As part of an archaeological survey of downtown Wilmington (NC) I have a
graduate student locating the market sites through a combination of archival
research and oral history. The City Market apparently instituted an ordinance
in the 1920's stating that only woman could sell their (agricultural) goods
there, although a 1930's WPA project mentions African-American merchants at
that market as well. There were other markets in the city at that time too
with no such ordinances. Has anyone run across something like this? We can
find no record of exactly why that, or any market site, would be
gender-specific.

Thank you.

Maureen Basedow
Assistant Professor of Archaeology
University of North Carolina, Wilmington