Reginald Epps

Reginald Epps was one of the Black student participants in Wilmington’s 1971 boycott and protest movement, which sought equal treatment and opportunity for Black students during a turbulent desegregation process. Epps became one of the Wilmington Ten, a case that drew national and international scrutiny.

Following the February 1971 firebombing of Mike’s Grocery and associated allegations involving attacks on emergency personnel, Epps was charged with the group and convicted in 1972. Convicted on October 17, 1972, Epps received a 28‑year sentence. The convictions were overturned by the Fourth Circuit in 1980; decades later, the Wilmington Ten were formally cleared through pardons of innocence issued in 2012.