The Wilmington Race Riot of 1898

The Wilmington Race Riot began on Novemeber 10, 1898 in Wilmington, N.C., which at the time was the largest city in N.C.

Democrats had taken over most of the towns in N.C , but no Wilmington. This city was still run by republicans because there were so many African Americans who lived in Wilmigton and voted republican.

This did not sit well for a white confederate soldier named Alfred Moore Waddell. He became very upset when an article was published in the Wilmington newspaper called "The Daily Record". The article was published by an African American man named Alex Manly. He said in the article that "white men were careless in protecting their women".

This outraged Waddell and he and 500 white men burned and seized the headquarters of the Daily Record.

Many African Americans escaped and hid from Waddell, but at least 14 African Americans were killed that day.

After the tragedy, Waddell forced the republican mayor out of office and Waddell became the new mayor of Wilmington. One of Waddell's first laws he passed as a mayor was to limit the voting rihts of African Americans. This was known as the "Grandfather Clause".

By: Katie G.

Winston-Salem State University

Winston-Salem State University is located in Winston-Salem North Carolina. It has a 117 acre campus in the middle of the city. The University has almost 6,000 students on campus. The school motto is "Enter to learn, Depart to serve." The school's colors are red and white. the school's mascot is a ram.

The University was founded in 1892. It was established by doctor Simon G. Atkins. It was originally named Slater Industrial and State Normal School in 1897. It was the first college to give degrees in elementary education to African Americans. The school is also a member of the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship fund that raises money for African American students in 54 schools.

By: Caitlyn Connell

Robert F. Williams

Roberts F. Williams was born February 26, 1925 and died October 15, 1996. Robert F. Williams is known for his work as a civil rights leader. When the world was filled with a lot of racial tension Robert F. Williams was the voice of promoting black self defense in the United States. Although standing up for integration is what got him started his vision of all black people being able to bear arms was most important.Roberts F. Williams was born in Monroe, North Carolina. With his Grandma a fomer slave and watching black women be beaten by police officers, and witnessing brutal racial riots in Detroit in 1943, Robert F. Williams dedicated his like to the African American social justice. In 1944 Robert F. Williams was drafted into the segregated services where he served for 18 months. From 1950-1960 he served as the president of Monroe North Carolina NAACP chapter. Roberts F. Williams began his work wit the NAACP as a community organizer. One of the first cases he helped defend was involving two black boys that were accused of kissing a white girl. The next couple of issues addressed through the NAACP were involving swimming pool integration. Much of the demonstrations began as peaceful ones and turned into conflicts met with gun fire. Even though the police was involved nobody was ever arrested. This was when began the black armed gaurd. Williams believed that all black people had the right t use advanced powerful weapons especially when the Klu Klux Klan would harm black families in the middle of the night in their homes. Around 1961 a white couple was traveling through North Carolina and found them selves in a black section of Monroe. The black people were very upset to see white people in thier neighborhood and began to attack them. The white couple was brought to the Williams home and was kept in a safe house until the middle of the night when they could travel safely. North Carolina law enforcement accused Robert F. Williams with kidnapping. He did not believe he would be treated fairly by law enforcement so he took his family and fled to Cyba. Robert F. Williams was placed on the FBI wanted list and was considered to be armed and dangerous. In Cuba Robert F. Williams was involved in radio broadcasts that supported African Americans and served as a voice against oppression and he supported all blacks bearing weapons. He and his wife also started a newspaper called the Crusaders and also Negroes with Guns. A group called the Black panthers listened to everything Robert F. Williams preached about and often took matters into their own hands using guns.

In 1965 the Williams family left cuba and settled in China. The family stayed in China until 1969 when they returned to the United States. Upon returning to the United States he was immediately brought to North Carolina to stand trial. Because Robert F. Williams was well liked by the chinese the United States used his influence to help relations between them. Eventually all charges against Robert F. Williams were dropped. Robert F. Williams died October 15,1996 from Hodgkin's disease.

