Speaker A: 00:01:25

Welcome back to History's Greatest Crimes, where we unearth the stories that textbook often forget or perhaps choose to ignore.

Speaker B: 00:01:32

And today, Michael, we're not just talking about a stolen jewel or a cunning heist, or we're talking about a stolen city, a stolen government, right here on American soil.

Speaker A: 00:01:43

That's right, Elena.

,: 1898

The city, which stood as a beacon of black advancement in the post Reconstruction south, became the target of a mob of thousands of white vigilantes, and in the process, white supremacists killed hundreds of black residents and pro Republican white residents as they carried out a political coup to replace all of the city's leaders with Democratic officials.

Speaker B: 00:02:18

own as the Wilmington coup of: 1898

Speaker A: 00:02:36

In the days following the Wilmington massacre and political coup on November 10, the narrative spun by the perpetrators was that the black citizens of the city had spontaneously erupted in such violence that it necessitated an equally violent white response. From that point on, the event was labeled a race riot.

It was described as being carried out by a rampaging black population who were angry at the outcome of an election.

Speaker B: 00:03:02

s that the Wilmington coup of: 1898

Speaker A: 00:03:24

In that sense. This was a crime not just against individuals, but against democracy itself. And the narrative was itself part of the crime.

e very act of mislabeling the: 1898

Speaker B: 00:03:51

The architect of the coup, men like Alfred Moore Waddell, who would emerge as a key figure, immediately begin crafting this false narrative to legitimize their action.

Newspapers like Joseph Daniels, Raleigh News and Observer were instrumental in spreading propaganda both before and after the coup, effectively controlling the story that reached the wider public. This wasn't an accidental misinterpretation of events. It was a deliberate strategy to demonize the black community.

Justify the violence and ensure the coup's leaders escaped accountability. The 120 years of silence and fear that one descendant spoke of testifies to the chilling success of this prolonged suppression.

Speaker A: 00:04:37

So let's pull back the curtain on this meticulously planned, brutally executed, and deliberately forgotten crime.

Speaker B: 00:05:03

derstand the explosion of the: 1898

Wilmington in the: 1890

Speaker A: 00:05:22

Exactly the: 1890

The optimism of reconstruction, with its constitutional amendments aimed at ensuring black citizenship and voting rights, were being systematically dismantled. Across the south, Southern cities, which had seen pockets of black political and economic progress, became battlegrounds.

This was the era of the redeemers, White southern democrats determined to roll back these gains and and re establish the pre civil war racial and power dynamics.

Speaker B: 00:05:55

And they did this through a system known as Jim crow. It wasn't just about separate water fountains, Michael.

It was a comprehensive legal and social system designed to disenfranchise black citizens, segregate them, and ensure their subordination.

States across the south were rewriting their constitutions, implementing poll taxes, literacy tests, and grandfather clauses, all designed to strip black men of the vote they had exercised during reconstruction.

Speaker A: 00:06:26

But Wilmington in this context was an anomaly, an affront to this rising tide of white supremacy. It was North Carolina's largest city at the time, a bustling port, and crucially, it had a black majority population, about 56%.

Speaker B: 00:06:41

And these black citizens weren't just laborers. They were artisans, business owners, professionals. There was a genuine black middle class and held significant political power.

As documented, three of the city's 10 aldermen were black. Ten of the city's 26 policemen were black. And there was also black magistrates.

This level of black participation and governance was remarkable for the era, a direct challenge to the post reconstructive narrative that black people were unfit to govern. Wilmington was for its time a remarkably progressive and in some ways integrated city.

Speaker A: 00:07:18

fusion politics. In the late: 1890

However, Republican and populist leaders realized a need to collaborate in opposition to the democratic party by joining together the republican goal of gaining equal rights for black Americans and the populist goal of helping poor farmers in the nation. The fusionists hoped to combat the white supremacist ideals in Rising Tide and of the Democratic party in the state.

Speaker B: 00:07:50

uccessful Black community. In: 1898

They included Wilmington Mayor Dr. Silas P. Wright, the county sheriff George Zaduck French, the Postmaster W.H. chadbourne, and the Chairman of Commissioners Flavell Foster.

These four officials belonged either to the Republican party or the populist party, and they were committed to working together toward their shared goals.

