A bill would mandate North Carolina schools teach about the 1898 Wilmington race riots.

Introduced by Sen. Julia Boseman, a New Hanover Democrat, the bill orders the N.C. Department of Public Instruction to create teaching materials and provide workshops on the subject.

The idea was first proposed by the 1898 Wilmington Race Riot Commission, which issued a report in 2006.

A previous bill proposed by former Rep. Thomas Wright did not pass in part because of an estimated cost of $200,000.

"It might be an unfortunate part of our history, but it's part of our history, and our students deserve to know about it," Boseman said. (WS-N)

Several more bills were filed in the state Senate today:

S.B. 15: Session Limits, Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand

S.B. 16: DPI / Curriculum on 1898 Wilmington Race Riots, Sen. Julia Boseman

S.B. 17: Pay Teachers the ABC Bonuses They Earned, Sen. Steve Goss

S.B. 18: Amend Cemetery Act, Goss

S.B. 19: Use of Additional Technology Prohibited, Goss

S.B. 20: Voter-Owned Election for Treasurer, Sen. Doug Berger

Gov. Mike Easley's budget includes $1 million for a Freedom Monument.

The proposed monument in downtown Raleigh would honor the places where plantation slaves came together to learn. According to this account, it would be located next to the state Archives building across the street from the General Assembly.

A design team of multimedia artist Juan Logan, art historian Lyneise Williams and architect David Swanson, all of Chapel Hill, was selected by organizers in 2006. 

Their design includes a serpentine wall depicting the Jim Crow era with a large crack symbolizing the Wilmington race riots, a "weeping wall" representing slavery and an auction block with well-worn footprints.

The monument project was started in 2002 by the Paul Green Foundation of Chapel Hill. The group plans to spend $2.5 million with private donations and public money.

Organizers say except for an anonymous black soldier in the N.C. Vietnam Veterans Memorial, blacks are not represented on the Capitol grounds. 

The N.C. Freedom Monument Project's Web site says it has already received support from the N.C. Humanities Council, the N.C. Arts Council and the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation.

Laura Leslie says Thomas Wright's testimony was damaging.

The WUNC reporter writes on her blog that the former state representative's testimony at his criminal fraud trial "got weird, then ludicrous, then absurd."

She notes he said that District Attorney Colon Willoughby doesn't know how the legislature works, claimed that someone must have tampered with evidence and claimed that he was being targeted by politicians angry about his work on the 1898 Wilmington riots.

I'm certainly no jury expert, but I'd guess from their expressions they weren't buying it. By the end of the day, Wright was grinning and laughing at Willoughby from the stand, but they weren't laughing with him. He even tried to joke about his wife's (very sympathetic) testimony, but it fell completely flat.

Leslie says that Willoughby refuted or challenged Wright's statements with evidence.

A group of Republican activists will protest Vance-Aycock.

The Carolina Stompers, a recently created group in Asheville, plans to protest the annual Democratic event for honoring former Democratic Gov. Charles Brantley Aycock.

Aycock, as reported extensively in this series, played a role in the Wilmington coup in 1898.

Chad Nesbitt, an Asheville radio and TV producer and stepson of Democratic Sen. Martin Nesbitt, predicted more than 120 people will come to the protest, to be held at the corner of Charlotte and Macon streets, just down the road from the Grove Park Inn.

Nesbitt, who is white, said he was upset that Democrats have apologized for their role in the race riots but continue to honor Aycock with the name of the dinner, which has been held since 1960.

"They're still honoring a white supremacist," he said.

No word yet on if the group plans to protest Thomas Jefferson's ownership of slaves or Andrew Jackson's treatment of American Indians at the Democrats' annual Jefferson-Jackson Dinner.

Rep. Thomas Wright's answering machine must be getting full.

The State Board of Elections suspended the Wilmington Democrat's campaign Tuesday for failing to respond to a letter asking for his most recent campaign finance report.

But the board is not the only one Wright doesn't call back.

Even for a state legislator, Wright has been in more than this fair share of news stories this year for his role in bills recognizing the Wilmington race riots, his campaign finance troubles, a Supreme Court ruling on his district and other issues.

Each story dutifully notes that he did not respond to interview requests. Wilmington Star-News reporter Mark Schreiner has been the most spurned, but Wright has also failed to call back The Charlotte Observer and The News & Observer in recent months.

In fact, the last time he was quoted was on June 7 — more than 50 stories ago — and that quote was not much more than a "no comment."

Based on the subpoenas served so far, the State Board of Elections will likely ask Rep. Thomas Wright about his campaign funds, a nonprofit he started and his efforts on the 1898 race riots.

The Wilmington Star News and the Charlotte Observer report that the five witnesses called for hearings next week knew Wright from his work with The Community's Health Foundation, the 1898 Wilmington Race Riot Commission or his campaigns.

Here's a rundown:

James Lofton: Helped Wright start foundation in 2001. Attends church with Wright. Told the Star News the state board is "on a witch hunt" and he won't attend the hearings.

Helyn Lofton: James' wife. A member of the 1898 Wilmington Race Riot Commission, which Wright led.

Wayne Lofton: Son of James and Helyn. Worked with Wright on starting a museum about the 1898 riots.

Daryle Parker: Served as Wright's campaign treasurer in 2002 and 2003.

Karen Davis-Parker: Daryle's ex-wife. A funeral director, she handled the service for Wright's mother.