Papers (1898-1903, 1953-1984, undated) including photographs, clippings, biographical sketch, and photocopy of pages from "A Documentary History of The Negro People in the United States" concerning Alex L. Manly (1866-1944), African-American newspaper editor of The Daily Record in Wilmington, North Carolina, during the Wilmington massacre of 1898. Additional materials include typed transcriptions of nine letters (November 19, 1953-November 9, 1955) written by Caroline "Carrie" Sadgwar Manly (widow of Alex L. Manly) to her sons Milo A. Manly and Lewin R. Manly. The transcriptions were done by Milo A. Manly (1903-1991) and given by him to the donor, Professor Charles Hardy III. Also included is a photocopy of the transcription of an interview done with Milo A. Manly by the donor on September 11, 1984. The original interview is held at Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History at the University of Kentucky.
Alexander Lightfoot Manly was born near Raleigh, North Carolina, on May 13, 1866; he and his brothers were educated at Hampton Institute in Hampton, Virginia. He was an African American leader and newspaper editor in Wilmington, N.C., during the 1890s. As editor of The Daily Record which he owned with his brother Frank, he was accused of stirring "racial discord" through his outspoken editorial policy. The brothers were forced to flee the city on the eve of the Wilmington massacre in 1898 carried out by white supremacists. He married his fiancée Caroline in Washington, D.C., and they settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They had two sons, Milo Alexander Manly (1903-1991) and Lewin Robinson Manly (1911-1959). Manly died October 5, 1944, and is buried in Cheltenham, Pennsylvania.
Caroline "Carrie" Sadgwar Manly (1871-1966), wife of Alex Manly, grew up in Wilmington, N.C., the daughter of prominent Wilmington native Frederick Sadgwar, Sr. She attended Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, where she trained as a vocalist. She was in London, England, performing with the Fisk Jubilee Singers during the time of the Wilmington massacre in 1898.
Milo Manly (1903-1991) was one of two sons of Alex and Caroline Manly. Milo was raised in Philadelphia and attended Cheltenham High School. Like his father, Milo became a civil rights and political activist in Philadelphia. Milo became the director of fieldwork for the National Council for Permanent Fair Employment Practices Commission.
Sources:
https://www.ncpedia.org/biography/manly-alex
https://goinnorth.org/milo-manly-interview
Find a Grave.
MyHeritage.com
Of major interest in this collection are photographs of The Record staff and building, Alex L. Manly and his brother before fleeing from Wilmington, and later pictures of Manly and his family. Of particular interest is a clipping from the New York Herald for November 14, 1898, giving an account of the Wilmington massacre of 1898, and a photocopy of pages from "A Documentary History of The Negro People in the United States" (Herbert Aptheker, editor) quoting Alex L. Manly's famous 1898 editorial in The Record. Along with the editorial is an 1899 speech by a Reverend Morris, entitled "The Wilmington Massacre, 1898," which recounts the details of that encounter.
Included in the addition are typed transcriptions of nine letters (Nov 19, 1953- Nov 9, 1955) written by Caroline "Carrie" Sadgwar Manly (widow of Alex L. Manly) living in La Mott (near Philadelphia), Pa, to her sons Milo A. Manly and Lewin Manly. The transcriptions were done by Milo A. Manly (1903-1991). The letters cover a range of topics related to Caroline Manly. She discusses her grandfather David Elias Sadgwar, who owned farmland and city properties, and her grandmother, Julia, an enslaved person. She details her father's life as an enslaved person and subsequent education after the abolition of slavery. Caroline's other grandfather Bender (Grampa Jim) was a part of the Cherokee Nation. Caroline then details her life growing up in Wilmington, NC, and her time at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. She discusses her future husband's (Alex Manly) role and escape during the Wilmington massacre of 1898 (North Carolina). After the massacre, she and Manly married in Washington, D.C., and they moved to Philadelphia and then to La Mott, Pa.
Also included is a photocopy of the transcription (done by Jennie Boyd) of an interview done with Milo A. Manly by Professor Charles Hardy III on Sept 11, 1984. Milo Manly discusses his early life growing up. During WWI he dropped out of Cheltenham High School (just outside Philadelphia, PA) to work at a machine shop. After the Armistice was signed ending WWI, Manly describes the tensions in Philadelphia between unemployed Black and white men. He returned to high school, graduated, and then attended the University of Pennsylvania for mechanical engineering. In the interview Milo Manly discusses his job as director of fieldwork for the National Council for Permanent Fair Employment Practices Commission. He also describes his father's role in the Armstrong Association and political activism in the Philadelphia region.
Gift of Milo M. Manly
Gift of Charles Hardy III
Processed by Donald R. Lennon. Revised January 30, 2019, by Tyler Caldwell.
Encoded by Apex Data Services
Descriptions updated by Ashlyn Racine, May 2023
Literary rights to specific documents are retained by the authors or their descendants in accordance with U.S. copyright law. The donor, Professor Charles Hardy III, of the Caroline Manly correspondence transcriptions reserves the right to use them in his own publications.