Speaker A: 00:08:34

But this black success, this fusion power, was poison to the white Democratic elite who saw their traditional dominance, their very sense of social and hierarchical order, slipping away. This was fueled by a pervasive ideology of white supremacy, often cloaked in the language of race science.

This pseudoscience, which was very popular in the late 19th century, purported to prove the inherent superiority of the Anglo Saxon race in the inferiority of others, particularly those of African descent. It was used to justify colonialism, to justify segregation and the denial of basic rights.

They believed, or at least they propagated, that black people were intellectually and morally inferior and therefore incapable of self government or to be responsible citizens.

Speaker B: 00:09:22

Democratic leaders and their supporters viewed the rise of black political and economic influence as nothing less than an existential threat to white supremacy. So they launched what they openly, even proudly, called the, quote, white supremacy campaign. So this wasn't a subtle behind the scenes effort.

Furnifold Simmons, the ambitious Democratic party chairman, and Josephus Daniels, the influential publisher of the Raleigh News and Observer, were key architects of this strategy. Their stated goal was chillingly clear. To eliminate forever by ballot or bullet, black political participation in North Carolina.

Speaker A: 00:10:04

Democratic chairman Furnifold Simmons succinctly summarized his approach to ending black political participation as a three pronged strategy.

The Democratic leaders intended to use, quote, men who could write, speak and ride, end quote, to carry out their white supremacy campaign, a coordinated assault on multiple fronts.

Speaker B: 00:10:25

The writers they spoke of were men like Josephus Daniels, whose newspaper, the Raleigh News and Observer, became a veritable factory of virulent racist propaganda. The popular newspaper included heavy handed, outrageously offensive political cartoons, tunes. And these weren't just words.

They were images designed to dehumanize, drawing on the tropes of race science, depicting black people as grotesque, dim witted figures, or in a particularly vile trope, as sex starved, threatening white womanhood. Given that about 20% of white North Carolinians were Illiterate at this time, these cartoons were.

Were an especially potent tool for disseminating hate and fear.

Speaker A: 00:11:14

Then came the speakers, figures like future North Carolina Governor Charles B. Icock and the former Confederate colonel Alfred Moore Waddell.

They were the charismatic demagogues delivering, quote, fiery speeches to inflame white voters. And they used the rhetoric of fear and racial animosity, often invoking the specter of.

Of black domination and the supposed dangers in racial equality. Waddell, in particular, would become a central figure in the violence to come.

Speaker B: 00:11:45

Waddell was an interesting guy in a historical villain sort of way. As mentioned, he was a former Confederate colonel, a Democrat, and a firm supporter of white supremacy.

He was a lawyer and briefly owned a newspaper before the Civil War broke out, through which he actually prompted his views opposing secession. But when the war actually broke out, Waddell joined the Confederacy and rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the 3rd Cavalry.

After the war, he was elected three times to Congress. As a conservative Democrat, he served on the Ku Klux Klan committee.

And by the: 1890

Speaker A: 00:12:39

And finally, we have the Riders. These are the infamous Red Shirts. They weren't just disgruntled citizens, they were a paramilitary force, effectively the Ku Klux Klan.

In a different uniform, clad in their distinctive loose red tunics, these heavily armed groups terrorized black communities and. And their white Republican and populist allies.

Speaker B: 00:13:02

They conducted nighttime raids, quote, bursting into homes to threaten them with violence should they vote, or just to simply beat them, end quote. If they didn't vote for a Democratic candidate.

threat. In the lead up to the: 1898

Speaker A: 00:13:27

Beyond the Red Shirts, there were other white supremacist organizations like the White Government Union and various white supremacy clubs. These groups worked to consolidate white political power and enforce racial hierarchy through social pressure and, when deemed necessary, violence.

Speaker B: 00:13:44

And while this statewide campaign of terror and propaganda was unfolding, a more localized conspiracy was brewing in Wilmington itself. A group of influential white businessmen who came to be known as the secret nine, were meticulously planning the local takeover.

Men like Hugh McRae, a prominent developer and a top leader in the Wilmington cotton business, and J. Allen Taylor, president of the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce, were among them.

Speaker A: 00:14:15

All of this underscores that the Wilmington coup wasn't some spontaneous uprising as it was later portrayed. It was a meticulously planned and executed plot orchestrated from the very top of North Carolina's white elite.