By:Graceann Tine

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee

On february 1, 1960 in Greensboro NC, a group of black university students refused to leave a lunch counter at Woolworth's where they were being served. This started many more groups of black people across the south to refuse to leave from places they were not allowed to be, called "sit-ins". A few months later Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina created the SNCC, (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) pronounced "snick" program.
This committee's philosophy was to protest civil rights by using no violence. They stood up for many issues such as race segregation, Vietnam War, voting rights and the feminist movement. The SNCC viewed racism and prejudice actions as a major social problem.
The committee was lead by John Lewis who stood tall for the civil rights of blacks in America. He played a major part in the Freedom Ballot, as well as speaking at the March in Washington in 1963.
The SNCC sought and made changes in American society. In the 1970's it was no longer the large organization it had become since they had achieved their goal.

By: Hudson Wyman

Nina Simone

Nina Simone was a musician. She was born on February 21, 1933 in Tryone, NC with the name Eunice Kathleen Waymon. She was also known as High Priestess of Souls or Dr. Nina Simone. She loved jazz, Soul, Folk, R&B, Gospel and a little bit of pop songs. She was a pianist, a singer, a song writer, and a civil rights activist. She also began playing piano at her local church and showed her talents on her piano. Although she hated being categorized[to be put into a large group of people] she is classified as a Jazz musician. As a kid, Nina always loved music and always clapped to the beat at her church. Nina has recorded at least 40 live and studio albums. She won 2 honorary degrees in music and humanities.

Beginning with her album "Nina Simone In Concert" in 1964, Nina Simone included messages in support of the civil rights movement in most of her songs. She continued to speak out against racial inequality for the rest of her career.

Nina Simone died in 2003 in France on April 21 of cancer. She died in her sleep when she was 70.

By: Patrick M.

Shaw University

My project6 is on Shaw University. Shaw University is a school for African Americans. It is located in Raleigh, NC. It was founded in 1960. The first founder was Dr. Henry Martin Tupper. Shaw University was the first collage for African Americans established in the south. It is the HBCU in the south. The university won a 5-year grant with University of North Carolina Chapel hill.And also got a 7-year grant with John Hopkins University. In 2007, Shaw University received a 2.5 million grant from the National Science foundation. It was made right after the Civil War. It was renamed Shaw Collegiate Institute. Shaw University is a private, bys and girls, collage. Shaw University has been called the mother of African-American colleges in North Carolina. North Carolina Central, and Fayetteville State Universities weer founded by Shaw graduates. The founder of Livingstone College spent his first two college years at Shaw before transferring to Lincoln University was located on Shaw's campus during its first year of existence. In addition, the Student Non-Violence Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was an outgrowth of a confernece on Shaw University campus.

By: Hannah M.

Charlie Scott

Charlie Scott was born on December 15, 1948. Charlie Scott was a basketball player at UNC. Charlie also played for ABA for two seasons and NBA for eight seasons.

Another fact about Charlie is in 1966 he was the first black man to get a scholarship for basketball to UNC.

When Charlie was playing basketball, he was the only black player on the team. In that time not many black players had played basketball with white players.

Some of the players on the team weren't comfortable around Charlie because he was black. In fact, Charlie was sometimes asking himself, "Why am I here?".

Another thing about Charlie is his Dad died when he was twelve and his coach, Dean Smith, was the closest family Charlie had. So, life has been hard for Charlie, but the main thing that came out of this story is a man with courage can make a difference in life.

By: Anna K.

Hiram Rhodes Revels

Hiram Rhodes Revels was born free on 9/27/1822 in Fayetteville, NC to a free half black and half white father and a white mother.

In 1838, Revels was taught by his brother to become a barber in Lincolnton, North Carolina. He left the barber shop to further his education.

Revels attended the Union County Quaker Seminary in Indiana in 1844 and finished in Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois.

Revels became a minister in 1845 by the African Methodist Episcopal Church. As a minister, Revels helped raise two black union groups during the Civil War in Maryland and Missouri.

In 1866 he was given his own ministry in Natchez, Mississippi where he setteled down with his wife, Phoebe A. Bass Revels, and their 5 daughters and founded schools for black children.

