Black Second

Do you stand with the white men or the Negroes?

Josephus Daniel’s Wilson Advance was not subtle. Just ahead of Election Day 1888, he ran an edition frothing with white supremacy, racist slogans interspersed in bold type between alarmist articles.

And this nasty bit — an editorial cartoon depicting a white woman with a bewildered child hauled by a black constable before a court with a black judge, black complainant, a jury of twelve black men, and several black onlookers. This, it urged, was the peril of “Radical Rule in the Eastern Counties” of North Carolina, i.e. the Black Second.

Wilson Advance, 1 November 1888.

Recommended reading, no. 11.

I’m overdue for a re-reading of Race and Politics in North Carolina 1872-1901, a 43 year-old classic.

Eric Anderson’s monograph focuses on North Carolina’s so-called “Black Second” Congressional district — one of the most remarkable centers of Black political influence in the post-Reconstruction, late nineteenth-century America. Though the work only touches lightly on Samuel H. Vick, it provides indispensable context for his life and work.

George H. White: Searching for Freedom.

George H. White: Searching for Freedom airs on PBS NC June 16, 2022, at 9:30 PM. Samuel H. Vick was a political ally and close friend of White, and Vick’s legacy can only be understood in the context of White’s impact on late 19th century North Carolina politics. “Explore the enduring legacy of one of the most significant African American leaders of the Reconstruction Era. Born in 1852 in Eastern North Carolina to a family of turpentine farmers, White rose through the ranks of state politics to serve in the 55th US Congress from 1887 to 1901 as its sole Black voice.”

See a trailer here.