27 Views of Wilmington: The Port City in Prose & Poetry is the latest in Eno's popular series of local anthologies. The book showcases the literary life of one of North Carolina's most popular cities by featuring the works of more than two dozen hometown writers. The result is a mosaic of perspectives about life in the Port City in a variety of genres--journalism, history, fiction, poetry, and more. To date, contributors include Wiley Cash, Nan Graham, Jason Mott, Gwenyfar Rohler, Melodie Homer, Kevin Mauer, Virginia Holman, Dana Sachs, Rhonda Bellamy, Susan T. Block, Hannah Dela Cruz Abrams, Emily Smith, John Jeremiah Sullivan, Bertha Boykin Todd, Philip Gerard, and more.
Providing coverage of both battles for Fort Fisher, this book includes a detailed examination of the attack and defence of Fort Anderson. It also features accounts of the defence of the Sugar Loaf Line and of the operations of Federal warships on the Cape Fear River.
A revealing work of public history that shows how communities remember their pasts in different ways to fit specific narratives, Race, Place, and Memory charts the ebb and flow of racial violence in Wilmington, North Carolina, from the 1730s to the present day. Margaret Mulrooney argues that white elites have employed public spaces, memorials, and celebrations to maintain the status quo. The port city has long celebrated its white colonial revolutionary origins, memorialized Decoration Day, and hosted Klan parades. Other events, such as the Azalea Festival, have attempted to present a false picture of racial harmony to attract tourists. And yet, the revolutionary acts of Wilmington’s African American citizens—who also demanded freedom, first from slavery and later from Jim Crow discrimination—have gone unrecognized. As a result, beneath the surface of daily life, collective memories of violence and alienation linger among the city’s black population. Mulrooney describes her own experiences as a public historian involved in the centennial commemoration of the so-called Wilmington Race Riot of 1898, which perpetuated racial conflicts in the city throughout the twentieth century. She shows how, despite organizers’ best efforts, a white-authored narrative of the riot’s contested origins remains. Mulrooney makes a case for public history projects that recognize the history-making authority of all community members and prompts us to reconsider the memories we inherit. A volume in the series Cultural Heritage Studies, edited by Paul A. Shackel Publication of the paperback edition made possible by a Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Discover Wilmington's enduring spirit in these images of past and present. Since 1739, Wilmington has seen centuries of change along the banks of the Cape Fear River to the beaches of the Atlantic. Through the years much has been lost to war, neglect, and progress, but in many places the past is well preserved and still visible today.
Full campaign and battle history of the largest combined operation in U.S. military history prior to World War II. By late 1864, Wilmington was the last major Confederate blockade-running seaport open to the outside world. The final battle for the port city's protector--Fort Fisher--culminated in the largest naval bombardment of the American Civil War, and one of the worst hand-to-hand engagements in four years of bloody fighting. Copious illustrations, including 54 original maps drawn by the author. Fresh new analysis on the fall of Fort Fisher, with a fascinating comparison to Russian defenses at Sebastopol during the Crimean War.
A series of sketches written in part to parody some the campaign literature of the era Originally published in 1845, Adventures of Captain Simon Suggs is a series of sketches written in part to parody some the campaign literature of the era. The character, Simon Suggs, with his motto, “it is good to be shifty in a new country,” fully incarnates a backwoods version of the national archetypes now know as the confidence man, the grafter, the professional flim-flam artist supremely skilled in the arts by which a man gets along in the world. This classic volume of good humor is set in the rough-and-tumble world of frontier life and politics.
A city of rare beauty and fascinating history, Wilmington attracts armies of tourists and visitors year-round eager to view its picturesque waterfront, to learn of the old port citys remarkable heritage and traditions, and to enjoy its grand beaches and landscapes. This visual history explores the citys and the vicinitys unique story from the late 1890s to the 1960s through the medium of postcards, a popular way of documenting a towns famous buildings, dwellings, personalities, and scenery.
In 1833, the Wilmington & Raleigh Rail Road Company set out to connect the port city of Wilmington to North Carolina's capital. When it was done in 1840, after changing its route, the company had completed 161 miles of track--the longest railroad in the world at the time--and provided continuous transportation from the town of Weldon on the Roanoke River to Wilmington and on to Charleston, South Carolina, by steamboat. A marvel of civil engineering by the standards of the day, the railroad constituted a tour de force of organization, finance and political will that risked the fortunes of individuals and the credit of the state. This study chronicles the project from its inception, exploring its impact on subsequent railroad development in North Carolina and its significance within the context of American railroad history as a whole.
For a century after its incorporation in 1740, Wilmington, North Carolina remained a sleepy port city. Then, the coming of steam-power, especially railroad and steamship, enabled a steady growth. War, whether the Civil War with its blockade-runners or the shipbuilding born of the world conflicts of the 1900s, brought more growth. With that expansion came, of course, growing pains. The story of Wilmington, North Carolina is a story of rivers, sounds, and sea, and of a city that grew near the places where those waters mingled. It is the story of a port that became the ?Lifeline of the Confederacy” as well as the lifeline of a state. And in this case, it is the story of over a hundred years of history (1860s to 1970s) told through almost two hundred photographs?the captured essences of people and events now lost.
In February 1971, racial tension surrounding school desegregation in Wilmington, North Carolina, culminated in four days of violence and skirmishes between white vigilantes and black residents. The turmoil resulted in two deaths, six injuries, more than $500,000 in damage, and the firebombing of a white-owned store, before the National Guard restored uneasy peace. Despite glaring irregularities in the subsequent trial, ten young persons were convicted of arson and conspiracy and then sentenced to a total of 282 years in prison. They became known internationally as the Wilmington Ten. A powerful movement arose within North Carolina and beyond to demand their freedom, and after several witnesses admitted to perjury, a federal appeals court, also citing prosecutorial misconduct, overturned the convictions in 1980. Kenneth Janken narrates the dramatic story of the Ten, connecting their story to a larger arc of Black Power and the transformation of post-Civil Rights era political organizing. Grounded in extensive interviews, newly declassified government documents, and archival research, this book thoroughly examines the 1971 events and the subsequent movement for justice that strongly influenced the wider African American freedom struggle.
