cai^i c^ti
WILS 08/20/95
WILSON LIBRARY
N C COLLECTION -
P O BOX 8890
CHAPEL HILL
**CHILL
- UNC-CH
NC 27515-8090
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2017
VOLUME 96 - NUMBER 35
TELEPHONE (919) 682-2913 PRICE: 50 CENTS
Settlement could help
black candidates for
county commission
By GARY D. ROBERTSON
RALEIGH (AP) - A rural
North Carolina county could
elect black candidates to serve
on its governing board for the
first time in more than 20 years,
because of a court settlement
reached this week in a voting
rights lawsuit.
A national civil rights
organization sued in February
on behalf of black voters who
alleged racial discrimination in
how commissioners are elected
in Jones County, 100 miles (161
kilometers) southeast ofRaleigh.
Rather than continue costly
litigation, the two sides reached
an agreement in which at-
large elections for the five
commissioner posts will be
replaced with a system in which
seven commissioners are elected
in specific districts. The change,
approved by a federal judge, will
take place for the 2018 elections.
“The parties share the goal that
all future elections for the Jones
County Board of Commissioners
be conducted under a method
of election that allows Jones
County’s African American
voters an equal opportunity to
elect their candidates of choice,’
Historic Stokesdale Neighborhood came out fo rNational
Night Out. See page 14 for story and pictures.
Negro League
legend could be
memorialized in
Maryland town
SALISBURY, Md. (AP) - National Baseball Hall
of Famer and Negro League third baseman William
Julius “Judy” Johnson could be honored with a
memorial in Maryland as a local historian is set to
discuss the idea with Johnson’s hometown council.
The Daily Times reports the Worcester County
Historical Society proposed a Johnson memorial
Aug. 17 to the county NAACP. Society president
Charles Weaver is also meeting with the Snow Hill
Town Council at the end of the month.
Weaver says a high schooler’s essay inspired the
local effort.
Johnson played for the Hilldale Daisies during the
first Negro League World Series in 1924. According
to the Hall, Johnson’s batting average was more than
.300 most of his career.
In 1975 Johnson became the sixth black player
inducted into the Hall. He died in 1989.
’ the agreement signed Aug. 23
by U.S. District Judge Louise
Flanagan reads.
Nearly one-third of the
county’s 10,000 residents are
African American, but a black
candidate hasn’t been elected to
the commission since 1994 and
the countywide election system is
to blame, according to the initial
lawsuit. Under the redistricting
plan, two of the seven districts
are calculated with black voting-
age populations slightly above
50 percent.
“We expect that there will
be, as a regular matter, African
American candidates elected to
represent” some districts, said
Jonathan Blackman, a New
York attorney working alongside
the Lawyers’ Committee for
Civil Rights Under Law, which
initiated the lawsuit. As part of
the decree, the county will pay
$10,000 in attorneys’ fees.
A lawyer for the county
didn’t immediately return a
phone call seeking comment.
County officials initially asked
that the lawsuit be dismissed, but
mediation toward a settlement
began in the spring.
In the current at-large system,
each voter chooses up to five
candidates, and the top five vote-
getters win.
The Jones County Board
of Commissioners is currently
all-white, with four Democrats
and one Republican. Democrats
comprise the largest party by
registration in the county, at
nearly 50 percent.
In the past, black candidates
have been supported by African
American residents, but they’ve
ended up losing as a result
of racially polarized voting,
according to the lawsuit,
which alleged Voting Rights
Act violations. Black voters
petitioned the commission in
2014 to request a shift to voting
by district.
“We pay taxes and most
importantly, we love Jones
County just like our white
neighbors,” Elaine Robinson-
Strayhorn, a lawsuit plaintiff and
unsuccessful 2014 commissioner
candidate, told reporters Aug.
24. “So we deserved to have our
voice heard too.”
The settlement comes as
North Carolina legislators
this week redraw General
Assembly maps after nearly 30
districts were struck down by
federal judges as illegal racial
gerrymanders. Critics of those
2011 House and Senate maps
argued Republican legislators
created excessive numbers of
majority-black districts that in
turn made surrounding districts
more white, favoring GOP
candidates.
A federal appeals court last
year separately struck down
a North Carolina state law
requiring photo identification
to vote, reducing the number of
early voting days and eliminating
same-day registration during
early voting. Those who sued
said they disproportionately
harmed black voters.
Take A
Friend To
Get
Registered
To Vote
Young people protesting Confederate Monuments came out in force recently.
See photos and Durham Committee Statement on page 6. Artije Photography
Definitive link found
between Stonewall
Street, Confederate
CHARLOTTE (AP) - Historians have found a definitive connection between Stonewall Street in
North Carolina’s largest city and a Confederate general which eluded leaders a decade ago.
But revived efforts to rename the Charlotte street are encountering several hurdles, including a
transit station and multimillion developments all sharing the name of the road.
Charlotte considered renaming Stonewall Street for civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
about 10 years ago, but the effort faded away when supporters couldn’t find evidence the street was
named for Confederate General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson.
Since then, The Charlotte Observer reports , historians have found handwritten notes of a June
1869 meeting when Charlotte aldermen approved renaming four streets for Confederate generals.
Stonewall Street is the only significant one to survive to today. Nearby Hill Street was likely named
for another Confederate general, Daniel Harvey Hill, who was born near York, South Carolina, was
superintendent of the North Carolina Military Institute in Charlotte when the Civil War started, and
died in Charlotte in 1889. Much of Hill Street was severed when the Bank of America Stadium was
built more than 20 years ago.
While the city isn’t formally considering renaming Stonewall Street now, the issue has come up
in the Charlotte mayor’s race. Current Democratic Mayor Jennifer Roberts said she "absolutely”
supports renaming Stonewall Street. Her Democratic challengers said they would consider it. But
a Republican challenger, City Council member Kenny Smith, said Charlotte has more important
issues to deal with like crime than the name of a street that few know the origin.
Renaming Stonewall Street in 2017 may be harder than 10 years ago. Since then, the city has
built a light rail stationed named for the road, and developer Crescent Communities is building an
upscale shopping center named “Stonewall Station” and a residential and retail project called “550
Stonewall.”
But the company said in a statement it will follow the city’s lead.
“If the name of either the street or transit station were to change, Crescent would likely revisit
the name of the development to ensure it continues to accurately promote the community’s distinct
location,” the company said.
A historian who has researched the issue for years said even being able to definitely tell people
Stonewall Street is named for a Confederate general likely won’t change the minds of most people.
“I don’t think that’s in their consciousness,” Dan Morrill said. “That’s just Stonewall Street to
them.”
He believes the street naming may have honored the general’s wife, Mary Anna Jackson, who
was grew up near Charlotte and returned when Stonewall Jackson died in 1863.
Her father, Rev. Robert Hall Morrison, helped found and was the first president of Davidson
College north of Charlotte. She died in Charlotte in 1915 at age 83. General Hill, her brother-in-law,
is buried in the cemetery of Davidson College, where he taught in the 1850s.
The other two streets mentioned in that 1869 meeting were Vance and Lee streets. Vance was
likely named for Zebulon Baird Vance, a Confederate colonel, North Carolina governor, and U.S.
senator. But Vance Street was bulldozed to build Interstate 277. Lee Street was named for Robert E.
Lee but it’s unclear where it was or if a street name was ever changed to it.