Louisburg Parade Threatened By KKK

As we all know, our country has a horrible history of racism. That history, which began with the introduction of the trans-Atlantic slave trade to the Americas, is still being written, today.

Louisburg, North Carolina, one of my ancestral home places, is located just 29 miles from Raleigh, the state capital. The area was a Confederate stronghold, and to this day boasts many a proud descendant of the Gray. Indeed, just north of the town center, there is erected a monument to the original Confederate Flag (not the battle flag), which stands in the midst of the road on what is part of Louisburg College's campus. And, being a southern city, it shouldn't be surprising to learn of the presence of one of our country's best-known, overtly racist organizations - the Ku Klux Klan - in Louisburg's story. That said, realizing the depth of activity that was taking place in the town, while I, as a toddler, was spending time there (with my grandmother), still gave me pause.

Confederate Monument - North Main Street, Louisburg, North Carolina
Erected May, 1914

I recently found the following newspaper clippings while cleaning out my family home in Louisburg. They are about threats that were made by the KKK to the 1964 Christmas Parade. They were located at the bottom of a box of other artifacts from the 50's and 60's, along with several family letters. I've decided to share them on my blog for a couple of reasons: my family members would have been affected by these events, and, as already stated, I was actually staying in Louisburg with my grandmother when these things took place.

I will let these articles speak for themselves, but I do want to mention one thing. There must be something about the date December 6th, and Louisburg. As I was preparing this post, I realized that the first article about the Christmas Parade, of which these articles speak, was published on that date - the same date as another fateful event in this town. Sadly, December 6th (2013) was the date of the removal and burning of historical documents from the Franklin County Courthouse (in Louisburg). If you aren't aware of that sad story, dear reader, click here.

Here follow the clippings I found. Click on each article to enlarge it.


Article 1:

Source: News and Observer, Raleigh, NC, December 6, 1964   

Article 2 (3 pieces - I believe this to be from The Franklin Times, Louisburg, NC)

      

                    

 Article 3 (Appears to be an editorial: author and date unknown)

Sometimes, reading the ugly truth of our times (then and now) can be disturbing. That's why I'm so glad that my grandmother, or whoever clipped these, included this closing article. I agree with the sentiment of its writer, and reading it gave me a sense of hope and peace.

Source unknown

As always, comments are welcome. If you happen to have been a resident of Louisburg at this time, and you have personal memories of this event, I'd love to hear from you. :)

Renate

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19 Years Without My Daddy - I Wish I'd Known

This tribute started off as a very long, loving Facebook post about my father. However, just after I uploaded the first photo to go with the post, my computer froze, and I spent over and hour, trying to get it to unfreeze, so that I wouldn’t lose the post. Nothing worked, so I had to turn it off and back on again, losing (of course) my thoughtful and well-written tribute to my father. Now the hour is late, and I know I can’t get it all back, so here’s just a little of what I wanted to say (greatly paraphrased).

That's me with my dad on his 65th birthday.

Before this day comes to an end, I want to share that today marks 19 years since my father left this earth. I love and miss him, immensely. Before his death in 1997, I’d dibbled and dabbled a bit in genealogy, however, it was when faced with the task of writing my dad’s obituary that I realized how little I knew about him and his life “pre-Renate”, and I certainly didn’t know of his family history. And, so it was then that I consider my real beginning as a genealogical researcher, as I started my quest to learn as much as possible about my father, and subsequently my YARBOROUGH ancestry, which was soon followed by all of my other family lines.

There was so much I didn’t know about my father before I became a researcher. I didn’t know that about his distinguished military career – about all of the honors and recognitions he’d received, as he worked his way to the rank of Army Major, before he retired in 1964, or of the racism he faced while on that journey.  I didn’t know anything about the Montford Point Marines, or of the two-plus years my father spent as one of the first to integrate the US Marine Corps, at the beginning of his military service.

I still don't know what's going on here, but what I do know is that everyone's attention is on my Daddy!

 I didn't know that, before he joined the military, my father spent a year at NC A&T; nor did I know that he continued to complete college coursework while in the Army, excelling in all of his coursework, and stopping just short of earning his degree.  I didn't know what a fantastic writer my father was, until I happened upon love letters he'd written to my mother before they were married, and editorials he'd written to an Ohio newspaper, when he was stationed outside of Cleveland (where I was born).

I didn't know that my father had 2 half-sisters and a half-brother, all of whom were deceased before I was born, and that I had a first cousin, born the same year as my dad, who lives in the Bronx. I didn’t know that my father played basketball in high school, and was the quarterback of his football team at Nash County Training School. I didn’t know that the reason my father had to move to Nash County to live with his uncle (the principal of Nash County Training School) was because he was acting up in school, and his mother (widowed since my dad was 4) needed some help with him!

That's my daddy - #10! Where are his kneepads?

These are just a few things I didn't know about my father, but my quest to learn more about him, led to my now 19+ year journey as a genealogist. So, on this day, I choose to remember my father, not with tears, but with a smile. Thank you, Daddy, for inspiring me to do this work. I only wish you were here so I could CELEBRATE all of your magnificent achievements with you, and so that I could ask you the questions I didn't know to ask, and hear some of the stories you probably didn't want to tell when you were here.

Arthur P. Yarborough
June 21, 1924 - October 4, 1997