A Historic Moment
Sep 30, 2020
3 minutes
BY JESSICA LEBER
ILLUSTRATION BY STEPHANIE SINGLETON
IN 1986 BIRDERS IN WESTERN North Carolina formed an Audubon chapter named after Elisha Mitchell, a 19th-century conservationist. The East Coast’s highest peak also bears his name.
Decades later, on a Friday this June, chapter president Nancy Casey opened an email from a member and learned that Mitchell was also a slaveholder. Quick research further revealed he wrote a book defending the disgraceful institution. Fourteen hours
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