Winston-Salem Forsyth County Schools faces major budget shortfall. History of NC's tobacco warehouses.

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The fourth largest school district in North Carolina has a massive budget deficit: $50 million. 

For the Winston-Salem Forsyth County Schools, the financial shortfall is causing confusion, disorder, and uncertainty. Jeff Tiberii discusses the situation with WFDD's Amy Diaz.

Amy Diaz, education reporter, WFDD

• Related: More reporting from WFDD's Amy Diaz

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Golden Leaf series: In NC’s old tobacco warehouses, Black workers faced brutal conditions by day. By night, their dancing challenged Jim Crow.

Due South presents another conversation in our occasional series “Golden Leaf” about tobacco’s deep roots in North Carolina. The focus today is the history of tobacco warehouses in early and mid-20th century North Carolina.

By day, the work done in these warehouses was governed by the brutal racial injustices of the South. But on some summer nights, those cavernous buildings were transformed into a different world. 

Black music promoters rented the warehouses, invited some of the most famous musicians of the era to perform, and Black party goers danced the night away in a space filled with rich music and glorious decorations – and in doing so, challenged the structures of Jim Crow. This Due South encore edition originally aired in August 2024. 

Elijah Gaddis, Hollifield Associate Professor of Southern History and Co-Director of the Community Histories Workshop at Auburn University, and author of “Work, Play, and Performance in the Southern Tobacco Warehouse”

• Related: More from Due South's Golden Leaf series about NC's tobacco history.