Student Life

History Major Combs Port Records for Early African Arrivals 

What became of the 42 African men and women who disembarked along the Cape Fear River at Port Brunswick in the 1740s is still not known. 

But their arrival is now an official part of North Carolina history thanks in part to the efforts of NCCU junior Miranda Clinton. 

Clinton spent the summer of 2019 – a year marking the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first captured Africans in North America – as an intern in the office of the North Carolina African American Heritage Commission. Among her assignments was to research incidents where the Africans were brought directly to one of the state’s five colonial-era ports: Brunswick, Currituck, Bath, Beaufort, and Roanoke. 

“I examined historic records to find out where the ships came from, and whether they made stops on the way at places like Jamaica and Barbados,” Clinton said. “Most of my time was spent in the state archives. I went through shipping records of the ports, their imports, and personal records of colonial residents.” 

She also searched records kept by companies that insured the boats, including some still active today, such as Lloyd’s of London and Aetna. 

The information uncovered by Clinton will become part of the Middle Passage Ceremonies and Port Markers Project commemorating the arrival of nearly a half-million people directly to the continental U.S. from Africa between 1526 and 1860. Another 9 million Africans came to North America after stopping at Caribbean islands and other points in between. 

“I think it is very important that we recover this information,” Clinton said. “Slavery and its impact are an important part of the history of America.” 

The Middle Passage project was launched as a nonprofit organization dedicated to honoring the transatlantic journeys, as well as the economic, spiritual, intellectual, and cultural contributions that Africans infused throughout America. 

Port Brunswick was located in Brunswick Town, the first successful European settlement in the Cape Fear region. The village existed for only 50 years before it was raided by the British in 1776. 

More than 80 years later, during the Civil War, Fort Anderson was erected at the site. 

North Carolina ports were shallower than those in some neighboring states, so fewer large vessels disembarked there, Clinton said. 

The history major also assisted in a commission project to establish sites for the state’s Civil Rights Trail. 

“The goal of this project is to find records of a Civil Rights movement in all of the N.C. counties and compile them all together in hopes of creating an interactive website that will showcase all of the movements,” Clinton said.  

She said the internship added to her skills in research and presentation of information, and to the work of the state commission.  

“I have gotten the chance to research my home state and the African American history within, which brings a greater appreciation for the state of North Carolina,” Clinton said.  

Previously, Clinton interned at the Library of Congress in Washington, D. C. 

Battling the Enemy Within: Health Education Student Learns How to Fight Germs – and Her Fears 

Nelson Mandela defined courage as “not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.” 

By that standard, senior public health education major Tia Evans is one courageous Eagle. 

“I’ve always been a little terrified of germs,” she admitted. “And I am especially concerned in places like hospitals, where infections are common.” 

Embracing that fear, Evans spent the summer of 2019 studying epidemiology at Duke University Health System, where she learned a lot about infectious diseases, such as C. difficil, which causes a stubborn intestinal infection. 

“Bleach is the best way to kill most bacteria,” Evans said. “I also found out why doctors often wear bow ties. It’s because they are less likely to spread germs around.” 

The internship was arranged through NCCU’s Health Careers Access Program, whose director, Kaye Thompson-Rogers, Ph.D., said the goal is to help students increase their odds of success in graduate school. 

Evans called it an invaluable experience. “This summer was a turning point,” she said. “Now I’m inspired to get my master’s degree and maybe a doctorate, so I can educate the public about infectious diseases and epidemics.” 

Other NCCU students who participated in the program at Duke were Paulina Afriyie in the outpatient pharmacy; David Alston Jr., in physical therapy; Jalynn Biddy, in the neonatal intensive care unit;  Asha Hardy, in the Emergency Department; Philomena Onasanya in radiology; Maria Parra, in neurosurgery; and Kristina Peace, in outpatient pharmacy. 

Student Researcher Provides Science Lessons to Museum Visitors 

Genessus Pichardo Nunez worked with two types of primates during her summer internship, conducting research with macaques and interacting with visitors to the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences. 

A junior biomedical science major originally from Puerto Rico, Nunez spent 10 weeks assisting the museum’s veterinary services group. She also worked in the genomics and microbiology lab alongside NCCU professor Julie Horvath, Ph.D. 

Learning to conduct research is an important lesson for students, but so is learning to talk with and educate the public about science. As part of her internship, Nunez was required to make informative presentations in the Windows on the World theater and oversee the mobile Moments of Science cart, among other duties. 

“I interacted with people of all different ages and backgrounds and ethnicities, explaining what we were doing in the lab,” she said.  

“I learned a lot about how to communicate with different people. It really was amazing.” 

Nunez said the internship nudged her to think somewhat differently about career plans. 

“I was originally planning to go to medical school, but now I’m also open to the possibility of research – so I might either go for a Ph.D. or an M.D.,” she said. “But I know I definitely want to work in the neuroscience field.” 

The internship was sponsored by the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources for students attending HBCUs and other minority-serving institutions.