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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.

136Documented
2In custody
119Released
1Awaiting trial

Eras of repression in North Carolina

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

1970s 37 1930s 28 2010s 13 2020s 12 1920s 9 1960s 8

Documented cases

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

Joseph Shine White Stewart
In Custody
Joseph Shine White Stewart, North Carolina Department of Public Safety inmate number 0802041, has been incarce...
Fred Beal
Released
Convicted in Charlotte, North Carolina on October 21, 1929 of conspiracy to murder Gastonia, NC police chief O...
Vera Buch
Released
Vera Buch, a National Textile Workers Union organizer and one of the three women charged with murder, was one...
Ben Chavis
Released
Civil-rights organizer (United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice) and leader of the Wilmington Te...
Jorge P. Cornell
Jorge Peter Cornell became a high-profile figure in Greensboro through a mix of community-facing advocacy and...
Jabari Davis
Attempted arson of a Raleigh police SUV, May 31 2020. Sentence: 30 months federal prison. Verified via public...
George DeWitt
Released
George DeWitt was one of the High Point Four, jailed after the February 10, 1971 confrontation at the Panther...
Reginald Epps
Released
Reginald Epps was one of the Black student participants in Wilmington’s 1971 boycott and protest movement, whi...
James Grant
Released
James Grant—often identified as Dr. James Earl Grant—was a civil rights organizer and anti–Vietnam War activis...
Joseph Harrison
Released
Convicted in Charlotte, North Carolina on October 21, 1929 of conspiracy to murder Gastonia, NC police chief O...
Eddie Hatcher
Released
Eddie Hatcher was a Tuscarora activist whose most visible public action came in 1988, when he and others seize...
Jerry Jacobs
Released
Jerry Jacobs was among the Black students involved in Wilmington’s 1971 school boycott and related activism, p...
Timothy Jacobs
Released
Timothy Jacobs is a Tuscarora activist most closely associated with the 1988 Robeson County newspaper takeover...
Nelson Johnson
Released
The Reverend Nelson Johnson was a veteran Black freedom organizer in Greensboro, North Carolina — a leader of...
Russell Kilfoil
Released
High-ranking member ("King Peaceful") of the Greensboro chapter of the Almighty Latin King & Queen Nation and...
Bradford Mizell Lilley
Bradford Mizell Lilley was one of the High Point Four, jailed after the February 10, 1971 confrontation at the...
Joan Little
Released
Joan Little (also written Joanne Little) was a young Black woman who became a landmark figure in the women's,...
Larry Little
Released
Larry Little was the coordinator of the National Committee to Combat Fascism — the Black Panther Party chapter...
James Marsicano
Released
James "Jamie" Marsicano is a law student at UNC Chapel Hill from Charlotte, North Carolina with multiple prior...
W. M. McGinnis
Released
W. M. McGinnis, a Loray mill striker, was one of the seven Gastonia defendants convicted of second-degree murd...
James McKoy
Released
One of the Wilmington 10, convicted in 1972 on conspiracy and arson charges arising from the February 1971 fir...
Louis McLaughlin
Released
Convicted in Charlotte, North Carolina on October 21, 1929 of conspiracy to murder Gastonia, NC police chief O...
Jean McNair
Released
Jean McNair was a teacher and black revolutionary who along with her husband and three others hijacked Delta A...
Larry Medley
Larry Medley was one of the High Point Four, jailed after the February 10, 1971 confrontation at the Panther i...

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
Federal Medical Center, ButnerButner, North Carolina
2 cases
North Carolina State Prison System
2 cases
FMC ButnerButner, North Carolina
2 cases
Seymour Johnson Air Force Base — Pax Christi-Spirit of Life Plowshares
2 cases