00:00
so we will get started um thank you all
00:02
again for joining us this evening
00:04
we are so happy to have you with us um
00:06
for this workshop
00:07
entitled understanding through history
00:10
lessons from the legacy commission
00:12
my name is nichelle wilson with the city
00:14
of charlotte's community engagement
00:15
division
00:16
and tonight we're going to have a very
00:18
important discussion on the historical
00:20
perspectives
00:21
that was offered to the legacy
00:23
commission that informed their
00:24
recommendations and we're going to learn
00:26
a little bit about their recommendations
00:28
we'll learn about um we'll hear from
00:31
two historians in our area that just
00:34
tells us a little bit about
00:35
how we got to where we are and so this
00:38
is a very important discussion
00:40
we have this opportunity to learn and to
00:42
grow together
00:44
and that's important as we build a
00:46
stronger community
00:48
we welcome full participation in this
00:50
discussion so you do have the option to
00:53
use the q a feature which should be at
00:55
the bottom of your screen
00:56
to type in any questions that you have
00:59
we'll do our best to get to those
01:00
questions
01:01
at the end we also are recording this
01:04
presentation
01:05
so this will be made available to you on
01:07
the community engagement training
01:09
on demand page so that should be
01:11
available in about two weeks
01:13
so we encourage you all to participate
01:15
we encourage you all to share
01:17
if you're joining us via facebook um
01:19
share it with your friends and your
01:20
family
01:21
just to learn a little bit more about um
01:24
this important um topic
01:27
tonight we are joined by three guests
01:30
our first guest is emily kunzie and she
01:33
is the assistant to the city manager
01:35
for the city of charlotte emily will
01:37
speak to us about the legacy commission
01:39
and their recommendations next we have
01:42
dr
01:42
karen l cox dr cox is a professor
01:45
of history at the university of north
01:47
carolina at charlotte
01:49
where she teaches a variety of courses
01:51
on southern history and culture
01:53
she is the author of four books that
01:55
examine the american south
01:57
including her most recent no common
01:59
ground
02:00
confederate monuments and the ongoing
02:02
fight for racial justice
02:04
published by unc press in april 2021
02:08
dr cox also founded and directs the
02:11
graduate program
02:12
in public history at unc charlotte and
02:14
is an active public
02:16
intellectual having written opens for
02:19
new i'm sorry for the new york times the
02:21
washington post
02:22
time magazine smithsonian magazine and
02:24
cnn
02:26
our final panelist is dr willie j
02:28
griffin
02:29
dr griffin is a late 19th and 20th
02:32
century historian of the south
02:34
specializing in the historic black press
02:37
and charlotte's local african-american
02:39
history as a charlotte native
02:42
he returned home to join the levine
02:44
museum of the new south as its staff
02:46
historian in 2018
02:48
dr griffin previously served as an
02:50
assistant professor of african american
02:52
history at the citadel
02:54
he holds a doctorate in u.s history from
02:56
the university of north carolina
02:58
at chapel hill and so we welcome my
03:00
three guests tonight
03:02
we are looking forward to an empowering
03:04
and impactful discussion
03:06
and i would like to thank each of you
03:07
all for being here and without further
03:09
ado i'll turn it over to emily
03:14
good evening um thank you for joining us
03:17
tonight i'm just going to give some
03:18
brief introductory remarks
03:22
in may 2020 following the murder of
03:24
george floyd by police
03:26
historic large-scale protests erupted
03:29
here in charlotte
03:30
and throughout the entire nation
03:32
spreading to countries around the world
03:35
these protesters demanded an end to
03:37
systemic racism and equities in our
03:39
nation
03:40
with the goal of changing our country
03:41
for the better of all its people
03:44
a dynamic movement emerged from these
03:46
protests to dismantle the tributes to
03:49
racists
03:50
slave owners white supremacists and
03:52
confederate leaders
03:53
that exist throughout our country in the
03:55
form of memorials
03:56
monuments street names and other symbols
04:00
in june of 2020 mayor lyles convened
04:03
the legacy commission a committee of 15
04:06
members
04:07
composed of charlotte historians
04:09
journalists and public servants
04:11
to engage in a comprehensive study of
04:14
charlotte street names
04:15
and monuments that memorialized the
04:17
legacy of
04:19
of confederate soldiers slave owners and
04:21
segregationists
04:23
the commission found that quote there is
04:26
a legacy of racial discrimination in
04:28
charlotte
04:29
that has denied african americans and
04:31
other people of color
04:32
the opportunities to participate fully
04:35
in the city's government
04:36
civic life economy and educational
04:39
advancement
04:40
vestiges of this legacy are symbolically
04:43
represented in streets
04:44
monuments and buildings named in honor
04:47
of slave owners
04:48
champions of the confederacy and
04:50
proponents of white supremacy
04:52
end quote the legacy commission
04:55
made several recommendations that were
04:57
unanimous
04:58
unanimously adopted by city council in
05:01
february 2021.
05:03
these recommendations include first
05:06
changing the names of nine streets named
05:08
for leaders of the confederacy
05:10
slave owners and white supremacists and
05:13
supporting efforts
05:14
for additional street name changes
05:17
second
05:18
they recommended reimagining the
05:20
commemorative landscape
05:22
in charlotte to align with the values
05:24
and diversity of today charlotte
05:26
and third educating residents about
05:28
charlotte's ties to slavery
05:30
the confederacy and white supremacy and
05:32
how the legacy
05:34
of slavery and segregation continue to
05:36
impact people's lives
05:37
and shape the community today
05:40
the city of charlotte is committed to
05:42
action and committed to implementing the
05:44
commission's recommendations
05:47
beginning with street name changes the
05:49
study is currently engaged with the
05:51
druid hills community
05:52
to rename jefferson davis street the
05:55
city will engage other communities in
05:56
charlotte
05:57
over the course of the next 12 months to
05:59
rename all nine streets
06:01
today's program will focus on how a
06:03
confederate landscape came to be what
06:06
that means in both
06:07
charlotte specifically and the south
06:08
generally and why better representation
06:11
of the city's history is necessary
06:14
i want to thank and welcome dr karen cox
06:17
and dr willy griffin
06:18
for making this important presentation
06:20
today
06:22
thank you
06:27
thank you um i'm going to
06:30
share my screen with those of you
06:32
watching and
06:36
now it's saying like let's see i should
06:38
be able to share
06:39
all right here we go
06:47
i want to say first of all i'm really um
06:49
pleased that i
06:50
you know had the opportunity to do this
06:53
this work on on behalf
06:54
of a city that i've called home since
06:57
2002
06:59
and what i'd like to do is share with
07:01
you
07:02
um uh sort of the broader context
07:05
so that you understand how charlotte
07:08
mike
07:09
does fit into
07:12
the commemoration of the confederacy
07:14
through something called the lost cause
07:16
which i'll explain
07:17
and the ways in which charlotte
07:19
participated in perpetuating
07:22
uh the myths of the lost cause
07:27
i want to say you know that the key
07:30
points of understanding for
07:31
this evening uh presentation is that i
07:34
want to talk about what the lost cause
07:36
is
07:36
what the phases are of that and then
07:39
charlotte's role again
07:40
i'll only do this briefly but because dr
07:43
griffin will give a more detailed
07:46
description
07:47
and historical context around
07:50
charlotte's
07:51
participation in the lost cause and also
07:54
in the white supremacy campaigns
07:58
the lost cause is uh is a
08:01
subject that a lot of historians know
08:03