Speaker B: 00:14:29

That's right, Michael.

You had politicians like Furnifold Simmons devising the statewide strategy, newspaper publishers like Josephus Daniels shaping public opinion through relentless propaganda, former Confederate officers like Alfred Waddell inciting violence and leading the charge on the ground around, and future governors like Charles Acock lending their voice to the cause. And finally, the secret nine in Wilmington were the local implementers, the ones who knew the city and could manage the logistics of the coup.

Speaker A: 00:15:02

The level of this coordination is actually quite astounding. They had a comprehensive strategy involving media manipulation, inflammatory political rhetoric, paramilitary terror, and secret planning committees.

They even secured promises from corporations that their taxes wouldn't be raised if the Democrats won the election, indicating a deep network of support within the local business community. This wasn't mob rule. It was a calculated political revolution driven by the elite's desire to reclaim white supremacy and consolidate their power.

Speaker B: 00:15:35

aiting for, came In August of: 1898

A Georgia woman named Rebecca Ann Felton, who was a prominent suffragist but also a virulent white supremacist, had recently given a widely reported speech. In it, she advocated violence towards black men to protect white women.

To give you the full statement, she said, when there is not enough religion in the pulpit to organize a crusade against said, nor justice in the courthouse to promptly punish crime nor manhood enough in the nation to put a sheltering arm around about innocence and virtue. If it needs lynching to protect woman's dearest possession from the ravening human beast, then I say lynch a thousand times a week if necessary.

Speaker A: 00:16:32

For our listeners out there who may not be familiar with this history, it was actually pretty common for white female suffragists to express racist views and refuse to work with black women towards their goals. It may seem strange from our modern perspective because you would expect two minority groups to work together towards gaining more rights.

But that actually simply wasn't the case. In fact, some historians have suggested the feminists of the 19th century may have stymied their own efforts as a result of this racism.

Speaker B: 00:17:01

as we mentioned, In August of: 1898

But newspapers across the south reprinted A transcript of Felton's speech to garner support for the Democratic party. And Alexander Manley, the editor of the Wilmington newspaper, the Daily Record, responded with an editorial that didn't pull any punches.

Speaker A: 00:17:31

k community in Wilmington. In: 1898

And imagine the significance of that paper in the Jim Crow South.

Speaker B: 00:17:48

Absolutely.

Manley and his newspaper were a tangible symbol of black literacy, political engagement, economic aspirations, and the refusal to be silenced in an era of increasing oppression. A daily newspaper owned and operated by black men was a direct challenge to the white supremacist narrative of black inferiority.

Speaker A: 00:18:11

So he couldn't let what Ms. Felton said go away. In his op ed responding to Ms. Felton, Alexander Manly pointed out that blatant hypocrisy of white society.

He wrote, and this is the crucial part that is often distorted or selectively quoted by the white press.

Quote, if the papers and speakers of the other race would condemn the commission of the crime because it is a crime and not to try to make it appear that the black men and women were the only criminals, they would find their strongest allies, and together the whites and blacks would root the evil out. He was essentially calling for equal justice in a shared effort against crime regardless of race.

Speaker B: 00:18:51

And then the lines that truly set the white supremacist press aflame, the lines that challenged the deepest racial and sexual taboos of the South. Manley noted that some white women were in fact attracted to black men and that consensual relationships occurred.

He wrote that many of those lynched, far from being big, burly black brutes, were sufficiently attractive for white girls of culture and refinement to fall in love with them, as is very well known to all, in quite quote. And he delivered the stinging rebuke. He said, quote, you set yourselves down as a lot of carping hypocrites.

In fact, you cry aloud for the virtue of your women while you seek to destroy the morality of ours, end quote.

He was directly confronting the historical reality of white men's sexual exploitation of black women, a truth that white society desperately wanted to ignore.

Speaker A: 00:19:52

The white democratic press, already primed by the white supremacy campaign, seized on Manley's editorial with calculated fury. Newspapers like the Wilmington Star, Joseph S.

Daniels, News and Observer and Rally and others reprinted Manley's words often out of context, though they appeared under screaming headlines like, quote, vile and villainous and also, quote, an insult to the white women. Of North Carolina, end quote.

