Editing Mitchell County, North Carolina (section)

==History==
The county was formed in 1861 from parts of [[Burke County, North Carolina|Burke County]], [[Caldwell County, North Carolina|Caldwell County]], [[McDowell County, North Carolina|McDowell County]], [[Watauga County, North Carolina|Watauga County]], and [[Yancey County, North Carolina|Yancey County]]. It was named for [[Elisha Mitchell]], professor of [[mathematics]], [[chemistry]], [[geology]], and [[mineralogy]] at the [[University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill|University of North Carolina]] from 1818 until his death in 1857. Dr. Mitchell was the first scientist to argue that a nearby peak in the [[Black Mountains (North Carolina)|Black Mountains]] was the highest point east of the Mississippi River. He measured the mountain's height and climbed and explored it. In 1857 he fell to his death on a waterfall on the side of the mountain. The mountain was subsequently named [[Mount Mitchell]] in his honor.

By 1899, Mitchell County had a [[sundown town]] policy of preventing [[African Americans|Black Americans]] from living or working in the county.<ref>{{cite news|title=Negro Laborers Not Allowed There; Railroad Company Wants Protection|work=[[Dayton Daily News|The Dayton Evening Herald]]|location=Dayton, Ohio|date=November 6, 1899|page=5|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/29070368/|via=Newspapers.com|quote=The [[Ohio River and Charleston Railway|Ohio River & Charleston Railroad Co.]] will appeal to [[Daniel Lindsay Russell|Governor Russell]] for protection for its gangs of negro laborers in Mitchell county. The residents of this county escorted three gangs of laborers to the border line and told them not to return under pain of death. It is the boast of the people of Mitchell county that no negroes are allowed to live or work there. Up to date the boast has been made good. The situation is serious, and blood may flow if the railroad company brings its colored laborers back.}}</ref> By the early 1920s, Black Americans began working and living in the county in larger numbers, especially as mine workers and as [[Convict leasing|convict laborers]] constructing local infrastructure, including new [[North Carolina Highway System|state highways]] such as what is now [[U.S. Route 19E|US Highway 19E]]. In September 1923, a 75-year-old White woman named Alice Thomas accused John Goss, an escaped Black convict laborer, of raping her. A White mob formed in Spruce Pine, and when they could not locate the fugitive Goss, the mob (which included members of the [[Ku Klux Klan]]) forced nearly all of the Black people onto train cars heading out of the county. Governor [[Cameron A. Morrison|Cameron Morrison]], an ally of the infrastructure construction and mining industries, declared martial law and called in the [[North Carolina National Guard|National Guard]] in an attempt to stop the mob violence, but by the time the Guard units arrived two days later, the Black mine and construction laborers had already been driven from the county. The National Guard occupied Spruce Pine for nearly two weeks. Despite Morrison's declaration of [[martial law]] having little effect, it was the first time martial law was declared in response to an instance of [[mass racial violence in the United States]]. Ultimately, 86 members of the [[White supremacy|white supremacist]] mob were indicted for their actions, many of whom pleaded guilty to minor offences. Goss was arrested in [[Hickory, North Carolina|Hickory]] four days after the alleged rape, and at the orders of the Governor, jailed in [[Raleigh, North Carolina|Raleigh]] to avert [[lynching]]. He was tried three weeks later in Mitchell County, convicted by jury after five minutes of deliberation, and executed by [[electrocution]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Neufeld|first=Rob|title=Visiting Our Past: Feldspar mining and racial tensions|url=https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/2019/08/04/visiting-our-past-feldspar-mining-and-racial-tensions/1876796001/|access-date=March 26, 2021|website=The Asheville Citizen Times|language=en-US|archive-date=September 20, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240920043430/https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/2019/08/04/visiting-our-past-feldspar-mining-and-racial-tensions/1876796001/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Jaspin|first=Elliot|title=Buried in the Bitter Waters: the Hidden History of Racial Cleansing in America|publisher=Basic Books|year=2007|isbn=9780465036363|location=New York|pages=201–217}}</ref>

The county took a direct hit from "The Storm of the Century", also known as the "’93 Superstorm", or "The (Great) Blizzard of 1993". This storm event was similar in nature to a hurricane. The storm occurred between March 12–13, 1993, on the East Coast of North America. Parts of Cuba, Gulf Coast States, Eastern United States and Eastern Canada were greatly impacted. The county suffered a tragic event on May 3, 2002, when a fire broke out at the [[Mitchell jail fire|Mitchell County jail]] in Bakersville, North Carolina. Eight men lost their lives in the fire.

Mitchell County was one of the three entirely [[Prohibition|dry]] counties in North Carolina, along with [[Graham County, North Carolina|Graham]] and [[Yancey County, North Carolina|Yancey]], but in March 2009, after much controversy, the Town of [[Spruce Pine, North Carolina|Spruce Pine]] approved beer, wine and limited retail sale.