Black, White, Colored - by Lauretta Malloy Noble & Leeanet Noble (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

An absorbing investigation into a little-known historical tragedy--an insurrection at the turn of the twentieth century which upended post-Reconstruction gains made by Black residents in a small North Carolina town.

In the late nineteenth century, Laurinburg, North Carolina, was a beacon of racial calm--a place where Blacks and Whites could live and work together. Black families like the Malloys became landlords, businessmen, and doctors. But that progress was shattered on the eve of Election Day, 1898, when supremacist groups launched a bloody attack, forcing Laurinburg's Black citizens to flee. This bloody race riot was the only recorded insurrection, stripping middle-class Blacks--who made strides during Reconstruction--of their seats on every electoral board.

Black, White, Colored is the first book to tell the story of the events in Laurinburg and its impact on the town's Black occupants. Descendants, Lauretta Malloy Noble and LeeAnét Noble, carefully piece together that fateful event and its aftermath, providing compelling details of how their family became one of this Southern town's richest and most powerful despite slavery, violent white supremacist groups, floods, war, and other roadblocks to success.

Black, White, Colored shines a spotlight on the Laurinburg Insurrection, and elevates it to its rightful place in American history, beside the 1921 race massacre in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and offers insights relevant to our society today.

Review Quotes

"Black, White, Colored is a revelatory and deeply personal excavation of American identity, race, and memory--co-authored by visionary artist and storyteller LeeAnét Noble and her mother, Lauretta Malloy Noble. This is a story of what it means to know who you are, to say your ancestors' names out loud, and to refuse to let their stories remain buried." -- Hill Harper, four-time New York Times best-selling author

"In this moment of anti-Black erasure and in this moment of quiescent let's hail and salute Lauretta Malloy Noble and LeeAnét Noble and their extraordinary book Black, White, Colored" -- Bakari Sellers, author of My Vanishing Country and The Moment

"Black, White, Colored is a bold and unflinching reclamation of history America tried to bury. The story of the Laurinburg insurrection deserves to be held alongside Tulsa, Wilmington, and Rosewood as a defining tragedy of American apartheid--a reality that all-too-many have failed to acknowledge and reckon with. Told through the lens of a proud, successful Black family that found ways to thrive both before and long after the violence, this book is more family history than exhaustive chronicle--a deeply personal account that lifts this history out of hiding and challenges us to reckon with what was stolen--and what remains unhealed." -- Lee Hawkins, author of I Am Nobody's Slave and 2022 Pulitzer Prize finalist for team coverage of the Tulsa Massacre of 1921

"Black, White, Colored doesn't just peel back the layers--it rips the wallpaper clean off history's walls. Lauretta Malloy Noble and LeeAnét Noble serve up erased Black excellence and economic swagger with truth, heart, and a side of 'you didn't know, but now you do.' A must-read excavation of legacy, lineage, and Southern grace under pressure." -- Erika Alexander, narrative strategist, cultural architect and cofounder of Color Farm Media

"I am so excited about Black, White, Colored. Lauretta and LeeAnét Noble's storytelling is captivating and holds the reader riveted. Richly textured details of the Malloy's and community where Black people worked and succeeded in every aspect of the community. These people flourished in spite of the race and time. Told in a manner that allows Black, White, Colored takes its place as "must read". There was Black Wall Street, Oscarville, Wrightsville and now the unforgettable Laurinburg as penned by the remarkable Mother Daughter writing team Lauretta & LeeAnét Noble, descendants of the Malloy family are ready for prime time." -- Phyllis Yvonne Stickney, American Actress and comedian

The truth of our history is so important, and all too often, left untold. I recently worked in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and had the opportunity to deepen my understanding of the massacre in the Greenwood Community. When I read Black, White, and Colored, by Lauretta Malloy and LeeAnét Noble, it resonated with my soul. I am deeply grateful to these two powerful women who dared to share their family's history with us. Their testimony is filled with lessons and inspiration for us all." -- Keith David, three time Emmy and NAACP Image award winning actor, singer and voice over artist

Histories of Black freedom movements foreground the importance of intergenerational knowledge to envision and build sustainable new worlds. Black, White, Colored offers the opportunity to not only learn about the impact of cultivating intergenerational knowledge on their family's history but also its impact on the writing process. In so doing, the book also offers the opportunity to make a significant contribution to Black life writing. -- Dr. Soyica Diggs Colbert, Ph. D. Interim Provost and Idol Family Professor, Georgetown University

"We must honor history. I also believe we should embrace the uncomfortable in the past in order to move forward in the present and the future. Lauretta Malloy Noble and LeeAnét Noble, mother and daughter and beneficiaries of an extraordinary family do both brilliantly in their essential read." -- Gayle Jessup White, author of Reclamation: Sally Hemings, Thomas Jefferson, and a Descendant's Search for Her Lasting Legacy