In 1898, a field representative for the American Baptist Publication Society called Wilmington “the freest town for a negro in the country.” Three of the city’s ten aldermen were black, as were ten of twenty-six city policemen. There were black health inspectors, a black superintendent of streets, and far too many—for white sensitivities—black postmasters and magistrates. White men could be arrested by black policemen and, in some cases, were even obliged to appear before a black magistrate in court. Black merchants sold goods from stalls at the city’s public market—a rarity for a Southern
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