Courtesy of the N.C. Department of Cultural
The class of 1943 graduates from Palmer Memorial Institute, now the Charlotte Hawkins Brown Museum, a North Carolina State Historic Site.

By Ben Steelman
Staff Writer

Published: Monday, January 5, 2009 at 7:50 a.m.
Last Modified: Monday, January 5, 2009 at 4:48 p.m.
A big chunk of African-American history, in Wilmington and elsewhere, can now be studied online, thanks to an effort by the State Library of North Carolina.

The Raleigh-based state agency has put digital images of a 1910 reference book, "An Era of Progress and Promise," online as part of its Digital Repository.

The 444-page book can be accessed at http://statelibrary.dcr.state.nc.us/dimp/digital/era/index.html.

"It's a fairly rare book, and it's highly regarded," said Christy Allen, digitization projects manager with the State Library. Both W.E.B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington cited "An Era of Progress and Promise" in their writings.

Compiled by W.N. Hartshorn, the encyclopedic volume included entries on dozens of colleges, universities and secondary schools serving African Americans in Southeastern states.