North
Carolina played an important part in the Great
War. The ambassador to England was a native
of North Carolina, as was the Secretary of the
Navy. North Carolina produced one major general,
three brigadier generals, and three rear admirals.
About 86,457 North Carolina men served in the
war, 20,350 of which were black, and 195 that
were nurses. The State suffered a great number
of casualties from military action, wounds and
disease.
North Carolina
aided the war effort with three major training
camps hailing from her soil; Camp Green in Charlotte,
Camp Polk in Raleigh, and Camp Bragg near Fayetteville.
The Roaring Twenties
North Carolina's
fundamentalist roots were shown during the suffrage
movement and during the 1920s. North Carolina
hesitated to endorse the suffrage movement,
and their Congress did not support the amendment
to allow women to vote.
The state's conservativism
was displayed again during the 1920s when many
social norms were questioned. North Carolinians
were rabidly opposed to Darwin's theory of evolution,
and tried hard to ban it from being taught in
their school system.
The Great Depression
When the Great
Depression hit the nation, North Carolina felt
it. Rural people moved into towns in hope of
finding work, but hunger continued to run rampant.
Industry suffered, especially textiles and furniture
making. The New Deal brought some relief to
North Carolina, especially the Civilian Conservation
Corps (CCC), which gave young men jobs. The
Works Project Administration (WPA), put many
men to work on building a national infrastructure.
The WPA helped to build a state operated prison
system, state hospitals, schools, and 58,000
miles of freeway. They were also instrumental
in creating national parks, such as the Great
Smokey Mountains National Park.
World War II
North Carolina
was heavily involved in World War II, from providing
soldiers and training camps to manufacturing.
North Carolina's coastline also proved beneficial.
Cape Hatteras became known as "Torpedo Junction"
because of the German U-boat activity present
there. Cherry Point Marine Air Station and Camp
Davis were both opened during WWII. The state
also helped the war effort by sending much needed
manufactured products. The state received two
billion dollars in war contracts, which it used
to provide ships, textiles, ammunition, rockets,
bombs, and radar. There was a scarcity of farm
labor in North Carolina due to the high number
of soldiers recruited for war. This scarcity
was somewhat relieved by prisoners of war. A
number of unpublicized POW camps existed in
North Carolina, and many POWs were recruited
to work in the fields for very modest pay. North
Carolina sent 258,000 men and women to fight
in the war, 90,000 in the navy and 13,000 in
the marines. Over 4,000 North Carolinians were
killed in action.
World War II worked
to pull the United States out of the Great Depression
and the increased industrialization created
a vast labor movement. In North Carolina labor
unrest caused union membership to rise. There
were some noteable labor strikes, such as the
1946 textile strike in Durham that lasted for
five months.
Anti-Communism and the Korean
War
After WWII anti-communism
ran rampant in America. Many people were accused
of being a communist or a communist sympathizer
and subsequently punished for treason. The case
of Junius I. Scales served as an example of
anti-communism in North Carolina. Scales was
a graduate of the University of North Carolina,
and was accused of being a communist. The FBI
investigated and found that in 1952 Scales had
distributed some communist propaganda. Two years
later the FBI accused him of planning a conspiracy
and arrested him under the Smith Act (which
prohibited membership in organizations that
advocated the overthrow of the government).
The Korean War
is greater example of American anti-communism.
With WWII still fresh on America's mind, many
U.S. citizens weren't eager to support another
war. None-the-less, North Carolina sent 121,000
soldiers to fight in Korea, 876 of whom were
killed.
Race Relations and Civil Rights
African Americans
in the South were forced to deal with segregation
that often denied them equal rights. In the
1940s many blacks moved out of the South in
an attempt to escape discrimination. Those who
remained in the South continued to battle discrimination
up until the civil rights movement began. North
Carolina witnessed the discrimination against
African Americans as well as opposition to it.
The state was home to several sit-ins, bombings,
and rallies throughout the civil rights movement.
One February 1,
1960, four black students from the North Carolina
Agricultural and Technical College went to the
Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro and
stayed all day. They were told that only whites
were served at the counter, but stayed anyway.
They returned the following day and were joined
by more blacks, filling the lunch counter. Soon
a crowd of supporters, hecklers, and press gathered.
After a few days the sit-ins spread to other
stores and lunch counters, and by the end of
the week more than 300 students were involved
in sit-ins.
In 1971, in Wilmington,
North Carolina, a white owned grocery store
in a black neighborhood was bombed. Afterwards,
charges, claims, and counter-charges were tossed
about. The event attracted great publicity and
subsequently turned violent. Word got out that
the people who were responsible for the bombing
had barricaded themselves in a local church.
When police arrived at the church they were
fired upon. A year past before any arrests were
made. Nine black men and one white woman were
arrested and given lengthy sentences.
In 1979, Greensboro
was home to another race related incident when
members of the Communist Workers Party scheduled
an anti-Klan meeting at a public housing project.
The rally was widely publicized in advance.
Klan members and a group of neo-Nazis rushed
into the rally, killing five members of the
Communist Workers Party. The trial for the murders
took place a year later, and six Klansmen were
cleared of all charges.
Conclusion
Although the immigration
history of North Carolina peaks early on, the
people of North Carolina can be credited for
creating a history that is both rich and exciting.
North Carolina is an important part of the overall
history of America and gives us an insight into
early American settlement as well as the progress
of the American South.
