Creator: Russell, D. L. (Daniel Lindsay), 1845-1908.
Collection number: 645
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Abstract: Wilmington, N.C., lawyer, Confederate Army officer, Republican leader of eastern North Carolina, judge, U.S. Representative, 1879-1881, and Republican-Populist governor, 1897-1901. Half of the collection consists of papers, 1900-1905, related to the South Dakota Bond Case, a famous and complicated litigation over North Carolina’s repudiation of bonds issued during Reconstruction. Correspondents include Marion Butler, Alfred Russell, and Addison G. Ricard. Also, an extensive political correspondence, chiefly 1874-1897, about the efforts to strengthen the Republican Party in North Carolina. Other papers include correspondence with Russell’s New York cotton brokers, papers concerning his Confederate Army court martial, 1863-1864, a biography of Russell by two friends, Louis Goodman and Alice Sawyer Cooper (typescript, 111 p.); and a biography of his wife, Sarah Amanda (Sanders) Russell (1844-1913). Also, some correspondence with his law partner, Louis Goodman.
Repository: Southern Historical Collection
Collection Highlights: In folder 19, there are letters discussing African American and voting. including one from John Leary in 9 December 1896, and J.B. Hill on 14 December 1896;
There is also a 15 December 1896 letter from John Ray, Principle of the North Carolina Institution for the Deaf, Dumb, and Blind, where black and white children attended, about Russel’s upcoming visit to the school.
There is also a copy of an 18 August 1898 editorial from The Daily Record in Wilmington, N.C., written by prominent African American journalist and editor of the paper, Alex Manly. This editorial decries lynching and disputes the fact it preserves “white womanhood” and protects them from African American men. This editorial angered many whites, who terrorized the African American community and drove many blacks from the town, including Alex Manly. This violent and deadly period became known as the Wilmington Race Riot of 1898.
There is a a copy of an essay, c. 1899 – 1900 presumably written by Russel, entitled “Republicanism In The South”. This essay discusses the history of the party, as well as slavery and African American voting within the party.