In 1870, Revels was elected to the United States Senate as the 1st African American member. His term was from february 1870-March 1871. After his senate term, he was named president of Alcorn College in Mississippi which was the states first college for African American students. He retired from Alcorn in 1882.

Revels died on January 16, 1901 in Aberdeen, Mississippi while attending a church conference.

As of 2009, Revels is one of only six African Americans to have ever served in the United States Senate.

By: Cody M.

Conrad L. Raiford

Conrad L. Raiford is an important person to people today, and especially to black people.

Conrad L. Raiford was a champion athlete, educator, good will ambassador and one of Greensboro, NC's first African-American police officers.

In, 1946, Raiford was one of the only six black men chosen by a then all white Greensboro Police Department. The officers weren't allowed to arrest anyone whose skin was not their color. Officers had to protect places with "colored police" written on their cars. That was to let other people know that they could only arrest black people. Shuffling up colored and white police officers during World War 11 was a big problem.

In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a crowd almost got out of control when black officers where hired; some even attacked them. Black officers were not allowed to wear their uniforms back and forth to work. They had to dress at Atlanta's black YMCA. "They built a 2nd bathroom in the cold rat infested basement of city hall because we were considered less than human," said Raiford, who was a star athlete with a college degree.

Raiford and an elementary school teacher, Myrtle Mary Francis Wright, were married for 54 years.

By: Aliza W.

PRICEVILLE, NC

The town of Princeville is located in Edgecombe County. It is just 15 minutes away from Rocky Mount, NC. Princeville is known as the oldesttown in the U.S.A. incorporated by African Americans. The town of Princeville was originally called Freedom Hill because it was founded by freed slaves after the Civil War in 1865. In 1885, the town was incorporated and renamed after one of the original citezens, Turner Prince. Princeville is a very small town with only 1.6 sq. mi. of total land.

Throughout Princeville's history, there have been many racial, economic, and social troubles. As well as these problems, there have been several floods that have caused serious damage. In 1999, Hurricane Floyd caused the area's biggest flood in 500 years. This has taken some interest in this town and how we can help it recover from the flood.

By: Carly G.

North Carolina Central University

North Carolina Central University was founded July 10 1910. It is located in Durham, NC, found in Research Triangle Park.

Its founder was Dr. James E. Shepard, President of the college. The main purpose of this school was to develop in young men and women the character and sound academic training needed to do real service to the nation. NCCU was originally an all African-American school. The University has changed ownership and names a few times. NCCU became a publicly-supported institution in 1923. In 2001, June 1st , James H. Ammons became the ninth chief administrator of North Carolina Central University. With his leadership the university had enourmous enrollment growth, to become the fastest growing university among the University of North Carolina system (16 campuses). On August 1, 2007 Charlie Nelms became the chancellor of NCCU.

NCCU offers bachelor's degrees in more than 100 fields of study and awards graduate degrees in an estimated 40 disciplines. NCCU has a wide variety of International studies and exchanges programs. It has programs that attract many students, Institute for Homeland Security and Workforce Development, Biomanufacturing, Nursing, Education, Law, Bussiness and Hospitality ad Tourism. The motto of the University is "Turth and Service." All students and professor are encouraged to mento incoming freshman (help then adjust to college life).

By: Brianna B.

