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Wilmington, North Carolina once had a thriving Black middle class and an elected interracial government. In 1898 white supremacists used violence to overthrow that government, kill Black residents and drive many others from the city.
MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
Lethia Sherman Hankins (January 2, 1934 – December 29, 2014) was an educator, civic leader, and politician who was active in Wilmington, North Carolina. In 2005 she received national award from the YWCA, the Dorothy I. Height Racial Justice Award, and in 2020 her portrait was one of five commissioned to hang in Bellamy Mansion in honor of North Carolinian women who impacted women, as part of the centennial celebrations of the League of Women Voters for the ratification of the 19th Amendment.
Lethia Mae Sherman was born on January 2, 1934, in Georgetown, South Carolina,[1][2] the daughter of Mary (née Flowers) and Benjamin Sherman. The family moved to Wilmington, North Carolina shortly after her birth.[3] Sherman was an only child, and the first of her family to go to college. She told Wilma magazine in May 2003, "My parents were not educated but believed if I could get this thing called and education, I could really do something."[4] Sherman was a graduate of New Hanover County schools. Completing secondary school at Williston Industrial High in 1951,[5] she then went to the historically black college and university, North Carolina A&T.[2] She married Harry Leon Hankins in 1957 in South Carolina; the couple divorced in 1987.[6]
After completing her university studies, Hankins taught briefly in Hillsborough before returning to Wilmington, where she began teaching English at Williston Senior High School in 1959.[2][3] At the time Hankins began teaching at Williston, it was not integrated, but during the desegregation debates in 1968, it was decided that Williston would close in 1968.[7] Hankins transferred to John T. Hoggard High School at that time and organized Speak Outs to defuse the racial tensions that led to incidents like the Wilmington Ten arrests.[3][5]
Hankins later taught at Emsley A. Laney High School before retiring from teaching in 1994 to seek elected office.[4][8] She unsuccessfully ran for the New Hanover County Board of Education in 2000.[8][9] She ran for city council in 2003.[10] She was elected in November 2003 to the Wilmington city council, in a run-off election.[11] Her election was seen by the local paper as "an encouraging sign of racial reconciliation" since the majority of the electorate was white, and her opponent was too.[12] She served until 2007.[13]
Hankins was a member of the 1898 Foundation,[14] and served as its co-chair in 2003.[15] The 1898 Foundation grew out of community efforts to memorialize the Wilmington massacre. She served on the New Hanover County Human Relations Commission and was chair in 2003.[10] New Hanover County library, She was the a trustee with Cape Fear Community College.[10] Hankins also served on the Wilmington Housing Authority Board of Commissioners and was chair of that board when she stepped down in 2010.[16] YWCA board, Thalian Hall Center for the performing arts board of Trustees, the city of Wilmington's Commission on African American History. She was a member of Cape Fear Museum Associates Board, and the local chapter of the NAACP.[3] Member of the First Baptist Missionary Church.[3] In 2005, Ms. Hankins won a national YWCA Dorothy I. Height Racial Justice Award[17][18] for her "outstanding contributions towards racial justice." The nomination stated: "During the height of the turmoil caused by the integration of our schools in 1968, Ms. Hankins was always able to reason with her students and convey to them confidence that integration could and would be harmonious".[19][20]
The Hankins had three children, Angela Jannette Hankins (who is married to Reverend Owen E. Metts, Sr.),[21] Harry Benjamin Hankins,[21] and Anita Hankins Galloway.[22] Hankins also raised a nephew, Derry Flowers.[23]
Hankins was a member of the Wilmington Alpha Kappa Alpha chapter. According to a Sunday Star-News article from February 18, 2001, Hankins said she joined in 1972. She was quoted as saying "I started pledging at North Carolina A&T, but wasn't able to finish.." because the funds were too hard to raise.[24]
Hankins died on December 29, 2014.[2]
The Cape Fear Museum of History and Science featured Hankins in its This Month in Women's History.[20] It acquired some of her possessions as part of its permanent collection in 2016, including a teal suit, a nameplate from City Council meetings, photographs, campaign materials and programs from her funeral.[25] In 2020, to commemorate the centennial of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, the League of Women Voters of the Lower Cape Fear selected Hankins to be one of the five North Carolinian women whose portraits would be hung in the Bellamy Mansion for their actions as mentors and role models to other women. The works were commissioned from artist Livy Hitchcock, but their unveiling was postponed because of the COVID pandemic and the event was rescheduled for the fall of 2021.[26]
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Source: Wikipedia. Article content is retrieved live through the MediaWiki API.
Lethia Sherman Hankins (January 2, 1934 – December 29, 2014) was an educator, civic leader, and politician who was active in Wilmington, North Carolina. In 2005 she received national award from the YWCA, the Dorothy I. Height Racial Justice Award, and in 2020 her portrait was one of five commissioned to hang in Bellamy Mansion in honor of North Carolinian women who impacted women, as part of the centennial celebrations of the League of Women Voters for the ratification of the 19th Amendment.
