Teacher. Author. Filmmaker. Photographer.
It wasn’t that long ago that one of every three people in this country were farmers. But over the last century small farming has been almost entirely replaced by agri-business, land development and better paying jobs in practically every other industry. Farmer, activist, and educator Charlie Thompson grew up in southwest Virginia amid a disappearing […]
Continue Reading →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 […]
Continue Reading →(Video) Duke professor Charlie Thompson discusses the decline of rural America and how small towns can use their own resources and strengths to rebound.
Continue Reading →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 […]
Continue Reading →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 →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 →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. […]
Continue Reading →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 […]
Continue Reading →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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