This is just the beginning! Our collection holds over 300 years of history, including rare newspapers, obituaries, marriage records, birth records, and so much more—most of which you won’t find anywhere else!
Memoir of a Slave Leader Recovered After Decades
The rediscovery of William Henry Singleton’s 1922 memoir recalls a life born into bondage in Craven County and the Neuse area, who organized a black Civil War regiment, met Abraham Lincoln, and later faced Ku Klux Klan hostility while moving north. His tale, long obscured, was revived by Katherine Mellen Charron and David S. Cecelski, who annotated and republished it, highlighting firsthand insight into Black regiments and emancipation.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Raleigh
N.C
William Henry Singleton
North Carolina
Georgia
Singleton
New Bern
Abraham Lincoln
Katherine Mellen Charron
Yale University
David S. Cecelski
University of North Carolina
North Carolina Division of Archives and History
Charron
Cecelski
New York Public Library
John Handcock Nelson
Craven County
Neuse River
Atlanta
Ambrose Burnside
Burnside
Fort Monroe
Lincoln
U.S
South Carolina
Florida
Battle of
Olustee
Charleston
S.C
Ku Klux Klan
New Haven
Conn
Peekskill
N.Y
AME Zion
Grand Army of the Republic
Des Moines
Iowa