about and read about and it's not always
08:05
understood by
08:06
by the public but the lost cause um
08:10
the term comes from a book that was
08:12
published in 1866
08:14
uh by a man named edward pollard and it
08:16
was an attempt to justify
08:19
um what the the confederacy uh
08:22
despite the fact that uh it had lost
08:25
uh in in a way and just provide sort of
08:28
a
08:28
a blueprint um for uh white southerners
08:32
going forward
08:33
uh to in a way to deal with defeat and
08:36
uh and so uh it's called the lost cause
08:40
in other words it suggests that the
08:41
confederacy was a
08:43
cause of sorts and uh it's meant to
08:46
sort of help white southerners again
08:49
deal with um
08:51
a a resounding defeat
08:54
by 1865. well the myths of the lost
08:58
calls and that's where i think
09:00
that a lot of public discussions are
09:05
about these days has to do with the
09:08
myths of the lost call so the lost cause
09:10
is this narrative
09:12
um with its own myths and then the lost
09:15
cause it's also
09:16
this sort of a movement that includes
09:19
the creation of confederate heritage
09:22
organizations
09:23
as well as uh uh things like the
09:26
monuments and markers that were we're
09:28
talking about this evening
09:29
so some of the basic myths are that
09:32
people
09:33
don't believe that the civil war was
09:34
fought over slavery
09:36
um and uh somehow um
09:40
you know the confederacy only was only
09:42
defeated because
09:43
of the north's uh superior forces
09:46
resources
09:47
um and then that slavery is somehow a
09:49
benign institution that masters or
09:51
quote-unquote good to their slaves so
09:54
these are the basic myths there's many
09:56
more of those
09:57
um including things like you know that
10:00
the ku klux klan for example
10:03
were to be regarded as heroes for having
10:06
restored
10:06
um white supremacy uh which
10:10
which um again the lost cause is one of
10:13
these things that
10:15
that crosses generations and has been in
10:18
effect
10:19
ever since the end of the civil war such
10:21
that even today
10:23
more than a century and a half after the
10:25
war ended
10:26
you will still hear people say that the
10:29
civil war
10:30
was fought over states rights and not
10:32
slavery
10:33
but we know for fact and we have
10:37
documents that prove otherwise
10:41
so we have to think about this in terms
10:44
of historical phases
10:46
in terms of confederate memorialization
10:48
because initially
10:50
um the way that things unfolded
10:53
was initially through confederate
10:56
through the monuments and i want to talk
10:58
about the phases of the lost cause
10:59
through monuments
11:01
through monument building so there was a
11:03
phase of confederate bereavement
11:06
in the period of reconstruction when
11:09
the very first monuments were erected
11:12
and they tended to be erected in
11:13
cemeteries where the confederate
11:15
soldiers were buried
11:17
and in in many ways the the obelisk
11:21
that's in elmwood cemetery even though
11:24
it's a little bit later than that
11:25
period i just described really kind of
11:27
fits into that
11:29
initial phase of monument building
11:33
again in the cemetery where the
11:36
confederate dead
11:37
are buried
11:40
once you get beyond that you begin to
11:43
see you know a focus
11:44
on celebrating the confederacy once
11:47
federal troops have
11:48
been removed from the region and former
11:51
confederates have
11:52
come back into power in state
11:54
legislatures
11:56
and and uh even local uh political
11:58
office
11:59
you begin to see the lost calls take on
12:02
a tone of celebration
12:03
about about the confederacy and
12:07
um and nothing probably is more
12:09
celebratory and more iconic a
12:11
celebration
12:13
than the unveiling of the robert e lee
12:15
monument in richmond virginia
12:18
and in 1890 so that was another phase of
12:21
the lost cause
12:23
and then beginning in 1890 you see what
12:26
um
12:26
the law schools enters a new phase one
12:29
that's
12:30
that is uh definitely led by women
12:33
in the united daughters of the
12:34
confederacy and in this phase
12:37
the focus here then is about vindicating
12:40
the confederacy
12:41
vindicating um uh them from defeat
12:45
uh by you know focusing on that this
12:48
this messaging that the confederacy uh
12:51
that the confederate calls was a just
12:53
cause that it was a sacred cause that
12:55
these men were right
12:56
that states rights as you know their
12:59
defense of states rights
13:01
uh was really about their being
13:03
patriotic
13:04
and uh showing their loyalty to the us
13:08
constitution um without you know ever
13:11
sort of talking always about
13:15
uh the issue of slavery so this even by
13:18
you know 30 years after the war you
13:20
begin to
13:21
uh to see that that slavery has been
13:23
erased
13:24
um as a cause of war and it's something
13:26
that that
13:27
white southerners should even be
13:29
concerned about but the 1890s is really
13:32
an
13:32
important period to understand it's not
13:34
just the rise
13:36
of additional confederate
13:37
memorialization
13:39
and that's why i want to talk about the
13:41
historical context
13:43
and dr griffin will as well i think will
13:45
re-emphasize what i'm about to talk
13:47
about
13:48
here you begin in that same period that
13:51
the confederate uh
13:53
memorialization really goes on uh
13:57
really peaks and uh this is when
14:00
most of the monuments are built it's
14:02
when street names start to be
14:04
you start to see street names being
14:06
given names for of after confederates
14:08
um and so what you see happening in the
14:11
1890s
14:12
with the rise of the confederacy
14:14
confederate memorialization
14:16
movement we're seeing the
14:19
that southern whites are really trying
14:21
to eradicate
14:23
african-american progress um a lot of
14:26
which was
14:27
was provided you know through the
14:28
reconstruction amendments
14:30
so there's an attack against
14:32
african-american progress
14:34
in in attempts to erase uh them from
14:37
participation in politics and even
14:40
economically
14:42
um part of that was disfranchising
14:46
disenfranchisement
14:47
um in a backlash to the 14th amendment
14:50
which provided them with citizenship
14:52
uh and also the 15th amendment which
14:54
provided african-american men the right
14:56
to vote
14:57
these laws uh were uh were being put on
15:01
the books
15:02
uh in the south that were
15:03
disenfranchising uh
15:05
african-american men from voting and
15:07
trying to remove them from office so
15:10
this is one this is another thing and it
15:12
provides the backdrop
15:14
to the confederate memorial
15:16
memorialization
15:17
movement in the 1890s and beyond is this
15:20
is what's happening
15:22
alongside the erection of monuments the
15:25
placing of markers the naming of streets
15:29
jim crow is being legalized in this
15:31
period
15:32
and uh in that sent these laws that are
15:35
passed that are
15:36
that are segregating public facilities
15:39
for example
15:40
and you see the signs that go up that we
15:43
recognize as jim crow signs this is
15:45
happening
15:46
in that period alongside the rise of
15:50
these
15:50
confederate organizations and monument
15:53
building
15:55
and then the other attack of course is
15:58
on the bodies of of african-american men
16:01
women and even children the racial
16:03
violence against
16:04
that the african-american community
16:07
there was a real epidemic of lynching
16:10
in the 1890s but as we know these things
16:13
continued on
16:14
well into the 20th century so all of
16:16
these things are happening as a backdrop
16:19
to to these things i'm going to talk
16:22
about confederate memorialization
16:25
so if you wanted to understand it and i
16:27
hope you can see this graph
16:29
uh okay a confederate monument building
16:32
has been happening ever since the end of
16:34
the civil war so in every decade
16:37
since the civil uh since the end of the
16:39
civil war
16:40
there have been monuments uh built
16:43
across the region
16:44
even in the last decade but the peak
16:47
period
16:48
is that period between 1890 and 1920
