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Local figure

Joe Thompson

Joe Thompson was born on December 9, 1918, on High Rock Road in Orange County, the son of fiddler John Arch Thompson, and played for Piedmont dances with his brother Nate and cousin Odell. Joe and Odell Thompson received the North Carolina Folk Heritage Award in 1991, and Joe later received a National Heritage Fellowship.

Source: Folkstreams: Octogenarian Fiddler Joe Thompson Is a Master of the Frolic Tradition

1918–2012 · Dates from the Library of Congress · Library of Congress authority record ↗

4 works about Joe Thompson are indexed here. 1 held at OCPL →

Search these 4 works Research sources View indexed works ↓

Life and Orange County connections

Dated events connected with this person, in date order. See these 3 dated events in the chronology →

  1. Joe and Odell Thompson give a free concert in Gerrard Hall The Mebane fiddle and banjo duo played a free folk concert at 7:30 p.m. in Gerrard Hall during Graduate and Professional Student Federation Week. The federation and the UNC Curriculum in Folklore sponsored it. Place: Chapel Hill · Also named: Odell Thompson · Also mentions: Gerrard HallSearch the index · The Daily Tar Heel, March 15, 1988, p. 4
  2. John Dee Holeman and Joe and Odell Thompson are to open UNC's bicentennial folk heritage series Bluesman and buckdancer John Dee Holeman and the Mebane string band duo Joe and Odell Thompson were announced to open From the Outer Banks to the Blue Ridge: A Celebration of North Carolina's Folk Heritage at 2 p.m. on March 23, 1994, in Person Hall. The free series was part of UNC's Bicentennial Observance. People: John Dee Holeman, Joe Thompson Place: Person Hall, Chapel Hill · Also named: Odell ThompsonSearch the index · DigitalNC: The Carolina Times, March 19, 1994 (Bicentennial series celebrates N.C. folk art traditions) · Also: The Daily Tar Heel, March 23, 1994, p. 3
  3. Joe Thompson receives a National Heritage Fellowship The National Endowment for the Arts named Thompson, a fiddler from Mebane, a 2007 National Heritage Fellow for the African American string band music of the North Carolina Piedmont.Search the index · National Endowment for the Arts: Joe Thompson (National Heritage Fellowships)

People named in the same events

People named in the same dated entries as Joe Thompson, those sharing the most entries first. Each line links one of the shared entries in the chronology, where its source is cited. A shared entry shows these people in the same event, not how well they knew each other.

Indexed works

Works about or by Joe Thompson. Each links to the institution that holds or provides it. Background reading appears below.

The life and times of Joe Thompson

Chapman, Iris Thompson; DiLorenzo, Linda; Chewning, Alton; Allen, Calvin · 2004 · Iris Chapman

Joe Thompson, the African American fiddler from Orange County, is the subject of this 2004 production by Iris Thompson Chapman with Linda DiLorenzo, Alton Chewning and Calvin Allen. Topics include string band and folk music in North Carolina and Thompson's own life, 1918 to 2012. It is part of the library's Wall Local History Collection, and a note flags it as audio or visual special collections material.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Thompson, Joe, 1918-2012.

✓ Held at OCPL · NC DVD BIO THOMPSON LIF UNC

Joe Thompson's Orange County : the music and history of early twentieth century African Americans in rural Piedmont North Carolina

Lambert, Bradley J. · 1998

Bradley J. Lambert's study of the fiddler Joe Thompson and the Black communities of the rural Piedmont, covering music and daily life in Orange County in the early twentieth century. Seventy-seven leaves with a bibliography, completed in 1998. Topics include African American musicians in the county and African American history there.

Included because: Catalog heading in the UNC record: Thompson, Joe, 1918-2012.

UNC

Transcripts By & About Joe and Odell Thompson: African-American String Band Musicians from Northern Orange County, North Carolina

1995

Transcripts of oral history interviews with Joe and Odell Thompson, recorded in July 1995 by their cousins Iris T. Chapman and William Chapman. The Thompsons were African American string band musicians from the northern part of Orange County. Part of North Carolina Sights and Sounds.

Included because: Its title names this person.

DigitalNC DPLA

North Carolina folklore journal [1990 : summer-fall, v.37 : no.2

North Carolina Folklore Society · 1990

Summer and fall 1990 issue of the North Carolina Folklore Journal, volume 37, number 2, published by the North Carolina Folklore Society in Raleigh. Wayne Martin's cover photograph shows the Orange County string band musicians Odell and Joe Thompson. Topics include Christmas and Easter customs and the German communities of Davidson County.

Included because: Their name appears in the record.

NC Digital Collections

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Start at OCPL

Books in OCPL’s Rebecca B. Wall Local History Collection whose titles, catalog subjects, or descriptions match this person. The Friends’ recommended starting points are labelled.

  • Start here · NC DVD BIO THOMPSON LIF The Life and Times of Joe Thompson 2004

    Joe Thompson, the African American fiddler from Orange County, is the subject of this 2004 production by Iris Thompson Chapman with Linda DiLorenzo, Alton Chewning and Calvin Allen. Topics include string band and folk music in North Carolina and Thompson's own life, 1918 to 2012. It is part of the library's Wall Local History Collection, and a note flags it as audio or visual special collections material.

  • Foundational · NC BIO THOMPSON CHA Transcriptions by & About Joe and Odell Thompson: African-American String Band Musicians From Northern Orange County, North Carolina Chapman, Iris Thompson · 1995

    Iris Thompson Chapman gathered these 1995 transcriptions by and about Joe and Odell Thompson, the cousins whose fiddle and banjo playing carried an older African American string band tradition in the North Carolina Piedmont. The compilation preserves their words in interview form and is part of the library's Wall Local History Collection.

Places in this person’s story

Buildings, schools, churches and other sites named in the dated events on this page, the most often named first. The map shows them all.

Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange, Orange County GIS, OpenStreetMap and a few other published sources named on each site’s page; town and community pins show approximate locations.

  • Gerrard Hall University buildings and grounds · Chapel Hill · 1 event here
  • Person Hall University buildings and grounds · Chapel Hill · 1 event here

All places and the county map →

Research sources

Sources and research tools for this person. For ready-made searches of other catalogs, see Search further. Research guide: Trace a family through historical records.

Background

Collections and databases

  • NC LIVE: prepared search for Joe Thompson Library card Search NC LIVE for this subject and Orange County. You can change the search terms. Sign in through your North Carolina library to access the materials.
  • Ancestry Library Edition In the libraryOrange County Public Library Census, birth, death and marriage records, and more, free on the public computers at OCPL libraries

Local help

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Books about Joe Thompson

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Photographs, papers, and newspapers

Historical records and collections

Catalog searches use the Library of Congress name heading: Thompson, Joe, 1918-2012. Historical-record searches use the person’s name and may include namesakes. Links open in a new tab.

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