The book Just Yesterday: North Carolina People and Places features photography produced by Bruce Roberts, described as "a prominent twentieth-century photographer." These prints cover everyday life, from ordinary tasks to people doing all kinds of work, capturing "the essence of life in North Carolina in the mid-to late twentieth century." The photographs have been divided by four geographic regions across the state of North Carolina: the Outer Banks, the East, the Piedmont, and the Mountains. For those who grew up in North Carolina or have lived here for quite some time, several of the images may be recognizable and nostalgic.

Beginning with the Outer Banks, there are countless photos of this unique area of our state. Some of the photos include images of many fishermen partaking in a time-honored tradition to our coastal areas. The Cape Hatteras lighthouse features prominently over a few pages, along with the Bodie Lighthouse surrounded by a light blanket of rare snow. One Stacy Franklin Guthrie was highlighted in a photograph, depicting the elderly gentleman next to one of many boats he crafted on his own property. Images from shrimping and fishing boats are brilliantly captured in both black and white and color, depicting large net catches of the highly valued seafood.

Closer to Wilmington's geographic area of southeastern North Carolina, the book next focuses on the East, with a full-page black and white photograph taken in Robeson County from 1959. It shows a father and son walking together next to a large oak tree, as the father holds a hoe. In his description, Roberts states that the son will assuredly use newer methods of farming, namely a tractor. Let us not forget that tobacco was once king in North Carolina, with photos depicting many instances of this crop and how it was farmed. Men walking through tobacco houses at an auction, women separating dried tobacco leaves as a result of the "flue-cured" process, and stories of men placing bricks in the bottom of their tobacco piles since "it was paid for by the pound."

The battleship USS North Carolina is also featured, in a photograph from 1961 returning to Wilmington "after being mothballed since World War II in the naval reserve fleet." Roberts talks about the statewide fundraising, where "thousands of students contributed dimes and quarters to the effort" of bringing the ship to Wilmington. 

Another notable photo in this section devoted to "the East" depicts Suzy Sterling, a white 18-year-old college student with a very young African American child sitting on her lap, staring into each other’s eyes. Sterling had "joined ninety-nine other North Carolina college students in the opening battle of a statewide interracial war on poverty." The photo was taken in Rockingham, NC, in an old two-room schoolhouse in which Sterling had been sent to work in a daycare, playing with and teaching the young students. The little boy in her lap had just fallen and was seeking attention when Sterling pulled him up onto her knees and they proceeded to have a staring contest. This image went on to be included as a full page "in the state of North Carolina’s official history book for eighth graders in 1992" and Roberts exhibited it at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

This book shares beautiful photos of people and places throughout the Piedmont and mountain areas of our state. It is worth a leisurely look at, to  appreciate the varied aspects of our state’s history over the last several decades.