16:53
as you can see by the blue dots blue and
16:56
red dots
16:58
many of these monuments went on the
17:00
grounds of courthouses
17:03
but also in public parks also uh
17:06
on the grounds of state houses as i
17:09
say here the majority again were placed
17:13
really on the grounds of of governmental
17:15
institutions on the on the landscape
17:17
around
17:18
courthouses and around state capitals
17:22
so what does that message what kind of
17:25
message does that send and we
17:27
it reminds um people who are who's in
17:30
charge of their
17:31
of the local government state government
17:34
all of these things it reminds
17:36
it is a it honors confederate soldiers
17:39
uh who fought to preserve anglo-saxon
17:42
aka white supremacy and i say that
17:45
nava calls that you know and we know
17:48
that
17:48
and sometimes and then the case of
17:50
charlotte we actually have them
17:52
we had a memorial that actually had that
17:54
language on it
17:56
but at the unveiling of a lot of these
17:58
monuments and markers
18:00
there would be someone given a speech
18:02
and very often
18:03
in that in those speeches and there are
18:05
many of them out there
18:07
that would say we're honoring these men
18:09
today and we're honoring not only for
18:11
their service to the confederacy
18:12
but also for their role in what they
18:15
would say preserving anglo-saxon
18:17
supremacy which is white supremacy
18:20
um we know that these monuments
18:24
as representatives of that are standing
18:27
outside of those
18:28
again uh the the doors of government
18:31
whether that's at the capitol or
18:33
local courthouse and that's where uh
18:35
white supremacy is being enshrined into
18:37
law
18:38
and again they serve as reminders of
18:40
second-class citizenship
18:43
which is why you know today we're having
18:45
these debates
18:46
and why there are efforts underway to
18:49
try to remove these
18:50
but then the backlash of course are
18:52
these monument laws that are
18:54
have prevented that from happening
18:58
so what is charlotte's role in
19:00
perpetuating the lost cause and
19:02
and dr griffin is going to go into this
19:03
more deeply than i
19:05
am but i just want to remind everyone
19:07
that charlotte wasn't this new south
19:10
city um it's it's you know the the
19:12
reputation of charlotte today
19:14
um charlotte didn't look like this at
19:17
all in the late 19th century and early
19:19
20th century when these things were
19:21
taking place
19:22
charlotte was a very small town a small
19:25
southern town like any southern town
19:28
across the region across the south and
19:30
so in many ways
19:31
charlotte um
19:35
responded in very similar ways to the
19:38
the ideas around confederate
19:40
memorialization as they did in any other
19:43
southern state or any other southern
19:45
city so it's important to remember
19:47
uh remember that that charlotte wasn't
19:50
what it is today
19:51
um a hundred years ago uh or 150 years
19:55
ago
19:57
one of the things that that happened um
20:00
was the
20:01
19 you know and the ways in which uh
20:03
charlotte contributed to
20:05
this like enshrining the lost calls into
20:08
the
20:08
culture of of charlotte was to sponsor
20:12
the
20:13
1929 united uh confederate veterans
20:16
reunion
20:17
there was a parade um
20:20
down uh it was on trion street um and
20:23
you can
20:24
you can see this actually watch this
20:26
video that i've got a screen capture of
20:29
on right here so there was this big
20:31
parade these are kinds of things that
20:33
would happen in other southern cities
20:35
uh where the confederacy was very well
20:38
regarded
20:38
so this is one example and it's during
20:41
that reunion when
20:43
when a confederate monument is built and
20:45
i'll show you that in just a minute
20:49
um in 1958 uh charlotte hosted
20:52
um the cap alpha fraternity what was
20:54
known as the old south
20:56
week in 1958 you can see the cover of
20:59
the um
21:00
the charlotte observer um trade street
21:03
was
21:04
briefly renamed confederate boulevard
21:07
there was a secession ceremony out in
21:09
front of the mecklenburg county
21:11
courthouse
21:12
as you can see in the images here so
21:14
this is another way in which
21:16
charlotte participated in uh
21:19
the lost cause and also participated in
21:22
um perpetuating
21:26
these kinds of ideas around confederate
21:28
memory
21:32
a lot of people might be surprised to
21:34
know that in 1996 there was a
21:36
confederate parade
21:38
uh in uptown um and as
21:41
you can see in the from the the observer
21:43
it was the largest since 1929 that first
21:46
one i showed you
21:47
um and part of this was about um
21:50
commemorating these they had placed some
21:53
uh
21:53
headstones in the elmwood cemetery and
21:56
it was a part of a celebration
21:58
of having achieved that but again
22:01
you imagine in 1996 in uptown charlotte
22:05
people walking
22:06
through the city dressed in confederate
22:09
uniforms
22:10
and waving confederate battle flags
22:13
through the through the center city and
22:16
what that might
22:17
have felt like for citizens of color
22:23
so charlotte is slightly different
22:26
from other um cities in the time
22:29
in terms of its confederate uh landscape
22:32
and
22:32
in terms of monuments it doesn't have
22:35
that many and
22:36
um we'll just go through the three that
22:39
that i'm aware of
22:40
um we have elmwood cemetery the obelisk
22:44
that was erected in 1887 which i
22:46
mentioned
22:46
earlier uh that's totally fits in with
22:49
the lost cause of the 19th century in
22:51
that early phase
22:53
of memorialization
22:57
and then we had the monument or marker
22:59
that was erected in 1929 during that
23:02
confederate reunion
23:04
this is excuse me this is the the marker
23:07
um which um actually has probably the
23:11
most egregious most
23:12
racist language of any monument i've
23:14
ever seen and i study monuments and
23:16
wrote a book about it
23:18
which is if i read you from that it's
23:21
it's said that
23:22
talks about these men as having
23:24
preserved the anglo-saxon civilization
23:27
of the south so preserving what they're
23:30
saying
23:30
is preserving white supremacy and that's
23:32
part of the reason that they should be
23:34
honored
23:35
so this was removed this is a county
23:37
owned
23:38
marker it was removed in in the summer
23:42
of 2020 after the george floyd murder
23:45
i'm not sure where it is the other
23:48
is um is the judep benjamin marker
23:51
that was on tryon street um
23:54
that was actually was placed and i said
23:57
placed by the udc
23:58
if you read what the monument said it
24:00
was like it was erected
24:02
um in honor of jude p benjamin who was
24:05
um a jewish uh of jewish descent and he
24:09
he was the attorney general secretary of
24:11
war and secretary of state for the
24:12
confederacy
24:14
and so the uh temple israel and temple
24:16
bethel the
24:18
congregations actually created this
24:20
marker
24:22
and it says as a gift to the north
24:25
carolina division of the united
24:26
daughters of the confederacy
24:28
in 1948 so that
24:31
existed for a while and then of course
24:34
um last summer
24:35
it was also defaced and then the city of
24:38
charlotte uh
24:38
it says had removed it i again i'm not
24:41
sure if it's in storage or where it
24:43
might be but that
24:44
that marker two has been removed but
24:46
that was part
24:47
of the confederate uh monuments uh
24:50
in charlotte and then the third is the
24:54
confederate monument that was unveiled
24:56
on the grounds of
24:57
what is now old city hall in 1977
25:01
which is very late 112 years after the
25:04
civil war ended
25:06
um it was moved into the
25:09
into elmwood cemetery in 2015
25:13
after the charleston massacre and after
25:15
it had been um
25:16
vandalized but this particular monument
25:19
was one
25:20
um that i actually write about in in my
25:22
book on
25:23
on monuments because it was um uh
25:26
harvey gantt was a young you know
25:28
councilman on the city council and he
25:30
was
25:31
um the one person who held tried to hold
25:34
people to account for having uh allowed
