although the surveillance did not determine who specifically was in the vehicle, or if the vehicle had stopped for any purpose, they did estimate there were at least two people, driver and passenger, in the vehicle, and they recorded its license number.

The campus timeline said he arrived back onto campus at around 11 p.m. and ate crab with some teammates and a member of the football team. He left campus at approximately 2 a.m. on the 19th and drove to an off-campus gathering, which he attended briefly before returning to his dorm in Washington Hall at 3 a.m. Bias took a dose of cocaine which likely induced cardiac arrhythmia.

At 6:32 a.m., when the 911-call to Prince George's County Emergency Services was made by Brian Tribble (a long-time friend), Bias was unconscious and not breathing. All attempts by the emergency medical team to restart his heart and breathing were unsuccessful. According to the campus timeline, Bias collapsed sometime between 6:25 and 6:32 a.m. while talking with teammate Terry Long. According to Bias's sister, who only had a secondhand account of the story, Bias was sitting on a couch and leaned back as though he were going to sleep, but instead began to have a seizure.

Bias was unconscious and was not breathing when county ambulance attendants arrived at his dormitory suite at 6:36 a.m. — four minutes after they were called and six minutes before a mobile intensive care unit arrived—and he never regained consciousness nor breathed on his own. At the hospital, Bias was given five drugs in an attempt to revive him: sodium epinephrine, sodium bicarbonate, lidocaine, calcium and bretyline. After the chemicals failed, a pacemaker was implanted into his heart muscle in a failed attempt to try to get it beating.

Bias was pronounced dead at 8:55 a.m. in the Emergency Department at Leland Memorial Hospital in Riverdale, Maryland, of a cardiac arrhythmia related to usage of cocaine.

Four days after his death, more than 11,000 people packed the Cole Field House, the university recreation and student center where Bias played for the Terrapins, for a memorial service. Those speaking at the service included Auerbach, who said he had planned for three years to draft Bias for the Celtics. Auerbach added that the city of Boston had not been so shocked since the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

Bias is buried in Lincoln Memorial Cemetery in Suitland, Maryland. Long and Gregg were both suspended from the team on July 31.

Following their sons' deaths, James and Lonise Bias assumed vocal advocacy roles. Lonise became an anti-drug lecturer, while James became an advocate for handgun control. A film about Bias' life, directed by Kirk Fraser, was promoted at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and was released June 19, 2009. The documentary Without Bias premiered on ESPN on November 3, 2009, as part of their 30 for 30 documentary series, commemorating the network's 30th anniversary.

Aftermath

The circumstances surrounding Bias's death threw the University of Maryland and its athletics program into turmoil. An investigation revealed that Bias was 21 credits short of the graduation requirement despite having used all his athletic eligibility. On August 26, 1986, State's Attorney Arthur A. Marshall Jr. stated that in the hours after Bias's death, Maryland head basketball coach Lefty Driesell told players to remove drugs from Bias's dorm room. Two days later, Bias's father, James, accused the University of Maryland, and Driesell specifically, of neglecting the academic status of its athletes. The National Collegiate Athletic Association subsequently began its investigation into the affair that fall.

The controversy prompted athletic director Dick Dull to resign October 7, 1986, with Driesell following suit October 29, after serving as the Terrapins' coach for 17 years. The grand jury presiding over the Bias case issued a final report on February 26, 1987, that criticized the University of Maryland's athletic department, admissions office, and campus police. Following an investigation, the NCAA placed the Terrapin Men's basketball program on a three year probation due to academic and recruiting violations by both Lefty Driesell and his successor, Bob Wade. The Terps were banned from television for one year and stripped of scholarships, beginning with the 1988-89 season. Since then the University has adopted stricter admission standards for all its student-athletes and students alike.

Notes and references

Further reading

Bratcher, Drew. "Death of a Legend", Washingtonian, June 1, 2009.

Abel, Greg. "It Was 20 Years Ago Today", "PressBox", June 14, 2006.

Category:ACC Athlete of the Year Category:African American basketball players Category:Boston Celtics draft picks Category:Cocaine-related deaths in the United States Category:Maryland Terrapins men's basketball players Category:Drug-related deaths in Maryland Category:Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) Category:People from Prince George's County, Maryland Category:1963 births Category:1986 deaths