Carley Wiggins, local freelance writer was honored on October 23 with his sixth award from the North Carolina Society of Historians for a seven part newspaper series published in The Dillon Herald.
The series was entitled Fear in the Carolinas, a story of a small town editor from Tabor City, NC named Horace Carter.
This story took place from 1949 until 1953, concerning one man’s battle against the infamous Ku Klux Klan. Horace Carter was presented with a coveted Pulitzer Prize for his stand against the KKK.
The awards were presented in Mooresville, NC. These are a few of the judges’ collective comments about the award.
The judges’ extended comments clearly indicates their own intensive research on the writers articles with comments that were not included in the articles.
Judges collective comments: “This is a riveting story that discusses the Ku Klux Klan in the Carolinas from 1949 to 1953, and Horace Carter’s involvement. It is evident from these articles that the author has invested an insurmountable amount of time to locate data critical to the saga, and he has done a remarkable job in laying out the details in chronological order. The people involved in the Klan, the police, citizens, news media…all are fully covered by the writer’s unique, yet reader-friendly, approach to reporting.
“This intriguing history is replete with meaning in that it chronicles a time when hatred was being stirred against an American population due to their color. And while this seems like it will always be the case, prejudice reaches heights at different periods of time, and in different forms: gender, race, religious affiliation, sexual preference, etc., to name a few. We are all aware of prejudice; however, this article brings the depth of hatred to the forefront as we learn of the extent to which a person, man or woman, will go to push their belief forward and get others to feel the same way they do.
“Horace Carter was an educated man with a dream. He had a beautiful wife and daughter, and was starting up a newspaper business with money he had saved from serving in the military. His reporting in the town of Tabor City, NC, was positive until the resurrection of the KKK on July 22, 1950. At that time, his reporting took a different road and for this he was chastised and threatened as he was not recording anything favorable about the town.
“Wiggins described in detail what happened on July 22, 1950, and we can almost see the KKK parade coming down the street; the fear on the faces of hundreds of citizens and the Police Chief as ca. 32 members in white robes and hoods came through the business section of town, 4 riding in a car, the rest following. They were led by a loud siren that caught everybody’s attention. On the front of the car’s radiator was a 2 ft high cross lit by a bright dome light. [This has always fascinated us when we read about the KKK. Didn’t they ever read the Bible or ask themselves what would Jesus do if He were to come face to face with a black person, another Jew, a female, etc.? It was a real sacrilege to burn a cross. Didn’t make sense…almost like Hitler not liking Jews and wanting to create a blond haired, blue eyed race when he himself was brown haired and brown eyed!]
“The series concentrates on every aspect of this story and emphasizes Horace Carter’s crusade to report the news in his newspaper no matter what the consequences…which were brutal a times. We learn so much social history about this area of NC. Wiggins covers everything: provides descriptions of the parades that took place; gives insight to the characters involved, from the local Sheriff’s Department to the FBI and the SBI; how important information was given to the law offices via articles written by Horace Carter in his newspaper; how Klansmen were caught and sentenced…the whole nine yards.
This is an exceptionally well-searched and written series of articles that describe an important even in NC’s history…one for which we are ashamed to know even took place, but one that hailed a hero who received a Pulitzer Prize for his crusade against the KKK, Horace Carter. At the end of the series we found ourselves cheering. We may not be able to present the author of the series with a Pulitzer Prize; however, the NCSH can offer him a DT Smithwick Newspaper and Magazine Article Award for his most worthy efforts.”
The articles appeared in The Dillon Herald from February 11, 2010 through April 15, 2010.