25:38
this particular
25:39
uh marker to go on the grounds of
25:41
government
25:42
and uh he said as much even though he
25:44
was the only naval
25:46
um on the city council that year but
25:49
again
25:49
that has been moved into that section of
25:51
the cemetery in elmwood cemetery
25:54
where that obelisk is
25:57
and i'll just uh close because i want to
26:00
need to turn this over to dr griffin
26:02
that the confederate memorial landscape
26:04
of charlotte is more than monuments
26:07
as any city in the south is it includes
26:10
street names
26:11
it includes things markers like the one
26:14
on the right
26:15
so um i thank you and i'm sure i'll
26:20
get some questions once this is once
26:23
willie's completed his
26:24
his uh presentation so thank you
26:31
thank you dr cox um let me see if i can
26:34
get my screen up
26:49
okay um so yeah i'm going to talk a
26:53
little more give you a little more
26:54
detail
26:55
about um charlotte's role in the the
26:58
confederacy the civil war
26:59
the lost cause because traditionally
27:01
when we talk about the city's history um
27:06
especially as it relates to civil war
27:07
history we have been sort of written out
27:09
of that history
27:10
and this has largely uh been because
27:13
there were no major battles
27:15
when we think about civil war history in
27:17
the united states we mostly talk about
27:18
places that experienced
27:20
um that were disrupted because of the
27:22
civil war places like
27:23
um charleston or um richmond um atlanta
27:27
but charlotte because there were no
27:28
major battles in or around charlotte
27:31
um we have not been present in this
27:34
telling of the story
27:35
um but we cannot really um be mistaken
27:38
in reality the city did play a
27:39
significant role in the civil war
27:41
um and this is something that um city
27:44
leaders and city residents
27:45
have to be aware of um the the city
27:48
can really no longer hide behind the
27:51
vacated progressivism
27:52
particularly in the face of recent
27:54
national discussions about
27:56
um the legacy of the confederacy on
27:58
white supremacy and the lost cause
28:00
um and so what i want to do is talk
28:03
about
28:04
uh some of those things and and like dr
28:06
cox
28:07
um the key points of understanding i
28:09
think are really important is that um
28:11
charlotte
28:12
contributed greatly to the confederate
28:14
cause during the civil war
28:16
charlotte's role in supporting elements
28:17
of the lost cause
28:19
particularly elements that aren't
28:20
usually um talked about in the lost
28:23
cause
28:24
of narrative and as well as charlotte's
28:26
role in promoting
28:27
white supremacy so i'll begin by just
28:30
talking
28:31
about um the voices of secession um
28:34
during the civil war
28:36
um with the election of abraham lincoln
28:39
which brought
28:39
about brought sexualism sectionalism
28:42
between the north and south um to a head
28:45
on the eve of the civil war charlotte
28:48
city leaders look to four men
28:50
um in particular for guidance on the the
28:52
course of action for the city
28:54
and each of these men um captain william
28:57
r
28:57
myers you may um recognize it was
28:59
william
29:00
the name myers itself it was his son who
29:03
was responsible for building myers park
29:06
um
29:06
and so the name myers is a prominent
29:09
name
29:10
in the city general daniel h hill i
29:12
believe you saw an image of west hill
29:14
street
29:15
um at the start of this program and so
29:17
daniel hill was another prominent person
29:19
um as well as charles lee and john brown
29:22
we don't know much about charles lee and
29:24
john brown
29:25
in my research i i have um uncovered
29:27
some evidence that um
29:29
charles lee may have been um a distant
29:32
cousin of robert e lee
29:34
so there is that connection um that we
29:37
have to uh really be aware of
29:39
but um at the outbreak of the civil war
29:42
myers was
29:42
43 years old and a successful lawyer and
29:46
real estate prospector
29:47
he had served in the army of the
29:50
republic of texas
29:51
in its war against mexico so when the
29:54
war
29:54
broke out as a veteran he became an
29:57
organizer
29:58
of the vigilant of a vigilance committee
30:01
that was assembled to protect the
30:02
community
30:03
from incendiary fires that were normally
30:05
started by
30:06
folks who were not supportive of the
30:08
confederate cause and
30:10
enslaved people he eventually
30:13
volunteered for military service
30:16
and was able because of his wealth he
30:17
supplied the necessary equipment
30:19
for an early company that was formed
30:23
in charlotte the 34th north carolina
30:25
infantry and he was commissioned as
30:27
captain
30:28
um in september of 1861 and remained
30:31
in the confederate army until april 1862
30:35
when the regiment was reorganized
30:37
um hill on the other hand was a much
30:40
more prominent
30:41
um figure in the civil war he was a
30:44
native of
30:45
york south carolina and not far from
30:47
charlotte but it was a 1942
30:50
west point graduate and a veteran of the
30:53
mexican-american war
30:54
um following his service he became in
30:57
the mexican-american war he became a
30:59
professor
31:00
of mathematics um first at washington
31:02
college and later at davidson college
31:05
right you know in mecklenburg county
31:08
he became widely known for a college
31:10
textbook called
31:11
elements of algebra in which she
31:14
humorously uses
31:15
algebra questions to ridicule all things
31:18
um
31:19
northern and you know and yankees and so
31:22
this is leading up in 1950
31:23
1857 leading up to um the civil war
31:27
and in 1859 um he founded the north
31:30
carolina military academy which was
31:32
located
31:32
um here in charlotte and i'm talking
31:34
just a little bit more about that in a
31:36
second
31:37
but at the outbreak of the civil war
31:39
hill was
31:40
made a colonel of the first north
31:42
carolina volunteers
31:44
and this is significant because um he
31:47
led the
31:47
the the first northland volunteers into
31:50
one of the first
31:50
land battles of the civil war in um fort
31:54
monroe uh virginia
31:56
the battle was called big um battle of
31:58
big bethel
31:59
and it was one of the first victories of
32:01
the for the confederacy so it was really
32:03
important
32:04
um one month after um the battle the
32:07
victory he was promoted to brigadier
32:09
general
32:10
and commanded troops in the richmond
32:12
area and by the spring of the following
32:14
year
32:15
he had risen um to the rank of major
32:17
general
32:18
and division commander of the army of of
32:21
northern virginia
32:22
so these were um particularly in the
32:24
case of hill and and charles lee
32:26
was also a general in the um during the
32:29
civil war so these are
32:31
some prominent figures who really played
32:32
a significant role in the unfolding of
32:35
the civil war
32:35
um so i think that is is we have to
32:38
remember that when thinking about
32:40
charlotte
32:42
so i mentioned um the north carolina
32:44
military institute
32:46
that daniel hill established in 1859 um
32:49
north carolina
32:51
followed the lead of other southern uh
32:53
states like virginia and south carolina
32:55
virginia is mostly known for the
32:57
virginia military institute
32:59
and um south carolina charleston the
33:02
citadel where i was
33:03
once employed um these were the more
33:06
prominent military institutes in
33:08
in the south at the time the outbreak of
33:10
the civil war
33:11
and north carolina had had followed suit
33:13
so the school opened its doors
33:15
in 1859 with 40 cadets and
33:18
um some of the first instructors um
33:21
included what were hill as well as james
33:23
um lane
33:24
and charles lee um and so the site
33:27
of the north carolina military institute
33:29
today
33:30
is is where the dowd ymca is it was is
33:34
located presently that's where
33:36
um the north carolina military institute
33:38
was located
33:39
um and and by 1860
33:42
um the a year after the school had been
33:44
founded there were over 100 cadets
33:47
and at the start of the civil war there
33:49
were um upwards of 150.
