The newspapers now known as The News & Observer and The Charlotte Observer played a key role in fostering racial violence in Wilmington, N.C., more than 100 years ago.

Today, those papers published a 16-page special section explaining what happened then and how those events affected civil rights later on. The author is a Duke University researcher, with design and editing by the N&O staff. (It's good to see a copy editor in the credits.) Because it's set up like a short book, the tabloid-format section works best in printed form, but it's also compelling online.