1. Book Chat
By Whitney Stuart Anderson
Professor Elise Harrison
EDIS 5410 Young Adult Literature

2. Crow
By Barbara Wright
Historical Fiction

3. Today’s Book Chat Topics
• Why are we having a book chat?
• Who is the author?
• History Lesson: What inspired her, and what
are the Wilmington, NC race riots?
• What is the setting?
• Who are the main characters?
• How does this relate to you, as a 5th Grader?
• What are your predictions?

5. Who is the author?
• Barbara Wright is the author of Crow.
• Wright grew up in North Carolina and spent many
summers at a beach near Wilmington. She read
an article featured in The New York Times, and
she became interested in the Race Riots that took
place in Wilmington.
• Her curiosity sparked interest and questioning
about one of her favorite places, Wilmington.
– Wright had never heard about these riots, which took
place between Reconstruction and the Jim Crow Era.
This inspired her to write Crow.

6. What happened at the Race Riots in
Wilmington, NC?
• This was known as the Wilmington
Insurrection of 1898 or the Wilmington Coup
d’Etat, which is a French expression for “an
overthrown state.”
• This took place between the Reconstruction
Era and the Jim Crow Era.
– Let’s learn a little background information…

7. Reconstruction
• Implementation of
the Emancipation
Proclamation
• Reconstruction took
place after the
American Civil War
from 1865-1877

8. Jim Crow Laws
• Dates that Jim Crow
Laws were enforced:
1876 – 1965
• The law was based off
of “separate but
equal,” creating a
crippling segregation
between blacks and
whites.

9. Examples of Jim Crow Laws
• Public Education
• Separate Restrooms
• Separate Entrances
• Blacks forced to sit in the back of the bus
• Separate Drinking Fountains

10. Wilmington Insurrection
• As stated earlier, the Wilmington Insurrection
occurred in 1898 between the close of
Reconstruction and the beginning of the
implementation of Jim Crow laws.
• This was a turning point for politics in North
Carolina.
• Whites were outraged after a white fusionist was
elected as the mayor.
• 1500 white men seized the local Black
newspaper.

11. Let’s experience the
insurrection first hand by
looking at a few photos.

13. Election Day

14. Rebellion

15. Aftermath…

16. Where does this book take place?
• This book takes
place in
Wilmington,
North Carolina,
where the race
riots took place.

17. What’s the setting?
• Remember setting is time and place.
• This novel, Crow, takes place in Wilmington,
NC in 1898.
• It takes place in the downtown area along the
Cape Fear River.
• You will read street names like, Market Street,
Water Street, and you will also learn about the
Port of Wilmington and the schools in the
area. These are more backdrop settings.

18. Who are the main characters?
• The main characters include:
–Boo Nanny
–Moses Thomas (protagonist)
–Mr. Thomas, Moses’s father

19. How does this relate to you, as a 5th
grader?
• As a new 5th grader at BASIS DC, it is
important that you are open and
accepting of all individuals regardless of
their differences.
• As you read Barbara Wright’s novel,
Crow, I hope you will learn how hatred
and prejudice can tear a city apart.

21. References
• Wright, Barbara. Crow. New York: Yearling, an
imprint of Random House Children’s Books,
2012.
• Wright, Barbara. January 2014. Barbara
Wright. 19 July 2014.
<http://barbarawrightbooks.com>.
• 6 Violent Uprising in the United States. 7
January 2014. Evan Andrews. 20 July 2014.
<http://www.history.com>.