33:52
so um another way and so a lot of the
33:55
students um
33:56
at the start of the civil war the
33:58
governor closed down the north island
33:59
military institute
34:01
and many of the students and um
34:03
educators
34:04
would join the the confederacy and go
34:06
off into battle and many of them
34:08
um were members of the first north
34:12
carolina volunteer that hill
34:14
led so we provided um soldiers not only
34:17
soldiers um but as well as
34:19
a military leadership that's important
34:20
to remember i think
34:22
um at the start of the war um and that
34:25
not
34:26
many people are aware of this about
34:28
charlotte um and
34:29
and in some ways that it foreshadows um
34:32
charlotte's place as a financial center
34:34
of the south
34:35
um but at the start of the war a branch
34:37
of the united states mint was founded in
34:39
charlotte and
34:40
in um if the branch of the united states
34:43
had been founded in charlotte in 1835
34:45
and this was due to
34:47
the discovery of gold in the region but
34:49
the u.s mint continued to operate
34:52
um in in the 1860s and at the start of
34:55
the war the mint was seized
34:57
by a local battalion form that was known
35:00
as the charlotte graves
35:02
and the north carolina governor who you
35:04
see here at the time john w
35:06
ellis he offered services of the mitt
35:11
to the confederate president jefferson
35:13
davis
35:14
to begin printing money um for the
35:16
confederacy so not many people know
35:18
that the money that the confederacy used
35:20
was printed right here in charlotte
35:22
um at the u.s mint and you see images
35:25
of some of the the bills that were
35:27
printed this
35:29
contains pictures of john calhoun and um
35:32
in jackson and then you have jefferson
35:35
davis on the 50
35:36
bill um
35:39
another important contribution
35:42
occurred in may of 1862 uh when as
35:46
federal forces
35:47
began to move to occupy um the norfolk
35:50
naval
35:51
naval yard which was a part of the
35:52
confederacy um
35:54
the leadership of the confederacy needed
35:56
an inland city
35:58
that was well connected by railroad um
36:00
transportation
36:01
and so charlotte was chosen because it
36:04
was an important rail center at the time
36:06
and it connected to coastal towns and
36:08
and
36:09
it connected the piedmont to the coastal
36:11
towns and most of the machinery
36:14
um and tools and rifles and ammunition
36:16
that were in norfolk
36:18
were relocated to charlotte in may of
36:21
of 1862 and this you see the shield here
36:25
it was um
36:26
installed on the wall of the seaboard
36:29
airline
36:29
railway freight depot in in uptown what
36:33
is now uptown charlotte and it became a
36:36
part of several buildings
36:37
that the confederate state seized and
36:40
then it was located on the southwest
36:42
corner of east trade and college street
36:44
and so if you want to know where that is
36:46
where the current um
36:48
transit station is located that used to
36:50
be the location
36:51
of the naval yard and some of the many
36:54
items that the naval yard was
36:55
responsible for um producing
36:58
were um naval gun carriages um
37:00
projectiles for gun boats
37:02
um and and coastal batteries anchors and
37:04
and rifles
37:06
torpedoes and marine engines and as well
37:08
as propellers
37:10
for um shafts for confederate iron-clad
37:12
ships or the early
37:14
forerunners of um the submarines that
37:16
were being produced in places like
37:18
charleston
37:19
um wilmington and savannah so um the
37:22
this naval yard was an important piece
37:24
of the confederacy during the civil war
37:26
um the president of the confederacy
37:28
jefferson davis visited the site in 1865
37:32
and um continuously throughout the war
37:34
there were and
37:35
on average at least 240 um workers who
37:39
served as guards for the navy
37:40
navy yard um so um i think this is
37:44
is really important to understand that
37:46
um this
37:47
shows us how charlotte contributed to
37:49
this cause
37:50
of the confederacy um another
37:53
i think another important um element or
37:57
an important contribution that we're
37:59
often quoted for
38:01
it's often cited i think this is one of
38:03
the more well-known facts about
38:04
charlotte because you'll see signs in
38:06
uptown charlotte
38:08
that the last meeting of the confederate
38:10
cabinet
38:11
was held here in charlotte at the
38:12
william pfeiffer house
38:14
that william pfeiffer who you see
38:16
pictured here
38:17
was perhaps one of the wealthiest
38:19
planters slave owners who lived
38:21
within the city limits his home was
38:24
located
38:25
at the time at 722 north trion street
38:28
which is now
38:30
122 south tryon and um
38:33
and so he predicted um charlotte that
38:36
would have a great future
38:38
and he um provided his home as the um
38:42
headquarters of general um beauregard
38:44
um and so on in the last days of the
38:47
civil war
38:48
um the cabinet the leaders of the
38:51
cabinet um came to charlotte
38:53
and met um in his home
38:56
so um now i want to talk just a little
39:00
bit about
39:01
um the historical context which um dr
39:04
cox makes now which i think is really
39:05
important i don't want to minimize
39:07
um sort of the psychological effects of
39:10
the civil war
39:11
um the war didn't um you know just
39:14
end and it touched a lot of people um
39:19
what we know now is that the deaths um
39:22
total
39:22
upwards of 620 000 people um 258 of
39:27
those
39:28
were confederate deaths so um by far
39:31
um confederates lost a larger percentage
39:33
of um
39:35
southerners than the north did and so
39:37
there were more women
39:38
were widowed and children were orphaned
39:40
but this the the more importantly
39:42
the civil war touched more lives and
39:44
communities
39:45
more deeply than historians have have
39:47
previously thought
39:48
and so um thinking and understanding
39:52
this how unless understanding the
39:55
importance of this
39:56
is is important to understand how
39:59
the survivors were grappling with this
40:02
new
40:02
um period in which african americans now
40:06
um who had been formally enslaved now
40:08
had equality
40:09
and so i think one of the ways we can
40:11
see um
40:12
how this plays out is in the handling of
40:15
civil rights issues related to african
40:17
americans
40:18
events in charlotte and really in some
40:20
ways would determine the future of
40:22
african american access
40:24
to judicial justice in america and one
40:27
of the more important cases
40:28
that emerges out of charlotte is um the
40:31
lee
40:32
dunlap case and and lee dunlap as you
40:35
see
40:35
these are articles he was an
40:37
african-american
40:38
from the charlotte these are articles
40:40
from local newspapers as well as state
40:42
newspapers and even
40:43
um national newspapers it says the new
40:45
times but it should be the new york
40:47
times that just
40:48
caught that um but lee dunlap was an
40:52
african-american who shot and killed
40:54
james gleason um who was a former
40:57
confederate soldier
40:59
and um at the time
41:02
there were a lot of people don't know
41:04
that charlotte had black police officers
41:06
and in in the case of james gleason
41:10
when he had been shot by lee dunlap a
41:13
black
41:14
police officer tried to prevent him
41:17
from leaving the site because he was
41:20
trying to escape
41:21
and both gleason and dunlap were being
41:25
brought
41:25
in because of a dispute a labor dispute
41:27
that had happened
41:28
um and so um this really becomes
41:32
an important case of whether african
41:34
americans
41:36
should gain access to due process
41:39
lee dunlap was placed into prison
41:42
a local jail and many whites gathered to
41:46
try to lynch him but african-americans
41:48
also gathered to try to protect him
41:50
and over the course of um of of several
41:54
years he sought to get
41:57
his case removed from locally here in
42:00
charlotte because he didn't think that
42:02
he could get a fair trial
42:03
because no african americans were
42:05
allowed to serve on juries
42:07
and um he argued that his lawyers argued
42:09
that he would be treated unfairly
42:11
and so this case went all the way to the
42:14
supreme court
42:16
in 1873 and um unfortunately
42:20
um the case was never decided because
42:22
lee dunlap
42:24
was allowed to escape and and so the the
42:26
issue of whether african americans
42:28
deserved
42:29
judicial justice was left undecided
42:32
and so what you begin to see immediately
42:34
in the aftermath is this
42:36
rise of lynching across the south and it
42:38
becomes this form of
42:40
extra judicial justice and it suggests
42:42
that you know um
42:44
southerners largely did not believe that
42:46
african-americans
42:47
deserved to be able to use the courts as
42:50
a way to um defend themselves and so
42:52
this really becomes
42:53
uh an important case that scholars have
42:56
really not paid attention to um
42:58
and no one has written about it to my
42:59
knowledge but it really is an important
43:02
case that we have to
43:03
pay attention to and i include a lot of
43:06
the dates
43:07
um and locations of these articles
43:09
because i always encourage
43:11
the audiences that i talk to to do your
43:13
own research and read and find out for
43:15
your own
43:16
and so if you have access to a library
43:18
card on the local
43:20
charlotte library you can gain access to
43:22
a lot of these articles
43:26
