The N.C. History Project and John W. Pope Center for Higher Education Policy recently hosted University of Alabama history professor David Beito for speeches at St. Augustine’s College and N.C. Central, N.C. State, and Campbell universities. Beito offered details about black fraternal societies and the mutual aid they offered in the days before the growth of the welfare state. Pope Center Research Director George Leef‘s account of the presentation attracted attention from Reason Magazine’s online blog, “Hit & Run.”