This fall, the painting studio at the Rubenstein Arts Center was transformed by students in Charlie Thompson’s class “Farmworkers in North Carolina” and local Durham artist Cornelio Campos. During their arts project residency, students and Campos collaborated to create a mural inspired by their research of farmworkers in the Durham area. Duke CAST member Ilona Stanback […]
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Reinventing life in rural America
(Video) Duke professor Charlie Thompson discusses the decline of rural America and how small towns can use their own resources and strengths to rebound.
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As Seen on WUNC-TV’s NC Bookwatch
Watch the Full Interview Bookwatch at UNC TV broadcast this interview with D.G. Martin in May 2016. D.G. read the book with great sympathy, saying he had had a border trip on his bucket list. My book served as a surrogate to his travel there. After publishing a review in numerous newspapers and on his […]
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From both sides: Professor travels the U.S.-Mexico border and brings his story to UNM lecture
Originally published in Albuquerque Journal
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Almost everyone has an opinion about the U.S.-Mexican border. But Duke University anthropology professor Charles D. Thompson Jr. has a challenge for his students and anyone else before they crystallize their thoughts. My recommendation is simple. Before you make up your mind on immigration, get to know an immigrant – at least […]
Continue Reading →Originally published in Albuquerque Journal
WECH: Interview with Charlie Thompson, author of Border Odyssey
Originally published in WECH - Emory & Henry College
Originally published in WECH - Emory & Henry College
Border Odyssey: Travels along the US-Mexico Divide
Originally published in Virginia Foundation for the Humanities
Tuesday, October 6, 2015 12:00 pm 145 Ednam Drive, Charlottesville, VA Take a most unusual US-Mexico road trip with VFH Fellow Charlie Thompson. A former farmer turned activist, Duke University professor Charlie Thompson is the author of Border Odyssey: Travels along the US-Mexico Divide. Border Odyssey is a compelling chronicle of a journey along the entire U.S.-Mexico border that shifts the conversation away from […]
Continue Reading →Originally published in Virginia Foundation for the Humanities
The Trump Winery and Thomas Jefferson’s Legacy
Just a few miles from Monticello, the Trump Winery (which I understand The Donald purchased from the Kluges after their foreclosure) boasts a direct connection to Thomas Jefferson. On the winery’s homepage, there are several quotes from Jefferson. The website makes its proximity to Monticello a selling point. Young Eric Trump, the son, is all over the website. […]
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They Might Not Be People, But We Sure Need Them
An article in the New York Times (9/4/15, “Iowans Question GOP Talk on Illegal Immigration“) quotes Chuck Coghill, who runs a sign company in the rural town of Blue Grass with his wife, Michelle: “It’s a bad thing that all these illegal Mexicans are here.” He paused. “But they’re hard workers. They’re doing jobs that lazy […]
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Willie Nelson & Me
While interviewing Willie Nelson for a FarmAid project I’m working on with Brooke Shuman (pictured) and Chris Fowler (who took this photo on left), I was able to give him a copy of Border Odyssey (see table). Then we began talking about how horrible it is that Latino immigrants have been vilified so much, including […]
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Mr. Trump, Were Your Ancestors Ever the Tired, the Poor, the Huddled Masses Yearning to Breathe Free?
I search the photo of these desperately poor people I photographed in the summer of 2015 at the Suchiate River at the border between Guatemala and Mexico. None of them, from any outward appearance at least, seemed to be rapists or murderers. None of them seemed to be trying to steal jobs or anything […]
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