Week 1- Extensive Concept Research

For this week, one of our assignments was to further our documentary ideas into extensive concept research. Since our first class meeting, our group definitely had a lot to think about discuss in regards to our subject, since we wanted to stray away from the original proposed idea on internet safety. With that being said, we decided on the broad subject of prohibition or rather the opponents of alcohol that still exist in Wilmington (and possibly even Charlotte) even though this city is currently booming, especially with craft breweries. I think that we hoped to dive in and explore the history side of prohibition in Wilmington and the problems it caused since Wilmington is a port city and was a big import/export area of alcohol back in the day. From there we were thinking about looking into how this is still relevant today, by hopefully getting in touch with opponents of the alcohol based community in town and also those who brought the alcohol industry back to life. This is a very loose idea, but one that we have found to be interesting and more accessible to us in the community. We are still working around some of the basic elements of this idea, but we hope that feedback from class and further exploration on the topic will help us out. Here are some of the conversations about articles and sites we have begun to found on the topic throughout the last couple days that we have on our google drive:

"So from my research i’ve found out more about Wilmington’s relationship with alcohol and the legality of it all. What’s interesting to me is how it seems to be a war between people who love alcohol (and brew it themselves) and the people who want it banned (prohibition).  In Wilmington there are a ton of breweries and people who make their own alcohol.  I think we can talk about the people who make their own alcohol, the culture that goes along with it. Another thing that crossed my mind was moonshine.  And I found out there was a shootout between the “most notorious” moonshiners on the carolina coast and the police over in Brunswick county that ended with the moonshiners being sent to the electric chair. (I’ll post articles about them too.) So overall I think we could talk about how prominent alcohol is in a port city community (leaving it open to port cities instead of only Wilm so that it has a more universal effect) even though there were many people in the past that were trying to prevent that from happening.

http://www.starnewsonline.com/news/20100306/north-carolina-has-complex-history-with-liquor

This is the best article i’ve found so far.  There are so many people mentioned that we could possibly even get in touch with.  Also a lot of interesting stuff- like I didn’t know Wilm had a “feast of pirates”. Also, I heard about Carrie Nation on Drunk History the other night. She’s crazy.  I think there is a lot more to this topic than we thought!

http://www.myreporter.com/2009/05/cw-and-elmer-stewart/

Article about Charles William Stewart and William Elmer Stewart

http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/NC/20140320/News/605030720/WM/

Article about a Distillery trying to open in Wilm (back in 2014 so I need to look it up to see if it ever actually opened)

http://www.whiskyvrienden.nl/company.php?id=3837  This is the owner’s contact info. So far I can’t find anything about them ever opening so he may be someone to interview.

https://books.google.com/books?id=KYuDow4OEXwC&pg=PA207&lpg=PA207&dq=moonshiners+hanover+county&source=bl&ots=f8urdGQsfN&sig=9NUyuInUOyh8NfcOpU_81k36BYs&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiM27-qgc3RAhXFeSYKHU8ZBI0Q6AEIKzAC#v=onepage&q=moonshiners%20hanover%20county&f=false

New Hanover county and alcohol

http://louistmoore.com/feast-of-pirates/

Super detailed article about the Feast of the Pirates which relates to our subject because this happened during prohibition...so they had an openly drunken parade in the streets of wilm while alcohol was illegal.

http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nchist-newcentury/5010

Short passage about NC Statewide Prohibition.

http://www.wwaytv3.com/2013/11/21/building-history-barbary-coast/

A short article about Barbary Coast which is the oldest bar in Wilm.  

BLOCKADE RUNNERS- ships that were used to reach Confederate sides with supplies sent from England and occasionally smuggled alcohol.

http://www.wilmingtonandbeaches.com/media/images/civil_war_paper.pdf

This explains Wilm’s history as a port for blockade runners.

-Megan

Here are a few links to articles more directed towards Wilmington’s booming brewery business, which could act in opposition to those who still want heavy rules and regulations against alcohol consumption. These are just random options, and could be a cool route to work into also, since the craft beer industry has become so popular in Wilmington in the last few years:

http://wilmingtonaletrail.com/craft-beer-is-booming/

This one is specifically about the craft beer industry in Wilmington, aka this is more than just a hobby it’s a way to make a living (stuff like that)

http://www.wilmingtonbiz.com/more_news/2014/12/05/brewery_boom_benefits_more_than_just_the_breweries/12667

Also about the industry

http://www.wect.com/story/31419418/wilmington-breweries-say-nc-mandate-on-beer-production-hurts-us-all

This article is about an apparent mandate in the state of north carolina about beer production… could be something worth looking into

-Michaela "