Today in Labor History November 10, 1898: White supremacists launched a coup d’etat in Wilmington, North Carolina. The Wilmington Insurrection of 1898 is the only instance of a municipal government being overthrown in U.S. history. The local white press declared it a race riot, caused by blacks, but it was actually a coup by members of the state's Democratic party, who conspired and led a mob of 2,000 white men to overthrow the legitimately elected biracial government. They deported opposition black and white political leaders from the city and may have killed over 300 people. They destroyed black property and businesses, including the only black newspaper in the city. And they got away with it, too. Charles Aycock, one of the main organizers, went on to become governor of North Carolina. Rebecca Felton, a feminist who supported equal pay for women and the lynching of black residents, went on to become the nation’s first female senator. Numerous other coup leaders and supporters went on to hold state and federal offices.
Today in Labor History January 18, 1958: The Battle of Hayes Pond, the Battle of Maxton Field, or the Maxton Riot was an armed confrontation between members of a Ku Klux Klan (KKK) organization and Lumbee Indians at a Klan rally near Maxton, North Carolina. The KKK drove through town with a loudspeaker advertising the event and recruiting participants, infuriating the local indigenous community, which took up arms to disrupt the rally. They fired into the crowd, forcing the Klansmen to flee. The police arrested several Klansmen and charged them with inciting a riot, while some media sources praised the Lumbees and condemned the Klansmen.
According to the court docket in #NorthCarolina and a spokesperson for Students for #Trump co-founder Ryan #Fournier: charges against him for allegedly assaulting his ex-gf, including hitting her on head with pistol, have been voluntarily dropped. #legal
I spent all week drinking Olde Hickory Brewery's Hickory Stick Stout, thanks to it being available at #NorthCarolina grocery stores, so I figured I'd pop into the Olde Hickory Tap Room before heading home. I grabbed the Event Horizon, an imperial stout brewed with honey and aged in bourbon barrels. At 12.3% ABV, it was boozy, roasty, and slightly sweet. I had to take my time with this one, but thoroughly enjoyed it. #ItsAlwaysStoutSeason@beersofmastodon
'Fruit of Labor World Cultural Center is located in Raleigh, NC but there work goes far beyond Raleigh. The digitized materials reflects the organizing efforts of national, local and sub-local chapters of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America labor union.'
Woke up this morning preparing to drive to Vermont, and remembered that we did not make this drive in one go before. It’s 720 miles (!). Our highest mileage is 620. Guess we’re stopping in Poughkeepsie. It only cost 27 bucks though, thanks to the crazy amount of KOA rewards we’ve accumulated this year 😅.
This bill, chiefly designed to deny rights and endanger trans students, reached the governor's desk on June 29.
Now Governor Cooper, a Democrat, is likely to veto it, but if he doesn't do so in time, the bill becomes law anyway.
If (hopefully when) he vetoes the bill, the General Assembly will reconvene, as required by law and under the Governor's direction, to discuss whether to override the veto. This will be harder than passing it in the first place, so there's still some hope.
KFF Health News had an interesting story yesterday about the new (as of July) director of the CDC. Some retrospective on the pandemic in North Carolina, especially the disparate impact on nonwhite and poorer communities, and some of her professional background. She ran Medicare and Medicaid in the Obama adminstration https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/painful-covid-pandemic-lessons-mandy-cohen-north-carolina-cdc/
Toyota Motor said on Tuesday it would invest $8 billion more and add about 3,000 jobs at its electric-vehicle battery manufacturing plant in North Carolina, boosting the Japanese automaker's push to electrify its lineup.
The Daily Tar Heel's front page today features text messages received and sent by students at the University of North Carolina during yesterday's shooting. dailytarheel.com
Alarming developments in North Carolina came in rapid succession in the spring semester of 2023. In February we learned that the Board of Trustees of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was preparing to foist on the university a new school that the campus did not need and the faculty did not want. Ostensibly, the...
