Nora Brooks is a native of Union County, North Carolina. She holds a BS in the Administration of Criminal Justice from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a NC teaching license from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She retired from Union County Public Schools in July, 2011 after 26 years teaching AP US History, Civil War History and Revolutionary War History. Nora has been presenting historical drama since 1996. Her first character was Mildred Childe Lee, the youngest daughter of General Robert E. Lee.  At the invitation of a colleague, she developed the character of Anna Morrison Jackson, widow of the famous Stonewall Jackson in 2001.  In 2009, Nora added Julia Dent Grant to the performance family as a way of sharing the northern side of the war. 

Nora has performed throughout North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and eastern Tennessee  for many different groups and interests. Some of the organizations include the Museum of the Confederacy, Stratford Hall Plantation (birthplace of Robert E. Lee), Duke University Adult Education Program, and the Raleigh Civil War Roundtable. She has also performed for a wide array of heritage groups, Sons of Confederate Veterans Camps, the Daughters of the Confederacy and Daughters of the American Revolution. Two of her favorite performances were for a wedding reception and an international convention of mechanical engineers!

Nora enjoys history in general, but particularly the period of the War Between the States and World War II.  Her father was a navy veteran of the Pacific Theater and she loves to honor the heroes of the Greatest Generation. 

Nora was selected the Teacher of the Year for Sun Valley High School in 1992 and was honored by North Carolina State University as one of the Inspirational Teachers in 2009, an honor conferred through the recommendation of former students.

Nora is a 21 year veteran of the Civil War Institute of Gettysburg College. She was chosen as a St. Andrews University (Scotland) Schoolteacher Fellow in 2002 and was also selected as a Horace Mann-Lincoln Fellow in 2008.  Nora was the second recipient of the T. Harry Gatton Award given by the Raleigh Civil War Roundtable in 2009. She has also received the Jefferson Davis Medal from the North Carolina Division of the Daughters of the Confederacy and the Zebulon Vance Award from the North Carolina Sons of Confederate Veterans.

Performance History:

Created first person historical presentation on the life of Robert E. Lee

Character name: Mildred Lee (youngest Lee daughter)

                                Performance career: 1996 to present

                                Performances given: (partial list)

                                                                Richmond and Lexington, Virginia

                                                                Columbia and Charleston, South Carolina

                                                                Raleigh and Charlotte, North Carolina

                                                                Atlanta, Georgia

                            April, 2003 special performance for the Museum of the Confederacy

                                         Richmond, Virginia

                           January, 2000/2007 special performance Lee Chapel,

Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia

                           January 2008 Speaker at Lee-Jackson Day commemoration sponsored

                                       by the Virginia Division of Sons of Confederate Veterans and

                                       United Daughters of the Confederacy—Virginia State House,  

                                       Richmond, VA

                          May 2008 and 2009 Speaker for the Confederate Memorial Day

                                      Ceremony, Richmond, VA

                           April 2008 Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Duke University

                                      presented at Appomattox Courthouse Historic Site,

                                      Appomattox, VA

                           March 2011   Stratford Hall Plantation seminar

                                                               “The Women in Lee’s Life”

                           July, 2016  Presented Midlred Lee at the Robert E. Lee Fellowship       

                                        Second Annual Seminar sponsored by the Civl War Education  

                                        Association  

                           September, 2016   Presented Mildred Childe Lee at Traveller Day

                                          Festivities held at Lee Chapel on the campus of Washington

                                          and Lee University, Lexington, VA

                           April, 2017  Presented Mildred Childe Lee at Lee Family Day held 

                                          at Lee Chapel on the campus of Washignton and Lee

                                          University, Lexington, VA

Created first person historical presentation on the life of Thomas Jackson

                    Character name: Anna Morrison Jackson (widow)

                             Performance career: 2001 to present

                             Performances given: (partial list)

                                                Charlotte and Raleigh, North Carolina

                                                Richmond and Norfolk, Virginia

                             August, 2001 special performance for 250 anniversary of Rocky

                                          River Presbyterian Church

                             June, 2005 special performance for the Morrison Family Clan

                                           reunion

                             February, 2008 special performance for the Spotsylvania County      

                                           Board of Tourism, Spotsylvania County, Virginia

                             May 2009 Speaker for the Confederate Memorial Day Ceremony,

                                           Richmond, VA

                                 June 2018  Virginia Military Institute/Stonewall Jackson House

                                                 Biennial Stonewall Jackson Symposium 

Created first person historical presentation of Ulysses S. Grant

                        Character name: Julia Dent Grant (wife)

                        Performances career: 2008 to present

                                Performances given (partial list)

                                                Charlotte and Raleigh, North Carolina

                                                Hot Springs, North Carolina

                          November 2009 Raleigh Civil War Roundtable, Raleigh, NC     

March 2012 Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Duke University        

       presented at Pamplin Park Museum of the Civil War Soldier,          

      Petersburg, VA