North Carolina History

On Oct. 16, 1928, Robert Phifer, an art collector and native North Carolinian, died.

He bequeathed 75 paintings and over $1 million to the North Carolina Art Society. The next year the first in a series of temporary art exhibition spaces opened in the Agriculture Building in Raleigh.

In 1947, Robert Lee Humber of Greenville lobbied the General Assembly for a bill to provide $1 million for the purchase of more works of art for the state. The money was needed to match an equal amount from an anonymous donor, later identified as department store owner Samuel H. Kress. The bill passed, and the appropriation made North Carolina the first state to inaugurate an art collection with public funds.

The initial legislative appropriation was used to purchase 139 European and American paintings and sculptures. The Kress Foundation matched the appropriation with a gift of 70 works of art, primarily from the Italian Renaissance.

The North Carolina Museum of Art moved to its present location in 1983. Through the 1990s, and into the new millennium, the museum experienced unprecedented growth to its art collection—both in quality and diversity. In addition to exhibit rotations, the museum offers educational programs for students, teachers and visitors.

The year 2010 saw the completion of a state of the art new home for its permanent collection. The building itself has been called “a work of art.”

On October 16, 1976, Rick Dees’ song “Disco Duck” hit number one on the Billboard charts. At the time of the novelty hit, Dees was working as a disk jockey at a radio station in Memphis, Tenn.

Rigdon Dees III was born in Florida, but was raised in Greensboro. He attended Grimsley High School and graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill with a degree in radio, television and motion pictures. Dees went on to work at several radio stations around the South. He wrote and recorded “Disco Duck” as a parody of the glut of disco songs popular in the late 1970s. It was perfect timing for the song, which ended up being his only hit recording.

Dees went on to become one of the most famous DJs in the country, hosting long-running shows such as The Weekly Top 40. He also has acted in television shows and movies, and has done voiceovers for movies, including Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

His many accolades include membership in both the National Association of Broadcasters and the National Radio Halls of Fame and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Nation and World History

On Oct. 14, 1964, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was named winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.

On Oct. 15, 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte, the deposed French emperor, arrived on the British-ruled South Atlantic island of St. Helena, where he spent the last 5 1/2 years of his life in exile.

On Oct. 16, 1962, the Cuban missile crisis began as President John F. Kennedy was informed that reconnaissance photographs had revealed the presence of missile bases in Cuba.

On Oct. 17, 1933, Albert Einstein arrived in the United States as a refugee from Nazi Germany.

On Oct. 18, 1867, the United States took formal possession of Alaska from Russia.

On Oct. 19, 2010, the Pentagon directed the military to accept openly gay recruits for the first time in the nation’s history.

On Oct. 20, 1977, three members of the rock group Lynyrd Skynyrd, including lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, were killed along with three others in the crash of a chartered plane near McComb, Mississippi.

On Oct. 21, 1879, Thomas Edison perfected a workable electric light at his laboratory in Menlo Park, N.J.