Dr. Heyward C. Bellamy Collection

Dr. Heyward C. Bellamy was born in 1924 in Horrey County, South Carolina. He and his family moved to Wilmington in 1935 to live with his aunt. In 1943, Bellamy graduated from New Hanover County High School and promptly enlisted with the Army Air Force. After the end of World War II, Bellamy attended the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and pursued degrees in education, completing his Ph.D in 1966.

Bellamy married Mary Cameron Dixon in 1947. Mary was the granddaughter of George Cameron, a well known printer in Wilmington, and the operator of the first linograph machine in the city. Cameron was known as a "Red Shirt" during the 1898 Massacre and was extolled by his peers as a great fighter for white supremecy.

From 1951 to 1954, Dr. Bellamy taught science at New Hanover County High School. He later became Assistant Principal at the Chestnut Street School from 1954 to 1960, during which time he also served as the county President of the North Carolina Education Association. In 1960, Dr. Bellamy was voted Supervisor of Secondary Schools for the New Hanover County School System. He was elected Superintendent of New Hanover County Schools in 1968 and served until his retirement in 1981. In 2006, Heyward Bellamy was given the Star-News Lifetime Achievement Award. He passed away December 14, 2014.

During the mid 1960s, the New Hanover County School System was undergoing the process of racial integration. Until 1965, the schools had been operating on a Pupil Assignment program, where students could be placed in a different school by request. Dr. Hubert A. Eaton filed a lawsuit against the New Hanover County Board of Education for not fulfilling the Brown v Board of Education mandate to desegregate schools, arguing that the Pupil Assignment program did not allow African-American children the right or opportunity to attend primarily white schools. From the Pupil Assignment program, the county moved to a "Freedom of Choice" program, in which the parents were allowed more leeway in deciding which school their children would attend. At this time, the school system also began desegregating the staff at county schools. The Freedom of Choice program was deemed insufficient and the School Board looked to alternative methods of compliance with Brown v Board of Education II, whose decision mandated that schools desegregate "with all deliberate speed." This began the discussion of closing schools to combine black and white schools throughout the county and busing children to ensure equal distribution of races.

Dr. Hubert A. Eaton was a well known African-American doctor in Wilmington, North Carolina and was instumental in the desegregation of multiple institutions within New Hanover County, in addition to the the school system.

In March 1951, Eaton brought suit against the New Hanover County Board of Education for violating Plessy v. Ferguson, requiring black schools to be equal to white schools. The victory of this lawsuit resulted in the planning and building of the Williston High School facility in 1964, a new symbol of pride for the black community. The day of the school opening, the upper courts overturned Plessy v. Ferguson, passing Brown v. Board of Education, which ultimatly led to the closing of Williston as a high school within a few short years.

In 1956, Dr. Eaton filed his first suit against James Walker Memorial Hospital, pushing for desegregation of staff and patients. He won this case and James Walker Memorial, the white hospital, and Community Hospital, the black facility, closed down. New Hanover Memorial Hospital opended in 1967 as a fully integrated medical facility for both staff and patients.

In 1964, with the passing of Brown v Board of Education, Dr. Eaton tackled the school issue again. Using his daughter, Carolyn as the plantiff, he again sued the New Hanover County Board of Education for school integration. After a tumultuous 6 years, it was finally ordered that Wilmington Schools desegregate immediatly. The school year of 1970-1971 was the first year of full integration, as well as significant community divides and violent protests.

In 1969, it was decided that Williston High School would close as a high school and all students would be combined with New Hanover High School and John T. Hoggard High School, fulfilling the mandated integration requirements set down by the courts. The closing of Williston brought about protests and student boycotts of school attendance. The boycotting students began meeting at Gregory Congregational Church, organizing protests and discussing racial problems in the school system.

Violence erupted on February 6, 1971, resulting in the arrests of nine young black man and an older white woman. These individuals became known as the "Wilmington Ten." They were convicted of arson and conspiracy in connection with the firebombing of a white-owned grocery store. They were sentenced to a total of 282 years in prison. The surviving members were granted a pardon of innocence by Governor Beverly Perdue on December 31, 2012.