Indiana author writes book about racially harmonious community in 19th-century South

In 1875, the little village of Marvin, North Carolina, took its name from the Rev. Enoch Mather Marvin, a Confederate chaplain from Missouri who became a bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church South in 1866. The village took on the character of the charitable bishop who once turned down a dinner invitation from General Robert E. Lee to sup with the village blacksmith in Lexington, Va. Marvin became one of the most racially harmonious communities in the South, just 17 miles from one of the most racially troubled cities, Monroe, the county seat.

Indiana resident Gene Stowe of South Bend has written a book, Inherit the Land: Jim Crow Meets Miss Maggie's Will, that traces Marvin's history and explains its harmony. A white family that lived next door to Marvin Methodist Church bequeathed its 800-acre home place to a black family with whom they had related as equals for decades. When the will was revealed in 1920, more than 100 white cousins challenged the bequest, but after a sensational two-week trial in 1921, a white jury in Monroe took only 45 minutes to uphold the will. Marvin Methodist and another nearby Methodist church also were beneficiaries.

The history of mutual respect has led to unbroken racial harmony in the community, now a thriving suburb of Charlotte, Stowe reveals in his book, published by the University Press of Mississippi in June. A Publishers Weekly review notes that national media overlooked this story when it happened, and suggest that it's not too late for the unexpected act of love to have a national impact. More information is online at www.genestowe.com.

Last updated on 25 Apr 2008

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