now i i want to talk just a little bit
43:28
about
43:29
um the rise of white supremacy
43:32
and the role that charlotte played uh
43:35
most often
43:36
when when scholars talk about the rise
43:39
of of
43:40
white supremacy we'd point to the
43:41
wilmington race riots
43:43
and um the it was a significant event
43:47
that really led to um the art the clear
43:50
articulation
43:51
of what white supremacy was and you
43:53
would see
43:54
a number of states and like atlanta
43:59
would follow suit they would actually
44:00
contact leaders of the wilmington race
44:02
riot
44:03
um to find out how they were able to
44:05
disenfranchise african americans
44:07
and so charlotte played a role even
44:09
though wilmington
44:10
um is is on the coast of north carolina
44:13
and and charlotte was
44:14
as dr cox pointed out was a much smaller
44:16
city
44:17
at the turn of the 20th century it was
44:20
involved in the fanning
44:22
of the of the flames of white supremacy
44:24
um
44:25
henry red buck bryant um was a
44:28
a native of charlotte who had graduated
44:32
from unc and returned to mecklenburg
44:34
county
44:34
and began volunteering writing for the
44:36
observer um
44:38
first without pay in 1895 but in by 1898
44:42
he had established a reputation as a
44:44
journalist
44:45
through his coverage of charles b
44:47
aycock's campaign for governor and
44:50
through his reports on eastern north
44:51
carolina counties
44:53
that were um under um black what they
44:56
call black control at the time or negro
44:58
rule
44:58
and eastern north carolina um as a
45:02
you know for reference in in north
45:04
carolina is a place where there were
45:05
larger populations of african-americans
45:07
um they outnumbered whites and so
45:09
um historically they had um experienced
45:13
a lot of success in politics
45:15
um throughout the late um 19th century
45:18
and so
45:18
journalists began writing about this and
45:20
this became a point of contention
45:23
and so you see um this was probably one
45:25
of the first articles that appeared
45:27
in the charlotte observer in 1898
45:30
leading up to the wilmington race
45:32
riots who that has this huge um print
45:35
talking about um with the negro rule and
45:38
um and so this in conjunction with uh
45:42
how the news and observer and raleigh
45:44
used
45:45
the newspapers to fan the flame using
45:47
propaganda they brought in
45:49
political cartoonists like norman
45:51
jennett who was
45:53
the um the the artist behind this
45:56
political cartoon
45:57
of what some scholars have come to call
45:59
the black beast rapist
46:01
and it depicts an african american um
46:04
who is reaching out for white women and
46:08
children
46:09
but he's also in control of the ballot
46:11
box you can see the image
46:12
the ballot box is tied to his heels and
46:15
so this whole idea that um
46:18
african-americans gaining power was a
46:21
threat to on white women and children
46:23
was um often written about in in local
46:27
newspapers
46:28
and um and so over the course of um
46:32
i believe over the course of several
46:34
months um
46:35
the wilmington or the new raleigh news
46:38
and observer
46:40
printed reprinted articles from um
46:43
african-american newspapers
46:45
like the uh the wilmington times a
46:47
wilmington daily
46:48
daily record that was um edited by
46:50
alexander manley
46:52
who's a prominent african-american
46:54
editor and journalist
46:55
who used his newspaper to respond to
46:57
these propaganda campaigns
46:59
um that were headed by the charlotte
47:01
observer and the raleigh news and
47:02
observer
47:03
and he especially um really spoke out
47:06
against
47:07
those who advocated for the lynching of
47:09
black men for allegedly raping white
47:11
women
47:12
and um and so the news and observer
47:14
reprinted his editorials
47:16
um really trying to uh again um row
47:19
people up
47:20
and and it led to the wilmington race
47:22
riots and so
47:23
i think it's important that we
47:25
understand that the charlotte observer
47:27
um and its journalists editorial staff
47:29
played a role in trying to create this
47:31
atmosphere
47:32
across the state um and so what you
47:36
begin to see right in the aftermath of
47:37
the wilmington race riots are
47:39
these um forms of extrajudicial um
47:42
lynchings um so charlotte again it is
47:46
really
47:46
hung on this effort to try to portray
47:49
itself as a place where
47:50
um injustice occurs and so they begin to
47:54
you begin to see state-sponsored um um
47:56
lynchings and
47:58
i think that's what we have to call them
48:00
and call them what they are
48:01
because many of these men who were
48:03
executed were not
48:05
given um proper representation and were
48:07
not given a chance to speak for
48:09
themselves in
48:09
in court um
48:13
and immediately after the wilmington
48:15
race riots you begin to see
48:16
these white supremacy clubs that have
48:19
formed many people
48:20
are shocked to know that these kinds of
48:22
things existed
48:24
but the first white supremacy club in
48:26
the state was formed
48:28
in belmont as which is a neighbor of
48:30
mecklenburg county
48:32
in charlotte it was formed in woodman's
48:34
hall in 1896 leading up to the
48:37
um wilmington race riots but by 1900
48:39
these clubs had reached charlotte
48:41
and you see um sort of the goals of the
48:45
the um these white supremacy clubs
48:48
the aim and object was to maintain white
48:51
supremacy
48:52
and uplift white labor so that meant
48:54
that um
48:56
whites would get the best jobs in the
48:58
city african americans and other people
49:00
of color would be uh relegated to the
49:02
lowest paying jobs menial jobs
49:04
where they would not be able to make the
49:06
same kinds of or earn the same kinds of
49:08
money
49:09
that their white counterparts would have
49:11
and so
49:12
um if you think about today and the
49:14
discussions that we have around
49:16
this economic mobility and economic
49:19
inequality
49:20
you can begin to understand how this
49:22
really began to form
49:24
by looking back to the turn of the 20th
49:27
century when charlotte's
49:28
economy was just taking shape and um the
49:32
the textile and industrial um
49:36
meals were taking off um
49:37
african-americans were most often
49:39
um cut off from those kinds of positions
49:42
and so you'll see some of the more
49:44
prominent names in in the city that were
49:46
um
49:48
connected to these white supremacy clubs
49:50
folks like william kerry dowd
49:52
who was a north carolina house
49:53
representative um
49:55
william w f moody who was a lawyer and
49:58
chief clerk of the state treasury
49:59
department um jd mccall
50:02
um was the mayor of the city and um
50:05
harriet
50:06
clarkson was a prominent lawyer who um
50:09
was shortly after this appointed as um
50:12
by the governor solicitor of the 12th
50:13
district and would go on to serve
50:15
on the um superior court um in the state
50:18
of north carolina
50:19
and so um these mills begin to really
50:22
proliferate around of these white
50:24
supremacy clubs
50:25
and they each they formed auxiliary
50:28
clubs at just about every meal in
50:30
charlotte
50:30
and so these are some examples of um
50:33
these clubs forming in the victor mills
50:36
and the ginga mills and again i provided
50:39
the dates and the sources so you can go
50:41
do the research on your own and look up
50:43
some of these articles and read them for
50:44
yourselves um
50:46
and then finally another article i think
50:49
is really interesting that shows
50:51
um the um the charlotte observer
50:54
um really imploring the local
50:58
um employers of these whites and in
51:01
mills to release
51:02
or give time off to the employees so
51:04
that they could go and vote
51:06
um and so this is important because 1900
51:08
was the year
51:10
um when um the governor aycock
51:13
had placed on the books or the on the
51:15
ballot
51:16
this um decision of whether or not
51:19
african americans
51:20
um should have the right to vote and so
51:22
the charlotte observer is
51:24
imploring um these employees employers
51:28
to allow
51:28
their employees to go vote on this
51:30
particular um
51:31
um interest um so that they can
51:34
disenfranchise african-americans
51:38
um so the loss calls and i'll just speak
51:40
briefly about this how the loss
51:42
cause is is being um um is
51:45
promoted in charlotte um d.a tompkins is
51:48
probably responsible for writing
51:50
although we now know historians know
51:51
that he
51:52
hired a ghost writer for many of his
51:55
early writings
51:56
um this book on the history of
51:57
mecklenburg county and the city of
51:59
charlotte
52:00
really takes on elements of of the lost
52:03
cause by downplaying um
52:06
slavery in charlotte um they portray it
52:08
as a benevolent institution
52:10
um they talk about really um they
52:13
highlight a lot of the early slave
52:15
um plantation owners as as prominent men
52:18
who are responsible for establishing the
52:20
city
52:21
um and they talk about the industrial
52:23
leaders like himself
52:24
um for lifting charlotte up out of
52:26
nothing
52:27
um and really again ignoring the role
52:30
and the contributions that enslaved
52:31
labor
52:32
had played in enriching many of the
52:35
prominent people in charlotte another
52:38
important person
52:40
who i found in my research was alexander
52:43
graham there's a school named after
52:45
alexander graham
52:46
over in myers park alexander graham was
