Charles Kuralt's North Carolina

Lessons from aJournalist Geographer

Abstract

The death of Charles Kuralt on Independence Day, 1997, marked the end of an era. The North Carolina native had long-charmed audiences with his home spun stories of places made real by the lives of ordinary folk. His images of individual simplicity, goodness, and hard work were interwoven with nostalgia and a strong sense of community, to produce images of place that clearly had mass appeal. And soKuralt, the master journalist, was a master geographer. This paper addresses a particular work by Kuralt - the film North Carolina is my Home - as it reflects the intersection of his talents and perspectives, a real place, an intended audience, and a prevailing complex of social and cultural strictures. A detailed examination of this film reveals a unique representation of place that resonates with some Carolinians and not others. The film's population is concentrated in idyllic rural and small town settings, and is overwhelmingly white, with a smattering of black people and no Asians or Hispanics. An assessment of this failure to recognize black North Carolinians as part of our state's culture may tell us something about Kuralt, but it may offer yet more important lessons about the nature of places, the ability of media to construct them, and the power of the prevailing social order.