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North Carolina Society of Historians
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Paul Green |
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Paul Green was born on March 17,
1894, in Harnett County, NC. He was the son of William Archibald
and Betty Lorine Byrd Green.
He grew up on a farm, played baseball as a highly acclaimed pitcher, he played the organ, and taught himself to play a violin. The musical background caused him to later compose music to accompany the plays he wrote. He graduated from Buies Academy in 1914, and he worked for two years to make enough money to enter the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, in 1916. As a freshman there he wrote poems and a play; however, before finishing his first year, he enlisted in World War I. Before leaving for France, he published a thin volume of poems entitled, Trifles of Thought, because he was not certain if he would survive the war. He rose rapidly in the ranks and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant with the Chief Engineers in Paris. He returned to college and graduated in 1921. Green married Elizabeth Lay on July 6, 1922; and in 1923, he became a Pulitzer Prize winner for a play he wrote entitled, "In Abraham's Bosom." At this point, he became North Carolina's leading literary figure. In addition, Green invented the outdoor drama with his creation of "The Lost Colony," in 1937. In 1939, he became a professor of dramatic art.. He held this position until 1944 when he resigned to devote full time to his writing. Paul Green was a charter member of our Society, and he was present at the first meeting which was held on December 26, 1941 a the Carolina Inn in Chapel Hill, NC. Paul Green died on May 4, 1981, and he is buried in the old Chapel Hill Cemetery near the Paul Green Theatre on the university campus. For his many contributions to our Society and the the State of North Carolina, we named our multimedia in honor of his memory. THE PAUL GREEN MULTIMEDIA AWARD |