North Carolina A&T University

North Carolina A&T University is location in Greensboro, NC. It was founded in 1891 by the North Carolina General Assembly. The citizen of Greensboro gave the college fourteen acres of land and eleven thousand dollars to begin. The school started on August 30, 1890, it was started at Shaw University with four teachers and thirty seven students. The first schools at NC A&T were agriculture, english, mathematics and horticulture. Today, there are six schools; School of Agriculture and Enviromental Science, School of business and Economics, College of Engineering, College of Arts and Science, School of Education and School of Technology. The A&T mean agriculture and technology. They have a blue and gold marching machine which is the marching band. The school has a nickname of Aggies. The first school newspaper was called The Register. Ellis Cobb was the first governor to visit the school in 1894. Enrollment was only for the boys. In 1928, girls were allowed to attend NC A&T. The first Masters degree was given to Roy Elloy Hall. Rev. Jessie Jackson attend NC A&T adn is a famous student. Four NC A&T freshman initiated the lunch counter Sit-In demonstration in 1960. Dr. Ronald McNair an NC A&T alumni an U.S. astronaut was killed in the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion. In 1994 the first PhD Candidates were enrolled in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering.
The student body consists of 51% women, 93% African American, 1% Asian American and 1% International. NC A&T is a public university.
Some sutdent activities include, band, chorus, drama, and student government. The university also competes in collegiate and intramural sports such as football, baseball, swimming and track.
NC A&T has contributated much to the development of the city of Greensboro as well as the African American community. The university will continue to provide us with some of the countries brightest minds in agriculture, mathematics and horticulture

Caitlyn P.

Johnson C. Smith University

Shortly after slavery ended many white missionaries and ministers in the south started planning churches and schools to educate former black slaves and teach them about God and religon. Reverend Samuel C. Alexander, Reverend Willis L. Miller and Reverend Sidney S. Murkland opened Colored Presbyterian Church of Charlotte, North Carolina which was both a school and a church in one building. They needed money to build a seperate building for the school. Mrs. Mary D. Biddle gave them $1,400.00. To thank her they named the school Henry J. Biddle Memorial Institute after he late husband who died fighting in the Civil War. In 1883 the name was shortened to Biddle University.

Between 1921 and 1929 Mrs. Jane Berry Smith gave the school $702,500.00 so they could make the school bigger and better. In 1923 they changed the name again to thank Mrs. Smith. They named the college Johnson C. Smith University after her late husband.

Until 1932 the college was only for men. After that, both men and women could be educated there.

There are many interesting facts about Johnson C. Smith University. In 1886 the college hired the first black professor in the south. In 1891 the college elected the first black college president in the south. The in 1892 our country's first black football game was played at Biddle University.

In 2000 Johnson C. Smith University became well known for being the first historically black college to give each of their students an IBM laptp computer. They are known as "ThinkPad U".

Today, Johnson C. Smith University is a private, four year college in Charlotte, North Carolina. The university has around 1,500 students and is nicknamed the Golden Bulls.

By: Amelia C.

NC Mutual Insurance And Its Founders

Since it's beginning in 1898, North Carolina Mutual Insurance Company has grown to be the nations most widely known and successful, business institutions. It is the only insurance company in North Carolina with a character dated before 1900. With over $12 billion of insurance in force and surplus exceeding $18 million. Noth Carolina mutual insurance is the first African American life insurance in the United States. The company's seven organizers were men who were active in business, education, medical and civic life of the Durham community. An early financial crisis tested their resolve and the company was reorganized in 1900 only John Merrick and Dr. Aaron M. Moore remaining. Charles C. Spaulding was named general manager, under whose direction the company grew and achieved national prominence.

By: Sahar K.

Ben Chavis

Name: Benjamin Chavis Muhammad



Born: January 22, 1948 in Oxford NC



His Wife is Martha Rivera Chavis and they have 8 children,



He graduated from University of NC with a Bachelor of Arts Degree. Ben helped work in a youth meeting for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference on the team with Martin Luther King Jr. He worked to fix the public school system so both whites and blacks can attend school together.



He helped out for the presidential campaign of Robert F. Kennedy in 1986. He also worked as the director and CEO of The National African-American Leadership Summit from 1995-1997.



He taught at a Muslim Church and then decided to change his name to Muhammad. He served as a field officer at The United Church of Christ Commission for radical justice in 1968.

He became the youngest manager of the CEO National person for the team of colored people.

In 1998, he was chosen vice president of the churches. Also he served as a chairman of justice.

Also he wrote 2 books the first one called: An American Political Prisoner and Psalms From Prison. The Whole time he was still in jail from when he made some bad decisions.

Also every day he came from school there was a library that only agreed to let whites in. So one day Ben Chavis tried going in there and checking out a book but then the librarian told him to get out but he wouldn't get out. So she had to get his parents.

