Tuesday, April 13, 2004

Wilmington, N.C.—The University of North Carolina at Wilmington graduate level seminar led by Virginia Stewart created an exhibition “No More ‘Business as Usual’: Challenging ‘Separate-but-Equal’ in Wilmington Schools, 1951-1971.” The university’s semester-long Brown v. Board of Education learning community provided an opportunity for the History 573 class to address the desegregation story of Wilmington. The exhibition team consists of Carla Bradmon, Benjamin Peterson and Mona Vance and focuses on race and education in New Hanover County between 1951 and 1971.

The exhibition in the lobby of the William Madison Randall Library opens with a reception from 4 to 6 p.m. Saturday, April 17 and will run until Sunday, May 2. It is free and open to the public. The hours are the same as the library’s hours: Monday-Thursday 7 a.m. to midnight, Friday 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday 1 p.m. to midnight.

The class worked with UNCW’s Special Collections, the New Hanover County Public Library’s North Carolina Room and the Cape Fear Museum to identify artifacts and assist in research. The students also utilized the work of local historian John L. Godwin who’s publications on desegregation in Wilmington provided valuable knowledge and with Hubert Eaton’s daughter, Carolyn Eaton, in whose name the 1954 desegregation lawsuit was filed, to secure use of Hubert Eaton’s collection. In addition, the Levine Museum of the New South in Charlotte, which mounted an exhibition entitled “Courage: The Carolina Story That Changed America,” also gave insight into creating an exhibition on desegregation.

MEDIA CONTACT: Virginia Stewart, UNCW Department of History, stewartv@uncw.edu.