In the 1960s and 1970s, African-American residents of Wilmington, North Carolina were unhappy with the lack of progress in implementing reforms from federal legislation and court decisions during the American Civil Rights Movement. Additionally the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. increased racial tensions and led to an increase in outbreaks of violence, including the arson of several white-owned businesses.
In February 1971, Reverend Benjamin Chavis, Jr. of Oxford, North Carolina was sent to Wilmington by the United Church of Christ to lead African American students in a boycott of the city’s schools . After the 1969 intergration of Wilmington high schools racial tensions had increased and a number of clashes between white and African-American students had resulted in a number of expulsions and arrests . In response to a number of arsons in Wilmington, members of the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist groups began patrolling the streets.
Mike’s Grocery, a white owed business was firebombed on February 6, 1971 . When firefighters arrived to put out the flames, they were fired upon by snipers positioned on the roof of Gregory Congregational Church. A number of people, including Chavis and several students, were barricaded inside the building. For the next day the area errupted into rioting . On February 8 the National Guard entered the church and found it empty . The violence resulted in two deaths, 6 injuries, and over $500,000 in property damage. Chavis and 9 others, eight African American men and one white woman, were arrested and tried and convicted for arson and conspiracy in connection with the firebombing of Mike’s Grocery. They were sentenced to nearly 28 years in prison.
Main article: North Carolina Shipbuilding Company
During World War II Wilmington was the home of the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company . The shipyard was created as part of the U.S. Government’s Emergency Shipbuilding Program and built 243 ships during the 5 years it was in operation.
From 1944-1946 the city wsa also the site of a POW camp . The camp was first located on the corner of Shipyard Blvd and Carolina Beach Rd and moved downtown to Ann Street between 8th Ave and 10th Ave when it outgrew the original location. It housed 550 German prisoners at its peak.
Free Relocation Packages for Wilmington, NC
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