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 slaves into free states.[3]
In 1947, Godwin Bush was a black man in Northampton County who escaped a lynching by a white mob; two all-white 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.[4]
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 expanse. On a 50-acre (20 ha) parcel of town, twelve training and support buildings were constructed to support the 50 families living in 50 colocated mobile homes. Eligible families must have been employed by two or more employers in the preceding year, and annually earn less than US$2,500 (equivalent to $21,904 in 2023). In 1974, The Family Coordinator called the five-year program "one of the most unique and successful programs ever developed in the United States".[6]
As of the 2020 United States census, the population of Rich Square was 894 people in 337 of the town's 414 housing units. The median age was 62.2 (± 7.4), with 44.5 percent (± 10.7%) of the town aged 65 or older, and only 9.1 percent (± 4.8%) under 18.[9]
In Rich Square, 4.4 percent (± 4.1%) of residents were foreign-born (all of whom were naturalized citizens), and only 5.0 percent (± 4.4%) spoke a language other than English at home. Four residents (0.4%) were Native Americans, one (0.1%) was Asian, 578 (64.7%) were Black or African American, 26 (2.9%) were Hispanic or Latino, 270 (31.1%) were White people, nine (1%) were of another race or ethnicity, and 24 (2.7%) were multiracial people.[9]
In town, 18.0 percent (± 9.3%) of residents had at least a bachelor's degree, while seven percent had a graduate degree or higher. The employment rate was 38.7 percent (± 13.1%), and 5.5 percent (± 5.7%) of the men were veterans. The town's median household income was $29,375 (± $15,623), as compared to the state's rate of $61,972 (± $541), which left 34.0 percent (± 16.6%) of locals living in poverty.[9]
Government
In the 1960s, Rich Square was governed by a town council. Local funeral home director Joseph Gordon was the first African American elected to the body, in 1967.[10]
^Rankin, William H. (October 15, 1960). "I Rode the Thunder". The Saturday Evening Post. Vol. 233, no. 16. pp. 24–25, 45–46, 50, 54, 56. ISSN0048-9239. A jet pilot's harrowing account of his high-altitude bail-out through a thunderstorm that held him in its grip for forty minutes after he jumped.
^Kirk, Jeremy (September 1, 2004). "Four Decades in North Korea". Far Eastern Economic Review. Tokyo. ISSN0014-7591. Archived from the original on September 2, 2004. Retrieved August 27, 2022. One cold night in 1965, Sgt. Charles Robert Jenkins disappeared from a patrol in South Korea. Forty years later he has resurfaced. In his first interview since leaving North Korea, he tells the Review his story
^Gerard, Philip (May 28, 2018). "The 1940s: Field of Dreams". Our State. ISSN1092-0838. Archived from the original on February 5, 2023. Retrieved May 29, 2023. At a rural crossroads in Halifax County, black farmers chart a new destiny for their families through the Tillery resettlement program.