Cameron A. Morrison

{{Infobox officeholder

|name = Cameron A. Morrison

|image = Cameron A. Morrison.jpg

|state1 = North Carolina

|district1 = 10th

|term_start1 = January 3, 1943

|term_end1 = January 3, 1945

|preceded1 = New Constituency (Redistricting)

|succeeded1 = Joseph W. Ervin

|jr/sr2 = United States Senator

|state2 = North Carolina

|term_start2 = December 13, 1930

|term_end2 = December 4, 1932

|appointer2 = Oliver Max Gardner

|predecessor2 = Lee S. Overman

|successor2 = Robert R. Reynolds

|order3 = 55th

|office3 = Governor of North Carolina

|termstart3 = January 12, 1921

|termend3 = January 14, 1925

|lieutenant3 = William B. Cooper

|predecessor3 = Thomas Walter Bickett

|successor3 = Angus Wilton McLean

|birth_date = {{birth date|1869|10|5}}

|birth_place = Rockingham, North Carolina, U.S.

|death_date = {{death date and age|1953|8|20|1869|10|5}}

|death_place = Quebec City, Quebec, Canada

|party = Democratic

|spouses = Lottie May Tomlinson
Sara Virginia Ecker Watts

|children = 4 (including Angelia Lawrance Morrison Harris)

}}

Cameron A. Morrison (October 5, 1869{{spaced ndash}}August 20, 1953) was an American politician and the 55th governor of the U.S. state of North Carolina from 1921 to 1925.

Early life and career

He was born in 1869 in Richmond County, North Carolina.

In 1898, Morrison participated in the Wilmington insurrection of 1898, a violent coup d'état by a group of white supremacists. They expelled opposition black and white political leaders from the city, destroyed the property and businesses of black citizens built up since the Civil War, including the only black newspaper in the city, and killed an estimated 60 to more than 300 people.{{cite news|title=RACE QUESTION IN POLITICS:North Carolina White Men Seek to Wrest Control from the Negroes|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1898/10/24/archives/race-question-in-politics-north-carolina-white-men-seek-to-wrest.html|newspaper=New York Times|date=October 24, 1898|access-date=January 26, 2020|archive-date=January 26, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200126203045/https://www.nytimes.com/1898/10/24/archives/race-question-in-politics-north-carolina-white-men-seek-to-wrest.html|url-status=live}} The governor of North Carolina, Daniel Lindsay Russell, was forced to flee from Wilmington to Raleigh. Morrison boarded Russell's train in Maxton, North Carolina in the company of a small band of Red Shirts and warned Russell that a more hostile band of Red Shirts were waiting at a later stop. He advised Russell to hide in the baggage car to avoid being lynched, which he did.{{cite book|last1=Zucchino|first1=David|title=Wilmington's Lie: The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy|date=2020|publisher=Atlantic Monthly Press|isbn=9780802128386}}, pp. 172-173

In 1900, he was elected to the North Carolina Senate for one term.{{Cite web |url=https://www.ncpedia.org/biography/morrison-cameron |title=NCpedia biography of Cameron Morrison |access-date=June 5, 2020 |archive-date=August 6, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806212600/https://www.ncpedia.org/biography/morrison-cameron |url-status=dead }}

Governorship

With the backing of Sen. Furnifold Simmons and the help of race-baiting tactics employed by A. D. Watts, Morrison defeated O. Max Gardner in the 1920 Democratic primary for governor.[http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/story/1139946.html News & Observer: "What the obituary didn't say" by Rob Christensen] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080718182552/http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/story/1139946.html |date=2008-07-18 }} In the general election, he defeated Republican nominee John J. Parker.

Morrison was inaugurated on January 12, 1921.{{cite news| title = Morrison, Bickett And Gardner All Receive Ovation At Inaugural| newspaper = The Morning Star| page = 1| date = January 13, 1921|volume=CVI|issue=132}} He came to be called "the Good Roads governor" for his support of a modern highway system. Morrison also presided over various reforms[https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/labor-legislation-1912-32-3905/labor-legislation-1921-492990?page=197 Title: Labor Legislation of 1921 : Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 308, P.193-195][https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89073016529&seq=9 The North Carolina Democratic handbook, prepared by the State Democratic Committee, 1922. J.D. Norwood, chairman [and others], P.39-40][https://archives.ncdcr.gov/morrison-cameron/open GOVERNOR CAMERON MORRISON, n.d., 1921-1926] and pushed for increased funds for public education, while also battling the teaching of the theory of evolution.{{cite web|url=http://www.lib.unc.edu/ncc/evolution/bio/morrison.html|title=Evolution Controversy in NC in the 1920s|work=unc.edu|access-date=15 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090220231119/http://www.lib.unc.edu/ncc/evolution/bio/morrison.html|archive-date=20 February 2009|url-status=dead}}

