Mark your calendar

DURHAM TO LIGHT TREE, HOLD PARADE

The city of Durham will kick off the holiday season at Durham's Annual Holiday Parade and Tree Lighting Celebration on Dec. 6.

The evening parade will begin at 4 p.m. at the corner of Jackie Robinson and Blackwell streets, near the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. Charles "Chuck" Davis will be the grand marshal. Additional parade dignitaries will include Mayor Bill Bell and Durham elected officials.

There will be a pre-parade musical celebration from 2 to 4 p.m. at the CCB Plaza, 201 Corcoran St., home of "Major," the big bronze bull. Here's the schedule:

2 p.m.: Durham Chorale & Choraleers

3 p.m.: Nazereno

3:35 p.m.: Triangle Youth Jazz Ensemble

4:45 p.m.: Professor Jazz

6 p.m.: Pearson Song

LECTURE TO FOCUS ON ANDREW JOHNSON

Southern historian Dan T. Carter will give a lecture Monday on Andrew Johnson, a Raleigh native who became America's 17th president the day after President Lincoln was assassinated. Johnson was impeached three years later.

"Andrew Johnson and the Challenge of Presidential Leadership after the Civil War" will be presented at the State Capitol at noon Monday.

The free lecture will be in the Old House Chamber and is sponsored by the state Office of Archives and History and is part of the "Telling Our Stories" year-long series.

Carter is a University of South Carolina Education Foundation professor of history emeritus. His doctoral degree is from UNC-Chapel Hill, and he lives in Western North Carolina.

The lecture is being held in conjunction with an exhibit at the State Capitol on Johnson's North Carolina roots and turbulent times in office. The exhibit, "Raleigh's Own President: Andrew Johnson's Life in North Carolina," runs through Jan. 16, commemorating Johnson's 200th birthday.