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Book Cover for: The Legend of Wyatt Outlaw: From Reconstruction Through Black Lives Matter, Sylvester Allen

The Legend of Wyatt Outlaw: From Reconstruction Through Black Lives Matter

Sylvester Allen

Wyatt Outlaw's story was one of Black success: He was a Union League leader, business owner, and the first Black town constable and commissioner in Graham, a small town located in North Carolina's Alamance County. But in 1870, Outlaw was murdered by the Ku Klux Klan, setting off a dramatic series of events: more lynchings, a Republican-led "war" against the Klan, and a white supremacist crackdown on Black political power that continues today. As a child, Black activist, musician, and Graham native Sylvester Allen frequently passed the site where Outlaw was killed without ever learning his name. Belle Boggs, white and also from the South, taught high school in Alamance County without knowing Outlaw's importance.

Allen and Boggs both sought to discover why Outlaw had been erased from mainstream history books. In The Legend of Wyatt Outlaw, they share what they found in artful detail and connect Outlaw's story to the violence against Black people in Alamance and throughout the United States, from Reconstruction through Jim Crow, the civil rights era, and Black Lives Matter. Drawing on archival research, interviews, and their own personal stories, Allen and Boggs join the conversation begun by historian Peniel Joseph and activist William Barber II about a third Reconstruction in America, but they also offer ways to move forward for any community struggling with a history of racism.

Book Details

  • Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
  • Publish Date: Jan 27th, 2026
  • Pages: 296
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 9.45in - 6.42in - 1.00in - 1.25lb
  • EAN: 9781469689999
  • Categories: United States - State & Local - South (AL,AR,FL,GA,KY,LA,MS,African American & BlackCultural & Ethnic Studies - American - African American & Bl

About the Author

Boggs, Belle: -

Belle Boggs is professor of English at North Carolina State University, and author of several books, including The Gulf and The Art of Waiting: On Fertility, Medicine, and Motherhood.

Allen, Sylvester: - Sylvester Allen Jr. is a writer, composer, and director based in Graham, North Carolina.

Praise for this book

"Through a mix of chilling primary sources, interviews with present-day residents of Alamance County, and personal reflections, the authors point to the continued persistence of white supremacist forces in the legal system, as well as the region's robust history of Black civic engagement. . . . [A] potent reckoning with an intentionally obfuscated history."--Publishers Weekly

"Allen and Boggs excel as powerful and engaging storytellers in this book uncovering the largely forgotten story of Wyatt Outlaw. . . . [A] timely, informative, and deeply resonant book that will inspire reflection and action."--Library Journal, STARRED review

"In their masterful account, Allen and Boggs demonstrate that Outlaw's life and death were emblematic of the courageous and determined Black struggle for economic and political power during Reconstruction."--Booklist, STARRED review

"A beautiful blend of history, lived experience, and hope for the future, The Legend of Wyatt Outlaw offers readers the biography of an extraordinary Black man in the American South, one too few of us know. Allen and Boggs tell us Wyatt Outlaw's story not as a mere history lesson but as a reclamation of the past and the future. Allen in particular is an inspiring figure, and his quest to bring Outlaw's story to light is something to behold."--Keenan Norris, author of Chi Boy

"Within these pages, Sylvester Allen Jr. and Belle Boggs have shaped an exemplary public history: collaborative, local, deep, careful, trenchant, and clarifying. And more than that, this is a breathtaking community history, overflowing with the rich wisdom of multiple voices and the struggles of many generations. Wyatt Outlaw may not yet have a public memorial in Graham, North Carolina, the place where his life was stolen by the KKK, but this book, this song, this many-layered rendering is a fitting testament to his courage and spirit. This book is a bridge as well as a balm. Read it to learn, to teach, to connect, and to shine a light into the future."--Tiya Miles, author of All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley's Sack, a Black Family Keepsake

"A powerful and much-needed antidote to our long-accepted, and now invigorated, ignorance. Sylvester Allen Jr. and Belle Boggs have given us a deeply researched, fierce remembrance of Outlaw. Their mission is rooted in the premise that stories can't be healed, or compensated for, or knowingly endured, rather obviously, until they are uprooted and learned. You can't depart from these pages without a deepened understanding of our imperfect ability to comprehend ourselves. That lesson is crucial to our present challenges--North Carolina needs this book. I'm confident that, given the tenor of the times, the nation does as well."--Gene R. Nichol, author of Lessons from North Carolina: Race, Religion, Tribe, and the Future of America

"A well-crafted contribution to history in a society where telling the truth about history makes you an outlaw."--Kirkus