Later career

He was later appointed to serve as a United States senator for the state of North Carolina (after the death of Lee S. Overman) between 1930 and 1932, but lost his seat in the Democratic primary runoff to Robert R. Reynolds.{{cite web|url=http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=132808|title=Our Campaigns - NC US Senate - D Runoff Race - Jul 02, 1932|work=ourcampaigns.com|access-date=15 April 2015|archive-date=September 29, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929115216/http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=132808|url-status=live}}

Morrison was later elected to one term in the United States House of Representatives from 1943 to 1945.{{cite web|url=http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=226548|title=Our Campaigns - NC District 10 Race - Nov 03, 1942|work=ourcampaigns.com|access-date=15 April 2015|archive-date=September 26, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926223920/http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=226548|url-status=live}} He again lost a Democratic primary for a U.S. Senate seat in 1944, to Clyde R. Hoey.{{cite web|url=http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=132804|title=Our Campaigns - NC US Senate - D Primary Race - May 27, 1944|work=ourcampaigns.com|access-date=15 April 2015|archive-date=September 26, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926224535/http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=132804|url-status=live}} He died in Quebec City in 1953.

Personal life

Morrison was married twice. His first wife, Lottie May Tomlinson, gave birth to four children but only one, Angelia Lawrance Morrison, survived infancy.{{cite web|url= https://archives.ncdcr.gov/morrison-cameron/open|title= GOVERNOR CAMERON MORRISON, n.d., 1921-1926|author= |date= April 14, 2008|website= North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources|access-date= October 8, 2023|archive-date= November 10, 2023|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20231110175529/https://archives.ncdcr.gov/morrison-cameron/open|url-status= live}} Tomlinson died in 1919.{{cite book |last1= Ham|first1= Marie Sharpe|last2= Blake|first2= Debra A.|last3= Morris|first3= C. Edwards|date= 2000|title= North Carolina's First Ladies 1891-2001, Who Have Resided in the Executive Mansion At 200 North Blount Street|location= Raleigh, North Carolina|publisher= The North Carolina Executive Mansion Fine Arts Committee and the North Carolina Executive Mansion Fund, Inc.|pages= 31–33|isbn=0-86526-294-2}}

In 1924, while serving as governor, Morrison married a second time to Sara Virginia Ecker Watts, the widow of George Washington Watts.{{cite book |last1=Moore |first1=Jeanelle Coulter|last2=Hamrick |first2=Grace Rutledge |date=1981 |title=The First Ladies of North Carolina, First Ladies from 1776-1889; Brief Biographies of the First Ladies Who Have Lived in the Present Mansion (1889-1981)| location= Raleigh, North Carolina |publisher= The Executive Mansion Fine Arts Committee, The Bicentennial Foundation, and the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation| pages= 35–37}} Their wedding ceremony was held at Harwood Hall. With his second wife, Morrison built Morrocroft, a large estate in Charlotte.

Legacy

A ten-story residence hall on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is named in Morrison's honor. His home at Charlotte, Morrocroft, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.{{NRISref|version=2010a}}

A library in Charlotte was named after Morrison, but was renamed in 2020 due to Morrison's ties with the Red Shirts and white supremacy.{{cite web |title=Charlotte library removes name of white supremacist from branch |url=https://www.wbtv.com/2020/10/22/charlotte-library-removes-name-white-supremacist-branch/ |website=WBTV |access-date=23 October 2020 |archive-date=October 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201024124936/https://www.wbtv.com/2020/10/22/charlotte-library-removes-name-white-supremacist-branch/ |url-status=live }} A residence hall at North Carolina A&T State University was also named after Morrison, but the name was removed in 2020.{{cite news |last1=Whitlow |first1=Jamille |title=Board of Trustees removes names of two campus buildings |url=https://ncatregister.com/17514/the-yard/board-of-trustees-removes-names-of-two-campus-buildings/ |access-date=23 October 2020 |work=The A&T Register |date=29 September 2020 |archive-date=October 26, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201026201722/https://ncatregister.com/17514/the-yard/board-of-trustees-removes-names-of-two-campus-buildings/ |url-status=live }}