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North Carolina

Political repression plays out state by state — shaped by local institutions, prosecutors, and movements for defense. These are the documented political prisoners and cases the census holds for North Carolina.

200Documented
5In custody
147Released
1Awaiting trial

Eras of repression in North Carolina

Where North Carolina’s entries fall across the census’s historical eras.

1930s 48 1970s 37 1920s 32 2010s 15 2020s 14 1800s 10

Documented cases

200 entries in the census — every one stays in the record, whether the case is open or closed.

J
J. R. Pittman (Gastonia defendant)
Released
J. R. Pittman is individually listed among eight Gastonia textile-strike defendants already out on bonds in th...
J
Jedidiah Poole
Released
Jedidiah Poole — SOA Watch line-crosser at Fort Benning, Georgia. Convicted of trespass on a military installa...
B
Bill Presswood
Released
Bill Presswood was arrested in connection with the strike of unemployed relief workers at High Point, North Ca...
H
H. F. Pruitt
H. F. Pruitt was a confessed co-conspirator who became a prosecution witness in the Burlington textile-strike...
H
Harold Reap
Released
Harold Reap, also recorded as Harold Reape, was a Black defendant imprisoned in the Monroe, North Carolina kid...
E
Edward Ritch
Edward Ritch was one of eight union and labor-defense organizers jailed after a North Charlotte raid in Septem...
I
I. M. Ritchie
Released
I. M. Ritchie was arrested in connection with the strike of unemployed relief workers at High Point, North Car...
W
William Robinson
Released
William Robinson was a free Black civilian servant of a Confederate officer, captured at Hatteras Inlet on Aug...
K
Kenneth Rottger
Kenneth Rottger and his wife Lydia were arrested during an interracial National Hunger March support demonstra...
L
Lydia Rottger
The December 6 Charlotte dispatch reports police arresting speaker Lydia Rottger and her husband Kenneth durin...
S
Sedell (Gastonia striker)
Sedell was among the Gastonia textile-strike pickets actually arrested and tried on a parading accusation. The...
P
Paul Sheppard
Paul Sheppard was one of eight union and labor-defense organizers jailed after a North Charlotte raid in Septe...
W
Woodrow Wilson Shropshire
Woodrow Wilson Shropshire was a prisoner in a Mecklenburg County, North Carolina chain-gang camp whose feet we...
T
Taylor Shytle
Taylor Shytle was one of eight union and labor-defense organizers jailed after a North Charlotte raid in Septe...
N
Nancy H. Smith
Released
Nancy H. Smith — SOA Watch line-crosser at Fort Benning, Georgia. Convicted of trespass on a military installa...
J
J. H. Stephenson
Released
J. H. Stephenson was a United Textile Workers striker at the Eton Mill in Shelby, North Carolina, charged with...
R
Randall Duncan Stezer
Released
Randall Duncan Stezer, then 17 and living in Graham, North Carolina, was arrested after the May 1, 2010 anti-c...
A
Albert Tetherow
The October 3 Charlotte dispatch reports the NTWU youth organizer arrested that morning on a driving-without-a...
B
Bertha Tompkinson
Released
Bertha Tompkinson was arrested during Gastonia textile-strike picketing. The May 20 dispatch reports a convict...
E
Elbert Totherow
Released
Elbert Totherow, brother of Fred and head of National Textile Workers Union youth work, was arrested December...
F
Fred Totherow
Fred Totherow, Southern agent of the Daily Worker and Labor Defender, was arrested December 11, 1929 and held...
C
Clarence Townsend
Released
Clarence Townsend is individually listed among eight Gastonia textile-strike defendants already out on bonds i...
I
Irvin Vasquez
Released
Charged as a member ("King Dice") of the Greensboro chapter of the Almighty Latin King & Queen Nation. Indicte...
S
Samuel Velasquez
Released
Charged as a member ("King Hype") of the Greensboro chapter of the Almighty Latin King & Queen Nation. Indicte...

Institutions in North Carolina

Prisons, jails, and detention centers in North Carolina that appear in the census’s case files.

North Carolina state courtsWilmington, North Carolina
10 cases
Gaston County JailGastonia, North Carolina
9 cases
North Carolina State Penitentiary (Central Prison)Raleigh, North Carolina
7 cases
Buncombe County Superior Court
5 cases
Union County JailMonroe, North Carolina
3 cases
Camp Lejeune brigCamp Lejeune, North Carolina
2 cases
North Carolina State Prison System
2 cases
FMC ButnerButner, North Carolina
2 cases