Hugh MacRae descendant says Wilmington park should be renamed
It’s time for Wilmington’s Hugh MacRae Park to be renamed.
That’s the message from Marguerite “Meg” Bellamy MacRae, the great-granddaughter of the man the park is named for. For years, many have called for the park near the intersection of College Road and Oleander Drive to be renamed because of Hugh MacRae’s white supremacist past.
Meg MacRae grew up in Wilmington but now lives in Tennessee. She is the first direct descendant of the park’s namesake to publicly state that it should be renamed.
“I don’t speak for anybody else, but I think it’s really important,” MacRae said. “The last thing that needs to happen is more defending of (the park’s name). I don’t want to feel like I’m speaking out against my family. I’m not against (them), but I am for equality and justice and reform.
"I have always marched to the beat of my own drum and been a bit of a unicorn in my family,“ she added. “I don’t think they would be surprised.“
On Monday, MacRae met with Sonya Patrick, who heads the Wilmington chapter of the Black Lives Matter movement. Also present were Josiah Bennetone, director of the New Hanover County chapter of the National Black Leadership Caucus; Ernestine Washington, vice-president of the New Hanover County chapter of the National Black Leadership Caucus; and Beth Kline-Markesino of North Carolina Stop Gen-X In Our Water.
MacRae said she wanted to have a conversation with Patrick and others as part of going public.
“If I’m going to say something, it matters what everybody else who’s involved has to say,” MacRae said. “That’s very important to me.”
“I appreciate your courage,” Patrick told MacRae, adding that “it says a lot about the MacRae family” that they are willing to meet with her. She and Kline-Markesino met last week with MacRae’s older brother, Hugh MacRae III. Patrick said that being able to speak with the MacRaes about renaming the park -- a change that would have to be approved by the New Hanover County Commissioners -- and the history of racism in Wilmington “is kind of like a release.”
MacRae’s public statement puts more pressure on county leaders, who have for years been caught between those who want the park renamed and those who don’t. New Hanover County Commissioner Jonathan Barfield said the name of the park -- it wasn’t named for MacRae until after his death in 1951 -- could be changed by a vote by the commissioners, and that they are “moving forward” to look at making that change.
A family’s histories
The original Hugh MacRae was one of the organizers behind the Wilmington massacre and coup of 1898, during which whites killed dozens of Blacks, drove others out of town and overthrew the local government. MacRae was also on the so called “Committee of 25” that drew up a “White Declaration of Independence” for Wilmington.
Some planning for the 1898 massacre occurred at MacRae’s house at 715 Market St. He also became an alderman after the mayor and other aldermen, some of them Black, were forced to resign.
When MacRae donated the land that would become the park in 1913, a restrictive covenant said it could only be used as a park for “white citizens.” Racially restrictive covenants were common in the South before the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed them in 1948.
“I do not condone any of that stuff,” Meg MacRae said. “It makes my heart hurt. I grew up being like, ’How do I hold that in my conscience?’”
Since protests over George Floyd’s killing in Minnesota spread to Wilmington over a month ago, activists have draped a (quickly removed) banner reading “Alexander Manly Park” over one of Hugh MacRae Park’s signs. Manly was a Black newspaper editor whose business was burned by whites in 1898.
The park’s sign has also been defaced in recent weeks, but no one has been charged for vandalizing it.
MacRae acknowledged her great-grandfather’s white supremacy was common for his day, but said that does not excuse it.
"People say, ’That’s just how it was back then,’“ she said. ”But actually how it was, prior to the 1898 event, is that Wilmington was known as a mecca of sorts where both black and white businesses were flourishing alongside each other and there was a thriving black middle class. That is the way it was back then, here, until some people decided to formulate plans to destroy that. And, from what I know, my great-grandfather was one of those people.“
Patrick dates the history of her family in Wilmington back to the 19th century. She said her aunt told her that their descendants were among those who hid in coffins during the violence in November of 1898, and who later sheltered in local swamps during the cold weather that year.
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During the meeting with MacRae, Bennetone of the Black Leadership Caucus held a large photograph of the Dr. Rev. J. Allen Kirk, a national Civil Rights leader who was pastor of Central Missionary Baptist Church during the 1898 massacre and who later wrote “A Statement of Facts Concerning the Bloody Riot in Wilmington.” Patrick attends Central Baptist, which still exists today.
Many in the Black community, Patrick said, have never felt comfortable going to Hugh MacRae Park.
“Growing up, we didn’t go there,” Patrick said, adding that her family heard rumors about the Ku Klux Klan being active there. Her family went to Greenfield Park instead.
Meg MacRae likened the events of 1898 to “a scar in Wilmington ... We can’t do anything about what happened before, but we can do something right now, tomorrow and the next day. It’s going to take all of us together.”
“Sometimes I think it’s hard for people who are white to really take off the blinders to what systemic racism is,” she said. “Even me.”
Patrick said the park’s name is “a weight that we as African-Americans carry all the time. Seeing the horrible parts of our past being glorified, it’s an emotional weight. The name change would be a step in the direction to take that weight off the community.”
Patrick said she believes the state of North Carolina needs to take responsibility for its role in condoning and covering up the massacre, including “reparations for the descendants of families (affected by the massacre) in the form of scholarships (and) business opportunities.”
She says it sticks in her craw that hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions, have been spent to maintain the park over the years, “but not one penny for the descendants” of families affected by the 1898 massacre.
Next steps
These days, thousands of area residents and visitors use the park each year. It’s distinguished by its hundreds of tall pine trees, walking trails, baseball fields, basketball court, playground, dog run and splash pad. It’s a popular spot for cookouts, festivals and gatherings of all sorts, with a number of covered areas available for rental.
Meg MacRae’s father, Hugh MacRae II, died in 2018. His widow and Meg’s mother, Bambi, is still alive, as are his three children from a previous marriage: Nelson MacRae, Hugh MacRae III and Rachel Cameron MacRae Gray.
Although MacRae II never wanted the park’s name changed, Meg MacRae and Patrick give him credit for helping bring the events of 1898 back into public view as part of a centennial committee in the 1990s that, among other things, built the 1898 memorial on North Third Street while working closely with Black leaders like Bertha Todd.
“My father was a humble, kind, honest and philanthropic man and he was a pillar of this community,” MacRae said. “I have great love and respect for him, as do many other people in Wilmington. I would like for more people to be aware of his efforts. But in saying that, I cannot assume I speak for others, nor assume that (it) would alleviate their trauma and suffering in regards to the wound of 1898 associated with the original Hugh MacRae.”
Patrick acknowledged that MacRae II’s actions “were the first steps (in healing). But there are other steps that need to take place,” she said. Changing the park’s name would say “that this is a new Wilmington ... and that these historical glorifications are not OK.”
As for what the park’s name would change to, some have floated Long Leaf Park as one idea, in addition to those who want it named after Manly.
Meg MacRae, Patrick and Kline-Markesino said they don’t care what the name is changed to as long as it changes.
"Einstein said, ’No problem can be solved from the level of consciousness that created it,’“ MacRae said. ”I certainly don’t have any answers, but I think it has to start with the inclusion of all voices, all opinions and all experiences in order to come to a solution that works for everyone.”
Contact John Staton at 910-343-2343 or John.Staton@StarNewsOnline.com.