52:50
the the father of the greatest school
52:51
system across north carolina he traveled
52:53
all across the state
52:54
setting up graded schools
52:57
here first in fayetteville and here in
53:00
charlotte but he i found that he
53:02
had been writing speeches for
53:03
politicians who traveled across the
53:05
state
53:06
um and his speeches um you can see
53:09
slavery is not the cause of the war
53:11
between the states and so really
53:12
digging in the hills that um the the war
53:16
was about states rights
53:17
um and um so this again was supporting
53:21
this this idea that um of of the lost
53:24
cause
53:24
and in dr cox's book um the recent book
53:28
no common brown
53:29
um she eloquently talks about
53:32
how the lost cause included um more than
53:35
just
53:37
this idea that slavery was a benevolent
53:38
institution but she also talks about
53:40
how many southerners begin to portray
53:45
themselves as the true defenders and
53:47
founders of the legacy of liberty
53:49
and and that they were cut from the same
53:52
cloth as the founding fathers
53:54
and alexander graham was credited with
53:56
being the foremost scholar
53:58
on the validity of the mech deck or the
54:00
uh what we call historians called the
54:02
mecklenburg resolves
54:03
um which many charlatans have come to
54:06
argue that the city was
54:07
the birthplace of independence and so i
54:09
think that that's really important too
54:11
that um even though the mech deck and um
54:14
promoting it
54:14
as the birthplace of independence
54:16
happened before the civil war
54:18
it became much more important um an um
54:22
element to uplift after the civil war
54:24
and that was something that they began
54:25
to celebrate
54:26
year in year out
54:29
um dr cox talked a little bit about um
54:32
the 1929 or the 39th confederate reunion
54:36
and
54:36
took date it was probably the most
54:38
important gathering in charlotte
54:40
um at the time and what i want to talk
54:42
about just briefly i won't spend a lot
54:44
of time
54:45
but just how the newspapers reported on
54:48
the um the 29th or the 39th confederate
54:50
union
54:51
um the newspapers talked and portrayed
54:54
charlotte as if
54:55
it had truly risen um from the the the
54:58
flames of the civil war
55:00
um and you know the this idea that the
55:02
south would rise again
55:04
and the city talked about city officials
55:06
talked about
55:07
the growth of the economy um it be
55:10
having you know being the center of the
55:11
textile industry
55:13
they talked about it being a great power
55:15
um center with um duke power
55:17
establishing
55:18
hydro um powered that really helped fuel
55:20
the mills
55:21
but it also talked about the growth of
55:23
the banking and insurance industry
55:25
and you see at the bottom of this is the
55:27
armory
55:28
um that was built in preparation for the
55:31
39th
55:31
um um reunion and so today
55:35
the armory it was called was later
55:37
renamed the grady coal center so it is
55:39
still present
55:40
and this is where you see the monument
55:42
that um dr cox talked about
55:44
um and in the aftermath of of the uh
55:48
reunion
55:49
you see this violence that charlotte um
55:51
experiences its second
55:52
documented lynching um just two weeks
55:55
after the um
55:56
the the the monument and so this was the
55:58
lynching of willie mcdaniel
56:00
um again these are provided dates so you
56:02
can go and read about that
56:04
um and then finally some i'll talk just
56:08
a
56:08
a bit about some of the street names
56:11
that we on
56:12
um that were sort of centered on and
56:15
targeted for change by the commission
56:18
um jefferson davidson street is located
56:21
in the druid hill community
56:22
and even though jeff davison jeff davis
56:25
had no extensive ties to charlotte
56:27
it goes to show you how much his legacy
56:31
and the legacy of the confederacy were
56:32
honored here in charlotte
56:34
um stonewall street which is probably
56:36
one of the more prominent streets in
56:37
charlotte
56:38
um his wife um his
56:41
mary ann anna morrison married
56:45
stonewall jackson in in 1857
56:48
and so there have been debates about
56:50
whether the street was actually named
56:52
for her or for stonewall jackson but i
56:55
think what we have
56:56
determined is that it was most
56:58
definitely named for stonewall jackson
57:00
and so that's one of the streets
57:02
um that we are also that the commission
57:04
has
57:05
is considered or is in i'm slated to
57:07
change um and then finally um
57:09
behringer drive behringer is a prominent
57:12
family name
57:13
um in the city there's a behringer hotel
57:16
on north tryon
57:17
but behringer is um was
57:20
really named after um the
57:23
one of his two sons paul behringer who
57:26
was
57:27
he became a leader in the creation of
57:29
scientific racism
57:31
he was a an administrator became the
57:33
president of virginia tech
57:35
university and wrote a lot about um
57:38
the um see sort of the um inherent um
57:42
superiority of whites over african
57:44
americans and and contributed a lot of
57:46
scholarship um what we call pseudo
57:48
scholarship
57:49
um to this idea of blacks being inferior
57:52
and so i'm going to stop here because i
57:54
think we're almost out of time
58:06
probably
58:13
are we out of time did we run out of
58:14
time we we've got
58:17
a few more minutes and then we're going
58:19
to do a little q a
58:21
i'm sorry about that well dr cost dr
58:24
griffin
58:25
uh thank you both so much for sharing dr
58:27
griffin is there any concluding remarks
58:29
you want to make before we go to the
58:30
question answers
58:32
um not really i just think that this
58:34
history is really important um
58:36
and again i've said this before i think
58:38
city leaders as well as citizens of
58:41
charlotte have to be aware
58:42
of this history because we have this
58:44
tendency in charlotte to portray
58:46
ourselves as a progressive city and that
58:49
you know that we were untouched by these
58:51
um these episodes in our history
58:53
um but i think that you know in a
58:55
foreign public is an intelligent public
58:58
and and if we understand this history
59:01
then um
59:01
we could um you know best have more
59:04
informed conversations about it
59:09
great yeah thank you both so much for
59:11
sharing um
59:13
just so much to know so much to learn we
59:15
appreciate it
59:16
we have one question that the question
59:18
just reads dad ymca
59:19
so i think the question is in reference
59:22
to
59:23
um as far as you all know is there any
59:25
significance
59:26
behind the endowed name on the dow ymca
59:34
what i do know is that the the dowd um
59:37
who was a member of the early white
59:40
suprema it's the same family i'm not
59:42
sure
59:42
who was responsible for providing the
59:45
sort of the financial
59:46
um backing for the dow creation of the
59:48
dow ymca
59:50
but it comes from the same prominent
59:53
family in the city
59:56
thank you we do have another question um
60:00
this one is from destiny destiny asks as
60:02
we learn the history about the legacy of
60:04
the city
60:05
what do we do or can we do with this
60:07
knowledge
60:12
well um i would say that um
60:15
you know this is just the beginning you
60:17
know of an education about
60:19
um our city and about um the region
60:23
i think what we can do uh again
60:26
i echo what um dr griffin said it's just
60:29
like
60:30
you know being informed is really
60:32
important um
60:34
to be able to communicate about that i
60:37
think that
60:38
we need to continue our you know
60:41
educating people about um the history of
60:44
charlotte and this these darker
60:46
sides of the history of charlotte what
60:48
can we do i think the legacy commission
60:50
is
60:51
is uh honestly is a is a model
60:54
um for for i think other cities in
60:58
in this region in terms of it's like now
61:00
that we know
61:01
this is what we're going to do and it
61:03
begins with street names
61:05
um the other thing that um that we can
61:08
do as a city and i think that one of the
61:10
recommendations was
61:11
in terms of of uh thinking about how we
61:15
might
61:16
uh rethink the memorial landscape of
61:20
charlotte
61:21
is to apply for some you know grant
61:23
funding
61:25
that would allow us to do that um
61:28
i do think that you know you know being
61:31
educated about it is really really
61:33
important knowledge is power
61:35
and and um i think that that's important
61:39
you know you
61:40
you know that we we have an honest
61:42
reckoning with with our history
61:44
there's nothing to be afraid of in doing
61:47
that there's no reason to run from it
61:49
um doesn't make you as an individual a
61:52
bad person
61:54
um because you know there is this
61:56
history out there or even if you have an
61:58
ancestor out there who was a bad actor
62:02
um i think it's just it's really
62:03
important and i think that what we can
62:06
do is try to educate i really believe
62:09
and i think that was one of the
62:10
recommendations
62:11
um was about that we have education
62:14
uh within the public school systems of
62:17
met
62:18
in the public school system of
62:19
mecklenburg county um and so that we
62:22
we reach uh not just talking to each
62:25
other as adults
62:26
but also educating children around this
62:29
because i think that kind of truth and
62:31
reconciliation
62:32
will be very very important to race
62:35
relations in our city going forward
