Opinion | How the White Press Wrote Off Black America nytimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nytimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Wilmington has a rich history, but many stories remain untold.
“A People’s History of Wilmington,” a series of virtual talks and discussions, highlights Black history and culture that is often missing from history lessons.
The series includes:
Cape Fear Rag: The Forgotten Jazz Roots of Wilmington, Thursday, April 8, 6:30 p.m.
North Carolina writer and historian Larry Reni Thomas grew up on the northside of Wilmington. His 1993 book, The True Story of the Wilmington 10, was among the first to focus attention on the injustices of 1971.
On the Record: Recovering the First Black Daily in the South, Thursday, April 15, 6:30 p.m.
BBC News
By Toby Luckhurst
image captionThe mob burned down the offices of the Wilmington Daily Record
A violent mob, whipped into a frenzy by politicians, tearing apart a town to overthrow the elected government.
Following state elections in 1898, white supremacists moved into the US port of Wilmington, North Carolina, then the largest city in the state. They destroyed black-owned businesses, murdered black residents, and forced the elected local government - a coalition of white and black politicians - to resign en masse.
Historians have described it as the only coup in US history. Its ringleaders took power the same day as the insurrection and swiftly brought in laws to strip voting and civil rights from the state s black population. They faced no consequences.