Gilmer native appointed to North Carolina Historical Commission

Gilmer native Sally Greene has been appointed to the North Carolina Historical Commission. Gov. Josh Stein appointed her to a six-year term on the 11-member board. The commission supports the work of the state’s Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Founded in 1971 as the North Carolina Department of Art, Culture and History, the department was the first cabinet-level office of any state in the United States to deal solely with history, the arts and cultural knowledge. The department manages more than 100 locations–historic sites, museums, parks and cultural centers. Also under its management are the state archives, a vast collection of materials including North Carolina’s copy of the Bill of Rights.

The Historical Commission sets policies for historic preservation. It promotes the role of historical memory in the life of the state. Among its other duties are approval authority over memorials, statues and plaques on state properties, as well as approvals of accessions and de-accessions of items to and from the state’s historic sites and various museums.

Greene has spent the past two decades as a scholar and public historian advancing new understandings of North Carolina legal history. In 2023, her research on a 1830 North Carolina Supreme Court opinion culminated in the dedication of a highway historical marker in Edenton, N.C.

The opinion, State v. Mann, was notorious for conferring almost unlimited powers of discipline of slaves by their owners. “The power of the master must be absolute,” wrote Judge Thomas Ruffin, “to render the submission of the slave perfect.” This opinion serves as a touchstone among historians of slavery law for understanding the raw power dynamics of the institution of slavery.

Greene said she is honored by the appointment, especially because it places her in the tradition of her grandmother, the late Georgia Laschinger. “As a girl, I was so proud to stand beside her as she dedicated historic markers across the county.”

At her death in 1969, Laschinger was chair of the Upshur County Historical Survey Committee, which, in 1967, won the first award for the best program work of any such agency in the state. She also served as a director of the Texas Historical Foundation.

Greene lives in Chapel Hill, N.C., where she serves on the Orange County Board of Commissioners.