Caterina Jarboro, the 1898 Wilmington Riot, and the Challenges of the Archive”

Instances of mass assaults on African American communities in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries have received increased attention over the past couple of decades. Among the more notable of these tragic events is the riot that occurred in Wilmington, North Carolina in 1898 that involved not just attacks on African American citizens but also the forceful overthrow of the city government. Born just months before the outbreak of violence in Wilmington, Katherine Yarborough (who had adopted the name, Caterina Jarboro) became the first African American prima donna to be featured with a white, U.S. opera company when she starred in Aida in New York City in 1933.

Professor Richard Yarborough, the great-nephew of Caterina Jarboro, will discuss his research on the Wilmington Riot, as well as on his great-aunt’s life. In both cases, significant gaps in the archive constitute daunting obstacles when attempting to render accurately important aspects of African American history that have been overlooked, distorted, or suppressed. This AAS program is the thirty-fifth annual James Russell Wiggins Lecture in the History of the Book in American Culture.