Ben Chavis also was the director of the Million Man March in Washington, DC in October 1995. This is one of many great reasons Ben Chavis is important.

By: Reagan W.

Dr. Ronald E. Mcnair

He studied physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT) where he earned his Ph.D. in 197.

McNair conducted research on space communications and then he was given the chance to apply for anstronaut training. After training, he completed his first space mission. His dream was to teach, but that dream did not come true because of the deadly Challenger mission.

After his death, Congress funded a program to help low-income, first-generation college students with college expenses.

To learn more about Dr. McNair and other astronauts and space missions, visit the NASA website http://history.nasa.gov/sts511.html

By: Anna R.

Alex Manly

Alex Manly lived from 1866-1944. He was an African American editor in North Carolina in the 19th century. He was a descendant of the NC governor Chales Manly. HE became an editor for the Wilmington Daily record in 1895. That business was the only African American owned daily paper in the U.S. His office was destroyed in the 1898 Wilmington race riots on November 10th that same year. He was forced to flee Wilmington. He relocated to Philadelphia, PA. Not much is really certain about his life later on. However, he did help found the Armstron Association, a forerunner of the Urban League. His papers and some pictures of one of his sons are in the archives at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC.

Alexis H.

J.D Lewis

J.D Lewis was a Raleigh native he grew up on South Bloodworth Street near Shaw University. Then he went to the Capitol Broadcasting. With WRAL's parent company. During 1948 a broadcasting career that went more than 40 years. He was best known as the host of "Teenage Frolics". It was also a dance program that instructed in 1958. He attended Morehouse College in Atlanta. Then he got out of college and he was one of the first black members of the United States Marine Corps. Then got trained to be a radio technician. Then J.D Lewis died at 87. Saturday night on Febuary 17, 2007

By: Maria M.

Morgan London Latta

His father died when he was seven years old. HIs older brother died by drowning. He got a job when he was young and got paid one dollar per month. He entered a free school that was near his house for 5 or 6 years. Most of the people he knew could not read or write. All the families lived in a log house. He was born in 1853 at fishdam. Near the city of Raleigh. His mother had 13 children. He lived through slavery while he was a slave as well. The cracks were big enough for him to see the shine of the moon. After the Civil War they named Morgan London Latta after a house. On January 8, 2007 the Lata house was destroyed in a fire. The house caught on fire because they had a power overload. Then given to the City of Raleigh to use for a park. The house was a Historical Landmark. Latta University taught education to orphans in the Raleigh Community. Bill Shepard discovered latta house on April 2, 2005. The Latta House is 4 blocks from Cameron Village.

Anastasia S.

Eartha Kitt

Eartha Kitt was a famous African American actress, singer and cabaret star. She was born January 17, 1927 on a plantation near columbia, South Carolina. Her mother was cherokee and African American while her father was german and Dutch. Eartha was actively working between the years 1948-2008.

Eartha Kitt was raised by Anna Mae Riley, whom Kitt believed to be her mother. Anna sent Eartha to live with a different family until Anna Riley died. After Anna's death, she went to live with Mamie Kitt in New York City, which she later learned was her biological mother.

Eartha Kitt began her career by working for the Katherine Dunham Company. She was a really talented singer with a beautiful voice. One of the most reconized hits was "Santa Baby". Some of her other famous songs were: "Lets Do It", "C' si bon", "Love For Sale", "Uska Dara", and "Under The Bridges of Paris". Eartha also learned French and would also sometimes sing in other languages. In 1950, Orson Welles gave Eartha her first starring role in Helen of Troy. Also, in the 1960s, Kitt was chosen to replace Julie Newmar in the role as CAt Woman in the television series Batman.

In 1968, Eartha was asked to go to a special luncheon at the White House. She had a substantional setback after she made anti-war statements. After she was publicly rejected in the US, she went overseas to preform.

Over the years, Eartha had many awards and nominations for her work in music, television, film and stage. She had a very succesful and long career from 1948-2008. Eartha died from colon cancer on December 25, 2008 at the age of 81.