Begins with Sept.9th 1898 Student Essay Competition
WILMINGTON, NC – The Wilmington Journal Breakfast Club (WJBC), a community service group in association with the Wilmington Journal newspaper, announced during a press conference at Gregory Congregational Church UCC on Thursday, Sept. 7th, that in association with the R.S and T.C. Jervay Foundation, it is sponsoring a symposium commemorating the 125th anniversary of the 1898 Wilmington Massacre.
And, as part of that symposium commemoration, starting Sept. 9th, the WJBC is sponsoring the first Mary Alice Jervay Thatch Memorial 1898 Student Essay Competition, where New Hanover County students, grades 8 – 12, are challenged to write a 500-word essay about the 1898 Wilmington Massacre, and why learning about it is important to the community today.
The competition is named after the late publisher/editor of The Wilmington Journal newspaper, Ms. Mary Alice Jervay Thatch, who died in December 2021.
Veteran New Hanover County educator, and former co-chair of the 1898 Centennial Foundation, Dr. Bertha Boykin Todd, shared why she feels the student essay competition is an important part of the 1898 Wilmington Massacre 125th anniversary commemoration.
“For 39 years, I served as an educator in the New Hanover County Public School System,” Dr. Todd said in a statement. “During my tenure, nothing was ever mentioned regarding the atrocity of the massacre and coup that occurred in Wilmington, NC in 1898. Years later white and black students who graduated from Williston, Hoggard and New Hanover High Schools have questions regarding the reasons why educators did not teach them about the violence and successful coup. “My best wishes to you as your “Essay Competition” [will] aid in creating a greater awareness regarding this tragedy. “
Student participants can go to the website “1898symposium.org” to click the link for the entry rules, guidelines and application. There is no entry fee. Parental permission is required.
Students who compete will have the extra incentive of winning a $500.00 grand prize for the best 1898 essay. The prizes also include $300.00 for the second place essay, and $200.00 for the third place essay about 1898.
The student competition will officially begin on Saturday. Sept. 9th, and end on Saturday, Oct. 21st, 2023. The student winners will be determined by a panel of educators who will judge submitted essays based on an established scoring rubric for how comprehensive their submissions are. The three student winners will be awarded on Nov. 11th during the symposium.
“While this year’s event commemorates 125 years of deferred justice, it also offers hope for a new lens perspective on how we might create divergent justice pathways,” says Christina Davis McCoy, of Blueprint NC and WJBC. “The Mary Alice Jervay Thatch Memorial 1898 Student Essay Competition will invite and engage voices of young people for whom Wilmington’s past intrinsically defines and informs their future. We are significantly excited to read their perspectives of the November 10, 1898, Wilmington events.”
The 1898 symposium, the second in a series, will feature both nationally known and local panelists discussing how the community goes forward from the legacy of the 1898 Wilmington Massacre today. Those panelists include Bishop William Barber, president of Repairers of the Breach and co-convener of the national Poor People’s Campaign; Dr. Bertha B. Todd, retired educator and author of the book, Reflections on a Massacre and a Coup; atty. Irving L. Joyner, vice chairman of the 1898 Wilmington Race Massacre Commission; Ms. Inez Campbell-Eason, descendant of an 1898 Black family; Dr. Timothy Tyson, Duke University History professor and author of the book, The Blood of Emmitt Till; and Rev. Robert Parrish, pastor of Gregory Congregational Church UCC.
The 1898 symposium will be held Saturday, November 11th, 1 to 4 p.m. at Williston Middle School, 401 South 10th Street. This community event is free and open to the public.
The goal of the1898 symposium, according to WJBC President Paul Jervay, is to “Bring the 1898 Assessment Alive” through the District, consisting of Gregory Congregational Church, the Wilmington Journal, and the surrounding neighborhood; through restoring Gregory Church, and the Wilmington Journal buildings; through acting on the recommendations of the 1898 Commission to facilitate economic and social justice solutions; through revisiting 7-Solution Action Points recommended by Bishop William Barber II in 1998, and through reuniting dispersed people, resulting from the 1898 Massacre, with a new mission of Restoration, Reparation, and Repair.
For more information, contact Paul Jervay, Jr. at [email protected], or Cash Michaels at [email protected].
Mary Alice Thatch Memorial Essay, 2023, Scoring Rubric STUDENT NAME________________________________ SCORE _______/80
| Category | 8-10 | 5-7 | 3-4 | 0-2 |
| Thesis | Thesis is clearly stated and appropriately focused on the objective portraying a true account of the people, places and events, as well as the importance of the 1898 Massacre. | Thesis is clearly stated and promises a true account of the people, places, and events, and the importance of the 1898 Massacre. | Thesis is unclear, misleading, or does not introduce a true account of the 1898 Massacre. | No statement of thesis or objective is stated OR thesis presents a false narrative of the people, places, and events surrounding the 1898 Massacre. |
| Information Sources | Information comes from at least 3 quality sources, which may include credible websites, videos, interviews with qualified historians, or printed materials which accurately portray a detailed account of the true narrative of the 1898 Massacre. | Information comes from 2-3 sources, which may include credible websites, video, interviews with qualified historians, or printed materials providing details from the true narrative of the 1898 Massacre. | Information comes from at least 2 credible sources. Details may be limited, but provide details from the true narrative of the 1898 Massacre. | Information comes from at least 2 sources. Details are limited, OR reveal that the writer relied on sites offering a false accounting of the details surrounding the 1898 Massacre. |
| Organization and Content | The narrative explains the sequence of events, compelling historical context, and the protagonists of the 1898 Massacre. Narrative is presented in a clear and creative way so that the reader moves easily through the text. | The narrative includes the sequence of events, some historical context, and names the protagonists of the 1898 Massacre. Narrative flow is clear enough to move the reader through the text without undue confusion. | References to the sequence of events, historical context, and protagonists may be vague or are given limited treatment. Narrative does not flow naturally, and paragraphs may seem disjointed. | The information appears to be disorganized OR recounts a false narrative obtained from faulty research sources. |
| Writing Style and mechanics. | Sentences are varied in structure, and word choice avoids redundancy. No grammatical, spelling or punctuation errors. | Sentences are correct but not varied. Almost no grammatical, spelling or punctuation errors | Short, simple sentences prevail. A few grammatical, spelling or punctuation errors. | Sentence errors, such as fragments and run-ons, detract from the reading. Many grammatical, spelling or punctuation errors. |
| Documentation of Sources | All sources of any type are documented internally according to the MLA format. (see links for help) | All sources are documented internally, but may not be in standard MLA format. | Essay references sources, but may not include standard internal documentation. | Sourced information may be included, but are not properly documented. |
| Formatting | Essay includes a title page with title, student name and grade level, and date submitted. Essay is not longer than 500 words, double spaced, with standard 1-inch margins. A separate Works cited page follows the essay with standard MLA-style citations for each resource used. (see links for free citation generators) | Essay includes a title page with title, student name and grade level, and date submitted. Essay is not longer than 550 words, double spaced, with standard 1-inch margins. A separate Works cited page follows the essay with standard MLA-style citations for each resource used. (see links for free citation generators) | Title page is incomplete; the essay is fewer than 300 words or more than 550 words long, and may not be double-spaced. Works Cited page is not standard format or information is incomplete. | Title page and/or Works Cited page is incomplete or missing; essay is fewer than 250 or more than 550 words long and/or does not follow required format. |
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