62:40
yeah i mean i would reiterate everything
62:41
that dr cox said that you know we often
62:44
think about this history as as
62:46
hard and difficult but i don't really
62:48
like to use those terms when i talk
62:50
about this history
62:51
i think history is is complex more than
62:53
it is hard
62:55
because i think when we use this these
62:57
terms that this is hard history and
62:58
difficult history we tend to turn away
63:00
from it
63:01
um so if we think about it as
63:04
as a form of math you know it's complex
63:07
and we have to study it and the more
63:08
that we understand it uh the better
63:11
are we we are equipped to have
63:13
conversations about it
63:14
because it's not going to go away um and
63:17
you know
63:17
the the more that people realize um
63:20
how we got to this point um um the
63:23
history
63:24
is is going to always be brought up so
63:26
we just have to to discuss it and
63:28
you know we often think about how our
63:31
children are going to be taught in the
63:32
schools and i have to remind people that
63:34
the children are resilient
63:36
um you know they are um prepared to to
63:39
study this and and understand it
63:41
um even more so than adults are and so
63:44
it's best that we get it out now
63:47
um and instead of keep um hiding it from
63:49
them and and by the time they get to
63:51
college they're introduced to it and
63:53
realize
63:54
um that they have been something has
63:55
been kept from them or lied to
63:58
so i just think that that's really
63:59
important that we be honest about it
64:02
thank you both um our next
64:06
question this was an excellent
64:08
presentation thank you we're so glad
64:09
that y'all are here and that you are
64:11
benefiting from this information the
64:13
question what are the next steps in this
64:15
process
64:16
and where are the presenters located
64:21
well i'm i'm located here in charlotte
64:26
i'm a professor of history at unc
64:29
charlotte and um uh i think that
64:32
you know somebody from the mayor's
64:35
office would would need to tell you what
64:37
the next steps are
64:41
yeah same here i mean i'm also located
64:44
here in charlotte a charlotte native and
64:46
currently working at the levine museum
64:49
of the new south
64:52
i would just say that um we are working
64:55
on all aspects of the recommendations
64:57
and we
64:57
have had a preliminary meeting with cms
65:00
and are exploring ways that we can
65:01
incorporate some of this knowledge into
65:03
curriculum
65:04
and we are also engaging in
65:06
conversations about
65:08
reimagining our landscape and what kind
65:10
of art projects what kind of memories
65:12
what kind of
65:13
historical markers what kind of
65:16
technology can we use so that people can
65:19
go to different places in charlotte and
65:21
learn history
65:23
so we are um trying to um
65:27
put all of this together and if you want
65:30
you can definitely go to charlottenc.gov
65:33
legacy and also you can email us
65:36
at legacy charlottenc.gov for more
65:39
information
65:40
and um stay tuned we are um
65:43
really excited about moving forward and
65:46
uh
65:46
and implementing these recommendations
65:50
thank you emily our next question what
65:52
is the process of working with eji
65:55
to move the markers acknowledging our
65:57
two lynchings
66:01
um so i think you know over
66:04
over two years ago um charlotte formed a
66:07
charlotte remembrance
66:09
um charlotte community remembrance
66:11
project
66:12
and so there's a long process that eji
66:15
requires of every community to make sure
66:18
that we are
66:19
engaging um the community making sure
66:22
that we are trying to educate the
66:23
community
66:24
so we have to first it has to be a broad
66:27
coalition of members from around the
66:30
city
66:31
representing various organizations
66:32
various communities coming together
66:35
and talking about um the ways to talk
66:39
about
66:39
i'm lynching and um this so that
66:43
we have to do some form of school
66:46
initiative where there's an essay
66:47
contest to get high school students
66:49
involved
66:51
there has to be documented outreach
66:53
efforts and so
66:55
there are efforts currently underway
66:59
of um through the charlotte and i think
67:01
in the next few months you'll probably
67:02
see i think in
67:03
in august you will see a website um be
67:06
introduced
67:07
for the public so that you can
67:08
understand some of the
67:10
the stories about the lynchings like
67:12
willie mcneill
67:14
as well as um um i forget the name of
67:17
the
67:17
joseph uh the first joe mcneely was the
67:20
first um lynching victim in 1913
67:23
and so once the website is introduced in
67:26
august you'll learn more about those and
67:28
you'll learn
67:28
also about the process that the
67:30
charlotte community remembers project is
67:32
taking
67:33
to um to um you know beat the
67:36
requirements of each ai
67:40
thank you our next question if anyone
67:43
else has a question if you want to go
67:44
ahead and type in the chat um this is
67:46
the last question that we have
67:47
currently and that is um do you think
67:50
that the current mischaracterization
67:53
i'm sorry do you think that the current
67:54
mischaracterized debates
67:56
about critical race theory will prevent
67:59
these types of learning opportunities
68:00
from being presented in cms
68:08
that's a million dollar question isn't
68:10
it um i
68:12
you know um um i i can't know what
68:15
what what that landscape looks like but
68:18
you know
68:18
but let me let me just say this is like
68:21
um
68:23
um you know the lost cause is an example
68:27
of how you know uh sort of a
68:31
misrepresentation misrepresenting
68:33
history can do damage to a community
68:37
and not being honest about it um
68:40
um you know i'm a white southerner um
68:43
and uh i'm not afraid of the history
68:45
that maybe
68:46
portrays uh other white southerners at a
68:49
different point in history
68:50
as as um maybe have been
68:54
you know done nefarious things or been
68:56
nefarious characters but um
68:59
i don't think you know we have to run
69:01
away from our history i think it's
69:02
important that we
69:03
um be honest about it um there's nothing
69:06
to be
69:07
afraid of um by learning uh
69:10
learning the full story and the full
69:12
scope of of the
69:13
of our history um and uh
69:16
and not whitewashing it um you know to
69:19
make ourselves
69:20
feel better um because um
69:23
you know there's there's real value that
69:25
can come from honest conversations
69:28
about um about the past
69:32
yeah i mean i i agree i think that there
69:35
is some mischaracterization
69:36
going on with this whole um idea of
69:39
critical race theory i've i've
69:41
said uh more than once that those people
69:43
who are promoting this idea
69:45
of being anti-critical race theory are
69:47
really picking up the legacy
69:49
of the the lost cause and and really um
69:52
you know
69:52
transforming it into a 21st century um
69:56
you know you know uh is just
70:00
important um i'm losing the word that i
70:04
need right now but it's it's
70:05
they are really it's becoming something
70:07
that they are championing championing
70:09
championing like um those folks from
70:12
the daughters of the confederacy and the
70:13
lost cause but what's really um
70:16
important is i don't think that critical
70:18
race theory is being taught
70:19
in in public schools i think that what's
70:22
actually happening are our narratives
70:25
are being explored who have largely been
70:28
absent from the sort of mainstream
70:30
narratives and when you place these
70:32
narratives
70:33
in in conversation with mainstream
70:35
narratives you're going to see
70:36
complications in um in our understanding
70:40
of the past
70:41
and so it's important um that these
70:43
narratives are talked about whether
70:45
we're talking about
70:46
women's history whether we're talking
70:47
about african american history whether
70:49
we're talking about
70:50
lgbtq um history all of these um
70:53
narratives have to be placed um in in
70:56
in our schools um so that um
71:00
we understand how we got to this point
71:04
thank you dr griffin we don't have any
71:06
other questions so
71:07
i would like to thank everyone for
71:09
joining us tonight thank you to all the
71:11
attendees we appreciate your time we
71:13
appreciate you
71:15
taking time to learn more about this
71:16
subject and we hope that you will
71:19
continue to have discussions with your
71:20
friends and your family um
71:22
to keep this discussion alive if you can
71:25
share this
71:26
particular video just so more people can
71:28
learn about
71:29
the legacy commission and the work and
71:31
the recommendations that they have put
71:32
forth
71:33
we would like to thank dr griffin and dr
71:36
cox for
71:37
giving us that historical perspective to
71:39
help us to understand how we've gotten
71:41
to where we are
71:42
and we would also like to thank miss
71:44
emily kunzie
71:46
and um just for her information about
71:48
the legacy commission and the work
71:50
that they have put forth um there's a
71:52
couple of links in the chat if you want
71:54
to
71:55
get more information about the legacy
71:56
commission but definitely reach out if
71:58
you have questions we encourage a
72:00
discussion we encourage the dialogue
72:02
and there will definitely be more to
72:04
come so thank you all for joining us
72:05
this evening
72:06
and have a great night