Editing Rich Square, North Carolina (section)

==History==
[[Quakers]] were some of the earliest settlers in Northampton County, being established there by the early 1750s.  The congregation in Rich Square was established in 1760, and was once a center for the Religious Society of Friends in North Carolina.  By 1832, they were a minority in Rich Square, though they continued working to relocate former [[slavery in the United States|slaves]] into [[slave states and free states|free states]].<ref name="2022-03 Southern Friend" />

In 1947, Godwin Bush was a black man in Northampton County who escaped a [[lynching in the United States|lynching]] by a white mob; two all-white [[grand juries in the United States|grand juries]] refused to indict the seven white kidnappers.  In response, local pastor and businessman Paul A. Bishop promoted a black-led boycott of white-owned businesses in Rich Square (contemporaneously described by a black community leader as "a town that didn't like black folk.")  Many of the boycotted stores went out of business.<ref name="2020-01 North Carolina Historical Review" />

On July 26, 1959, [[Lieutenant colonel (United States)|Lieutenant Colonel]] [[William Rankin]] was flying his [[United States Marine Corps|US Marine Corps]] [[F8U Crusader]] from [[Naval Air Station South Weymouth]] in Massachusetts to [[Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort|Naval Air Station Beaufort]] in South Carolina.  When he lost all power at an altitude of {{convert|47000|ft}}, he [[ejection seat|ejected]] into the {{convert|-70|F|adj=on}} air and began [[uncontrolled decompression]] through an intense thunderstorm and hail for the next 40 minutes.  After "the most prolonged and fantastic parachute descent in history", he eventually landed near Rich Square, from where he was rescued by a local farmer and eventually taken to [[Ahoskie, North Carolina]] for triage.  (The plane came down near [[Scotland Neck, North Carolina]].)<ref name="1960-10-15 Saturday Evening Post" />

In 1968, the [[federal government of the United States]] established the [[Family Development Training Project]] in Rich Square, an effort up uplift families in poverty by simultaneously educating all members thereof at government expense.  On a {{convert|50|acre|adj=on}} parcel of town, twelve training and support buildings were constructed to support the 50 families living in 50 colocated [[mobile home]]s.  Eligible families must have been employed by two or more employers in the preceding year, and annually earn less than {{US$|2500|1968}}.  In 1974, ''[[The Family Coordinator]]'' called the five-year program "one of the most unique and successful programs ever developed in the United States".<ref name="1974-04 Family Coordinator" />

The [[Duke-Lawrence House]] is a recognized example of [[Georgian architecture]] in Rich Square, and it was added to the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in October 1980.<ref name="National Park Service: Duke-Lawrence House" />  The local [[Holoman-Outland House]] was recognized for its [[Colonial Revival architecture]] and listed on the register in October 2001.<ref name="National Park Service: Holoman-Outland House" />