ECU Trustees dropping ball (NC)

[struggle4progress]

Saturday, September 26, 2015

.... Following months of student and community protests demanding that the name of former North Carolina Gov. Charles Aycock be removed from a campus residence hall, the board voted in February to do just that ... Known as the “education governor” for his advancement of public schools, Aycock also was known to hold white-supremacist views and worked during the late 1890s to disenfranchise black voters ... After the February vote at ECU, Aycock’s name was to “transition” from the residence hall to a soon-to-be created Heritage Hall ... But the Heritage Hall project relies on private donations and is not slated to open before 2018 ...

http://www.reflector.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-ecu-trustees-dropping-ball-2992941

The residence hall was constructed in 1960, as Jim Crow in NC came under increasing attack

[struggle4progress]

1. 1898, Charles Aycock, and the Wilmington "race-riot"

First, it is important to realize the Wilmington "race-riot" wasn't really so much a race-riot as a local white supremacist coup d'etat: blacks had considerable political power in late 19th century Wilmington, and the Wilmington "race-riot" involved overthrow of the local government

... The Democratic Party’s 1898 campaign was led by Furnifold Simmons, who employed a three-prong strategy to win the election: men who could write, speak, and “ride.” Men who could write generated propaganda for newspapers. Men such as Alfred M. Waddell and future governor Charles B. Aycock gave fiery speeches to inflame white voters. Men who could ride, known as Red Shirts, intimidated blacks and forced whites to vote for Democratic Party candidates. Democrats from across the state took special interest in securing victory in Wilmington. A group of white businessmen, called the “Secret Nine,” planned to retake control of local government and developed a citywide plan of action ... Democrats won the election in Wilmington ... The next day a group of Wilmington whites passed a series of resolutions requiring Alex Manly to leave the city and close his paper, and calling for the resignations of the mayor and chief of police. A committee led by Waddell was selected to implement the resolutions, called the White Declaration of Independence. The committee presented its demands to a Committee of Colored Citizens (CCC) — prominent local African Americans — and required compliance by the next morning, November 10, 1898 ... Delayed response from the CCC and growing tensions enabled Waddell to organize as many as 2,000 whites to march on the Record printing office, where they broke in and burned the building. By 11:00 a.m., violence had broken out across town ... During the ensuing rioting, Waddell and others worked to overthrow the municipal government; in essence, they staged a coup d’etat.. By late afternoon, elected officials had been forced to resign and were replaced by men selected by leading Democrats. Waddell was elected mayor by the newly seated board of aldermen. Prominent African Americans and white Republicans were banished from the city over the next days. Besides the primary target of Alex Manly, men selected for banishment fit into three categories: African American leaders who were open opponents to white supremacy, successful African American businessmen, and whites who benefited politically from African American voting support. No official count of dead can be ascertained due to a lack of records – at least 14 and perhaps as many as 60 men were murdered ...