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Newcomers & Changing Communities: 3 highlights. Back to the highlights →
How highlights are selected
Highlights are chosen for their significance to Orange County, strength of documentation, connection with indexed resources, and ability to represent different periods, places, communities, and subjects. The selection is intended as a starting point rather than a definitive list.
- Early twentieth century · 1900–1944
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Census counts tenants on about a third of Orange County farms
Tenants operated 643 of 1,870 Orange County farms in 1930 (34.4 percent), 718 of 1,956 in 1935 (36.7 percent) and 687 of 2,043 in 1940 (33.6 percent). Of the 1940 tenants, 514 were share tenants and croppers.
- Recent decades · 1976–2026
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Refugees from Burma begin arriving in Orange County in larger numbers
All 55 refugee direct arrivals recorded in Orange County in fiscal year 2006-2007 came from Burma. A second resettlement agency, the Triangle office of the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, opened.
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Deah Barakat, Yusor Abu-Salha and Razan Abu-Salha are killed in Chapel Hill
On February 10, 2015, neighbor Craig Hicks shot and killed Deah Barakat, 23, his wife Yusor Abu-Salha, 21, and her sister Razan Abu-Salha, 19, in the couple's Chapel Hill condominium. Hicks pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree murder in June 2019 and received three consecutive life sentences without parole.
The other dated entries wait behind a subject, a place, an era, a month, or the All dated entries switch, and each storyline’s page carries its own component entries. Dates come from the sources named on the cards and from the index’s event pages; where sources disagree, the card follows the county records. Entries marked approximate or needing research say so on the card; the rest were checked against the source named on it. Each card’s “Correct this” link opens the contact form with the entry already named. Suggest an event →
Compiled and maintained by the Friends of the Orange County Public Library from county records, the sources named on each card, and the index’s event pages. Last updated September 14, 2026.
