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I have read a few articles about Michael Jordan's new biography...apparently there is a lot of discussion about Wilmington in the 70s...how the Klan was active, buying uniforms and bibles. I can see it in more rural backwater towns, but I would think by 1977 a place like Wilmington, with its relatively high population, would be too "sophistcated" to let the Klan act as the de facto chamber of commerce...or is there truth in what the author wrote?
From what I have read, there is a history of race riots in Wilmington. There was a major riot in the 1890's. Some of the tension goes back to resentments developed during "War of Northern Aggression" and the reconstruction period.
I can see the 1890s (you had that stuff everywhere in the south at the time) but I am asking about circa 1977...
There was still pressure to free the Wilmington 10 in 1977. (The firebombing and sniper shootings occurred in 1971). Governor Jim Hunt refused to pardon them in 1978. Factual article here: This Month in North Carolina History - The Wilmington Ten
I can understand backlash in the white community, but I wasn't there.
Not just Wilmington. I grew up in Durham in the 60's and we had what were known as klan raids, black panther raids, city wide curfews, fire bombings, etc. Greensboro had the Greensboro Massacre, Chapel Hill had sit ins, Smithfield had billboards that read Be white or be gone. and the list goes on and on.
And this wasn't just in NC and the bigotry was 2 way, not just a one way street.
The 60's and on into the 70's was a hard time. Forced bussing had kids riding school buses for two hours or more one way to be shipped across county to schools outside of their neighborhood/district.
Not a friendly time.
I don't think most realize the difference it made when I-40 was finished to Wilmington about 1989....before that, it was a 2 lane road to get to Wilmington. The population has more than doubled in less than 25 years. For the most part its a different place than where Jordan grew up.
Not just Wilmington. I grew up in Durham in the 60's and we had what were known as klan raids, black panther raids, city wide curfews, fire bombings, etc. Greensboro had the Greensboro Massacre, Chapel Hill had sit ins, Smithfield had billboards that read Be white or be gone. and the list goes on and on.
And this wasn't just in NC and the bigotry was 2 way, not just a one way street.
The 60's and on into the 70's was a hard time. Forced bussing had kids riding school buses for two hours or more one way to be shipped across county to schools outside of their neighborhood/district.
Not a friendly time.
Those were tense times, and it certainly wasn't the way it's always portrayed in the media as a one way street. Rather, an endless cycle of retaliations. Resentment still lingers to this day.
I have read a few articles about Michael Jordan's new biography...apparently there is a lot of discussion about Wilmington in the 70s...how the Klan was active, buying uniforms and bibles. I can see it in more rural backwater towns, but I would think by 1977 a place like Wilmington, with its relatively high population, would be too "sophistcated" to let the Klan act as the de facto chamber of commerce...or is there truth in what the author wrote?
Roland Lazenby: I’ve lived all of my life in Virginia. I’ve been to North Carolina hundreds of times and enjoy it tremendously, but North Carolina was a state that had more Klan members than the rest of the Southern states combined. As I started looking at newspapers back in this era when I was putting together Dawson Jordan’s [Michael’s great-grandfather] life, the Klan was like a chamber of commerce. It bought the uniforms for ball teams, it put Bibles in all the schools. It may well have ended up being a chamber of commerce if not for all the violence it was perpetrating, too. A lot of the context just wasn’t possible to put it in a basketball book. A lot of it ended up being cut.
I don't know what Roland Lazenby's background is, exactly, but I question the accuracy of his statement about the Klan. I suspect that he is conflating all white racists with klansmen.
But .. I didn't live in Wilmington during that time period, but from what I've read, there were some legitimate race riots in the 1970's. One story I specifically recall was a group of people shooting firemen from the roof of a downtown church.
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