1898 and White Supremacy

In November 1898, on the heels of the state Democratic Party’s white supremacy campaign, violence broke out in Wilmington. A white mob burned the offices of a Black newspaper and killed at least twenty-five African Americans. The white supremacists then overthrew the elected Republican government of the city and installed a white Democratic mayor and council in its place. Many elected officials from across the state were involved in, or supported, this instance of white supremacist violence. In this chapter, we’ll examine first-hand accounts of the Wilmington Coup -- the only ever successful coup d'état on U.S. soil -- and its aftermath. We’ll also evaluate the “suffrage amendment” of 1899 that effectively barred blacks from voting in North Carolina.


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