HISTORY COMES ALIVE AT MAGNOLIA GREENS

By: Jan Morgan-Swegle

There is much to be said about having a passion. We define our passions and often, our passions define us. If you ask Jerry Spencer about his passion, his eyes light up and he says, “history.” Jerry Spencer, lives his passion as an American History teacher at Leland Middle School, and as a leader of the Magnolia Greens History Club.

The club, founded by Jerry in 2024, offers residents in Magnolia Greens the opportunity to explore the rich history of Wilmington and the surrounding areas. “My vision or mission when I was creating the History Club was two-fold,” Jerry explained.  “I wanted to create a community, a social space where members can bond over common interests, participate in group activities like museum visits or historical reenactments and build lasting friendships with people that have an interest or a passion about history.  I’m a teacher, I also wanted to create something that could serve to be an educational experience.  Long term, I hope that this club will foster some critical thinking by encouraging members to analyze sources, consider different perspectives and to utilize an important tool when source mining that you examine topics of history with an objective lens.”

Jerry has been a “history buff” for quite a number of years, giving credit to his father, who served in the U.S. Navy as a submariner.  “When my father served in the reserves, we went to Norfolk, Virginia almost every summer,” he said. “My dad would work on the Naval Base and my mom, sister and I would explore Virginia Beach. My father had such a wealth of knowledge of history from all over the world. He served during the Vietnam  War era, mainly in the Mediterranean. With his help, I would build model planes and ships.  I would make dioramas of famous battles in a sandbox we had. And stamps, he loved collecting stamps. I still have the world stamp collection that my father passed on to me. We used to spend time talking about the countries of the world and the historical events shown on stamps. I particularly enjoyed the U.S. commemorative stamps.”

Augmenting his own extensive historical knowledge, Jerry relies on guest speakers to enlighten the club and make history come alive. “I have been surprised that we have had such high-level speakers in this area, eager to come to our community and make a connection to meaningful content,” he said.   

One of the club’s favorite speakers was Professor Chris Fonvielle, Jr., Professor Emeritus, Department of History, UNCW, who has published books and historical articles including “The Wilmington Campaign: Last Rays of Departing Hope,” “Wilmington and the Lower Cape Fear: An Illustrated History,” and “Fort Fisher 1865: The Photographs of T.H. O’Sullivan.”  Fonvielle spoke about the Civil War and the role that the city of Wilmington had, being considered the “lifeline of the Confederacy,” because it was the last major port open to blockade runners supplying the South.

Jerry also plans to have his wife, Professor Sharon Woznaik Spencer, do an interactive lecture on Ancient Art. “She does a great presentation on Ancient Art history from Prehistoric up to around the 1400s,” he said.

But the club isn’t just about lectures. Members tour local historical sites such as Thalian Hall, the Burgwin-Wright House and the Bellamy Mansion. In the near future, the club will travel to New Bern to visit Tryon Palace, the first permanent capitol of both colonial North Carolina and the state of North Carolina.

There is a fascination in seeing how our ancestors lived, that “people side” of history that is so different from the life we live now. Touring their homes brings them to life — whether you are looking at a much too small bed with a chamber pot next to it, or realizing that yes, indeed, their great mansions had grand parties with an extensive array of food, but the windows, which would have been open in the summer, didn’t have screens, so those parties and that food catered to local bugs that flew freely in and out.  Or, examining the ladies wear of the day—long gowns with layers of “foundation,” you tend to wonder how they didn’t faint from the heat of the North Carolina summers.

But, too often, history is the re-telling of war — of great victories or stunning defeats.  The quote, “history is written by the victors,” has been attributed to Winston Churchill, though not substantiated.  It implies that history is not a re-telling grounded in actual facts, but in the winners’ interpretation thereof. That interpretation ultimately becomes fact over time, but fact from one perspective.

Jerry uses the example of one of his historical artifacts, the front page of the New York Journal dated February 17, 1898, to illustrate how the media can shape perspective.  The headline screams “Who Destroyed the Maine?” This was in reference to an explosion on the USS Maine when it was docked in Havana Harbor, Cuba.  Almost two thirds of the crew was killed. The article suggested that the explosion was not an accident, but there was really no basis in fact to prove this. The newspaper was using sensationalism and exaggeration to shape public opinion, another practice that Jerry teaches his students to question.

Many among us were taught that we study history to ensure that we don’t repeat practices or events that led to wars or mass displacement of an ethnic group.  Jerry references “The Trail of Tears,” as an example.  In 1830, the government passed the Indian Removal Act, which involved five “civilized Indian tribes.” The tribes were forcibly removed from their land in the southeastern United States and moved to “Indian Territory,” west of the Mississippi. The relocated tribes suffered from disease and starvation while on route and thousands died from disease shortly after arriving at the new reservation.

It’s why when teaching his students Jerry instructs them to look at history from different perspectives. “I believe many contemporary social, political and economic issues, such as racial inequality, immigration debates and voting rights have deep historical roots,” he said. History provides context to better understand and address them. It is amazing how many students did not know about the Wilmington Race Riots, the Trail of Tears, the Chinese Exclusion Act or the detainment of American Japanese in internment camps during World War II.  I explain to them that it is important to understand the perspectives of not one source, but many.  I tell them that the pages of American History have some stains on them, some in blood, but it is important that we examine the efforts made by many to improve society and learn from mistakes made in the past.”

The Magnolia Greens Historical Club once toured Thalian Hall, which was built between 1855 and 1858 and was a major stop for nationally known touring artists of the time.  In 2014, Thalian Hall was transformed into Ford’s Theatre for a Smithsonian documentary about Abraham Lincoln.   During the tour, Jerry touched the back of the stage, which still has the original brick from when the theatre first opened. “I said I liked touching history, and a friend laughed and said, maybe I touched the same wall that John Wilkes Booth had touched.  It makes you think that maybe “history” isn’t that long ago and is still all around us,” he said.

Originally from Latham, New York, Jerry and his family moved here for the weather, the beach and a slower pace than New York City.   He has used that slower pace to watch his children grow up, coach them in sports and be active in their lives.  Jerry is creating a history with his children that they will remember and carry on. “I have one son that has shown the same type of passion when talking about history,” he said proudly.  “Often, we will read the same book and have really deep discussions about it. We were very lucky to visit the Holocaust Museum. It had just opened its doors while we were there.  It was a moving experience for both of us.”

The English writer and philosopher, Aldous Huxley, once said, “That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons that history has to teach.”

He may be right, but with Jerry Spencer at the helm of the Magnolia Greens History Club and teaching our middle school children, my sense is that the “lessons of history” will be reviewed in a balanced method with all perspectives considered, and isn’t that the way it should be?