Browse Exhibits (16 total)

In August of 1900, the voters of North Carolina ratified an amendment to the state constitution designed to disfranchise thousands of their fellow citizens based solely on the color of their skin. The Suffrage Amendment was crafted and supported by the Democratic Party, who, as part of their 1900 political campaign, launched a well-coordinated, although viciously racist, disfranchisement crusade, centered on issues of white supremacy and the supposed threat of “negro domination.” The Democrats’ claim to represent the best interests of North Carolina’s white men, however, did not go unchallenged. In fact leaders on both sides of the debate attempted to convince white voters that the best way to promote white supremacy was to join with their respective parties. This exhibit examines the debate over disfranchisement in 1900 and the role of white supremacist ideology in the arguments offered by both the Democrats and their Populist and, to a lesser extent Republican, opponents. Ultimately the Democrats, with the aid of prominent party newspapers such as the Raleigh News and Observer, succeeded in claiming the mantel of the “white man’s party” and making suffrage the central issue of the campaign. The success of Democratic leaders in defining their party in terms of white supremacist ideology and, just as importantly, in convincing a majority of North Carolina’s white voters to identify with their racially stratified platform (of which the amendment was a key part) led not only to Democratic victories in 1900 but also helped to establish the Democrats as the dominant party in the state for the next seventy years. Warning: Some of the items included in this exhibit contain racist images and ideas.

This exhibit will describe the interpretation of Albion Tourgee, an author and carpetbagger who previously served as a solider in the Union army but relocated to Greensboro NC, on the depictions of African Americans throughout the Civil War and Reconstruction. Specifically, Tourgee's fiction writing will be analyzed to determine how the White perceptions of African Americans involved very distinct ideas about their incapability to hold rights, inherent inferiority and how many viewpoints were based on validation from Christianity. Some background on Tourgee will be provided as well in order to fully understand how he came to the beliefs which influenced both his writing and political work.

The subject of wartime loyalties can be a tricky one, with many vested interests governing what is acceptable and encouraged in society. With an eye toward controlling this variable, to what governments and for what reasons were the citizens of the Chowan River Basin loyal? The answer unsurprisingly is a complex one, with some having loyalties of convenience to cover for activities of terror, to others being loyal enough to volunteer at the outset of war for military service. The memory of these loyalties are equally diverse and contentious.

The end of the Civil War would begin an era of Reconstruction that lasted from 1865 to 1877. The goal of Reconstruction was to reestablish the South into the Union and create a new society in which all men were created equal regardless of race. The battle between the Republican and Democratic Parties made Reconstruction a long and strenuous process. North Carolina was not exempt from the struggles of Reconstruction. As governor between 1868-1871, William Woods Holden faced many political struggles. The Republican governor fought to protect the citizens of North Carolina against violent groups like the Ku Klux Klan. Governor Holden's struggle against the Ku Klux Klan ended his political career and reestablished the dominance of the Democratic Party.

This exhibit examines multiple North Carolina newspapers during the first six years of Reconstruction, mainly focused on the three federal Reconstruction Amendments. While North Carolina and other southern states pursued readmission to the Union, racial and economic problems riddled the South. Newspapers actively reported the news that would improve the image of North Carolina.  During Reconstruction, many North Carolinians remained loyal to the Union, but were swayed by the newspapers' misportrayal of federal power, ultimately rendering the reconstruction of the South ineffective.