On November 1, 2025, filmmaker, historian, and founding board member of the Museum of Durham History, Dr. Steven Channing, received the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, one of North Carolina’s highest honors. State Senator Sophia Chitlik presented the award on behalf of Gov. Josh Stein during a private ceremony in Durham hosted by Vandana Dake and John Warasila, with family, friends, and longtime colleagues in attendance.

The gathering reflected the breadth of Steve’s impact. Speakers David Dodson, Myrna Adams, William Chafe, Lew Myers, and Nancy Clapp-Channing offered heartfelt remarks on his generosity, dedication to the Museum’s History Groves, and enduring commitment to community.

At the Museum of Durham History, Steve served as a co-founder and board member, helping shape the Museum’s mission to highlight Durham’s diverse stories.

One of his lasting contributions – Steve’s brainchild, along with MoDH insider Dr. Karin Shapiro – was the creation of our History Groves, small plantings of native trees and shrubs across the City and County that honor community leaders, families, and organizations. Each of the 18 current History Groves includes seating for reflection and a marker naming the honoree, embodying the Museum’s “Museum Beyond Walls” philosophy.

Lew Myers got to know Steve in 2010 when they were members of the founding board for the Museum and remembered:

“Steve’s knowledge and experience was extremely valuable as we discerned what the Museum could become. We decided that it would be devoted to tell the stories of lesser-known people who have contributed to Durham’s history. The History Groves recognize and honor citizens who have made Durham the special place it is.”

Steve’s dear colleague, Sydney Nathans, sent his greetings from afar, as read by David Dodson:

My dear Ambassador Channing,

…Everywhere you focused your lens, you told and humanized a large history writ small—the Regulator prelude to the American Revolution, the Greensboro Sit-ins that changed the country, the Secret Game behind Durham’s white and Black entrepreneurial rise.  And pivoting again, you became the chronicler of the state’s remarkable cultural diversity, the Old North State born again as a New North Carolina.

Steve’s career spans academia, authorship, and documentary filmmaking. Born and educated in New York, he earned his Ph.D. in history from UNC–Chapel Hill and later taught at the Universities of Kentucky, Stanford, and Duke. He served as a research fellow at Johns Hopkins and, as a Fulbright Exchange Scholar, taught at the University of Genoa in Italy.

His publications include Crisis of Fear: Secession in South Carolina (winner of the Allen Nevins Prize), Kentucky: A History, and The Confederate Ordeal for Time-Life’s Civil War series.

In 1987, Steve founded Video Dialog Inc. (VDI), producing Emmy Award–winning documentaries that brought history and social issues to the screen with clarity, empathy, and visual power. His work for television and educational media has reached audiences across generations.

He also co-founded the Southern Documentary Fund with filmmaker Cynthia Hill, supporting independent media projects across the South.

The Museum celebrates this well-deserved recognition for Steve—a historian and documentary filmmaker whose work continues to illuminate the South’s complex past and vibrant present.

Guests wait in anticipation of Steve’s arrival to this wonderful surprise ceremony.

Nancy Clapp-Channing pins the Order of the Long Leaf Pine pin onto Steve’s collar.

Top group photo courtesy of Durham Magazine.