Hankins is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: Abraham P. Hankins (1900–1963), American painter Antthony Mark Hankins (born 1968), American fashion designer Catherine Hankins (born 1949), Canadian epidemiologist Cecil Hankins (1922–2002), American basketball and football player Cornelius Hankins (1863–1946), American painter Dena Hankins (born 1975), American author Dennis B. Hankins (born 1959), American diplomat and ambassador Don Hankins (1902–1963), American baseball player Ethan Hankins (born 2000), American baseball player Frank H. Hankins (1877–1970), American sociologist and anthropologist Freeman Hankins (1917–1988), American politician George Hankins (born 1997), English cricketer Harold Hankins (1930–2009), British electrical engineer Harry Hankins (born 1999), English cricketer James Hankins (born 1955), American historian Jay Hankins (1935–2020), American baseball player Jaylan Hankins (born 2000), Gibraltarian footballer Jennifer Merelaid Hankins (born 1985), Swedish politician Johnathan Hankins (born 1992), American football player Lethia Sherman Hankins (1934–2014), American activist and civic leader Rebecca Hankins, American academic Shirley Hankins (1931–2025), American politician Steve Hankins (born 1952), English rugby league footballer of the 1980s Terry Hankins (1974–2009), American serial killer Thomas L. Hankins (born 1933), American science historian Zach Hankins (born 1996), American basketball player
Wilmington is a port city in New Hanover County, North Carolina, United States. With a population of 115,451 as of the 2020 census, it is the eighth-most populous city in the state. The county seat of New Hanover County, it is the principal city of the Wilmington metropolitan area, which includes New Hanover, Brunswick, and Pender counties. As of 2023, the region had an estimated population of 467,337. Wilmington's residential area lies between the Cape Fear River and the Atlantic Ocean, and the city developed as a commercial port in the colonial era. The city was founded in the 1730s, preceded in its foundation in the area by Brunswick Town and Charles Towne. These two towns were abandoned, leaving Wilmington as the main settlement on the Cape Fear River. After going through a series of different names (New Carthage, New London, Newton), its name became Wilmington. In 1739, Colonel William Bartram, the uncle of the naturalist, introduced a bill to establish Wilmington, named for one of his patrons, Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington. Toward the end of the 19th century, Wilmington was a majority-black, racially integrated, prosperous city – and the most populous in North Carolina. It suffered what became known as the Wilmington massacre in 1898, when white supremacists launched a coup that overthrew the legitimately elected local Fusionist government. It resulted in the expulsion of opposition black and white political leaders from the city, destruction of the property and businesses of black citizens, including the city's only black newspaper, and deaths ranging from an estimated 60 to more than 300 people. By 1910, Charlotte overtook Wilmington as North Carolina's most populous city. Wilmington's downtown includes a 1.75-mile (2.82 km) riverwalk, developed as a tourist attraction in the late 20th century. In 2003, the city was designated by the U.S. Congress as a "Coast Guard City", one of 29 cities that currently bear that designation. It was formerly the home port for the USCGC Diligence, a United States Coast Guard medium-endurance cutter. Wilmington was declared the first World War II Heritage City in the country in 2020. The World War II battleship USS North Carolina, now a war memorial, is moored across from the downtown port area, and is open to the public for tours. Other attractions include the Cape Fear Museum of History and Science and the Children's Museum of Wilmington. The city is home to the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Wilmington is also the home of Cinespace Wilmington, the largest domestic television and movie production facility outside California. Dream Stage 10, the facility's newest sound stage, is the third-largest in the United States. It houses the largest special-effects water tank in North America. After the studio complex's opening in 1984, Wilmington became a major center of American film and television production. Numerous movies and television series—in a range of genres—have been filmed/produced in or near the city. Films include Blue Velvet (1986), Maximum Overdrive (1986), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990), Super Mario Bros. (1993), The Crow (1994), I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), The Conjuring (2013), Iron Man 3 (2013), The Black Phone (2021), Halloween Kills (2021) and Scream (2022), and television series include Dawson's Creek, One Tree Hill, Eastbound & Down, Outer Banks and The Summer I Turned Pretty.
Williston School is a school in Wilmington, North Carolina. It was first founded in 1866 by the abolitionist American Missionary Association after the Union army occupied the city during the civil war. It was intended for freed slaves and initially had 450 pupils divided into five departments: primary, intermediate, advanced, normal and industrial. As it developed, it became known by a variety of names including Williston Graded School, Williston Primary and Industrial School and Williston High School. The original site was on Seventh Street but in 1915, the institution moved to a new campus on Tenth Street and new buildings were constructed in 1933, 1937 and 1954. The institution was closed as a high school in 1968 as part of desegregation and this caused disturbances resulting in the Wilmington Ten. The remaining school on the site is now Williston Middle School of Math, Science & Technology.
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →Madam C.J. Walker