Some papers, like the Wilmington Star, reportedly reprinted the editorial in nearly every issue in the months leading up to the November election, ensuring it remained a constant source of agitation and on voters minds.

Speaker B: 00:20:33

Manley's op ed became a touchstone of the Democratic white supremacy campaign in North Carolina. It was a carefully chosen instrument to, quote, further anger whites, end quote.

Thomas Claussen, the editor of the Wilmington messenger, later claimed that the editorial, quote, made Wilmington seethe with uncontrollable indignation, bitterness and rage.

This outrage, however, was largely manufactured and expertly manipulated, playing directly into the white supremacist ideology that framed any challenge to racial hierarchy as an existential threat.

Speaker A: 00:21:13

This is a crucial point. Manley's editorial, while undoubtedly bold and a direct challenge to the racial and sexual hypocrisies of the time, was not the cause of the coup.

It was the pretext.

The white supremacy campaign, the organization of the red shirts, and the secret plotting by the secret nine were already well underway months before Manley's editorial appeared in August.

Speaker B: 00:21:36

Exactly.

The white press immediately and relentlessly amplified the editorial, framing it in the most inflammatory way possible to stoke white fears and resentment. Democrats, as one source notes, capitalized on Manley's editorial, carrying copies with them to generate controversy and strengthen their appeal.

But if Manley had never written his editorial, the conspirators would likely have found or created another justification. The level of planning and determination indicates the coup was not contingent on this single event.

As the novelist Charles Chestnut, writing about the period, astutely observed, a peg was needed upon which to hang a coup d' etat, and Manly's words became that peg.

Speaker A: 00:22:41

the months leading up to the: 1898

They coupled the successful propaganda campaign with widespread voter intimidation by the red shirt patrols at polling stations and outright ballot stuffing. On the eve of the election on November 7, the former Confederate Colonel Alfred Moore Waddell even made a call to direct murder.

He told white citizens in Wilmington to, quote, go to the polls tomorrow. If you find a black man out voting, tell him to leave the polls. If he refuses, kill him, shoot him down in his tracks, end quote.

Similarly, in another speech that day, Waddell suggested that white citizens should, quote, choke the Cape Fear river with carcasses, end quote, if necessary to keep African Americans from voting.

Speaker B: 00:23:29

It's no surprise, then, that the Democrats swept the election across North Carolina.

The Wilmington messenger on November 9th didn't mince words, declaring, yesterday was a glorious day for white supremacy in New Hanover county, end quote.

Speaker A: 00:23:44

But even with this statewide victory, the legitimately elected multiracial government in Wilmington was still in place. Local municipal elections weren't scheduled until the following year. That delay was unacceptable to the conspirators.

The very next day, November 9, hundreds of white leaders and citizens convened. They passed a series of resolutions that would become known, chillingly as the, quote, white Declaration of Independence, end quote.

Speaker B: 00:24:11

This document was an unambiguous assertion of white power.

It declared that white citizens in the city of Wilmington and the county of New Hanover would, quote, never again be ruled by men of African origin, end quote. It demanded that Alexander Manley leave the city immediately and cease publication of his paper.

And it called for the resignations of Wilmington's Republican mayor, Silas Wright, and the chief of police, George Zaduck French.

Speaker A: 00:24:39

A committee led by none other than Waddell, the former Confederate colonel, was selected to implement these resolutions in Wilmington. They presented their demands to a hastily formed Committee of Colored Citizens, a group of prominent black local leaders.

Speaker B: 00:24:54

The committee was given an almost impossibly short deadline. They had to comply with all demands by 7:30 the next morning, November 10th.

One member of the committee, attorney Armand Scott, was tasked with delivering the committee's response to Waddell. However, fearing for his safety if he delivered it in person to Waddell's home, he reportedly mailed it instead.

A small act of defiance, perhaps, or simply self preservation in the face of overwhelming menace.

Speaker A: 00:25:26

The deadline loomed. The reply, whether it arrived or not, seemed almost irrelevant. Waddell and his men were already gathering.

It seemed like the whole city of Wilmington was holding its breath.

Speaker B: 00:25:37

On the morning of November 10, there was no satisfactory response from the committee of black leaders. Or at least that's the claim made by the white. Waddell, a man of his violent word, was at the Wilmington Light infantry armory.

kly, swelling to an estimated: 1500

Speaker A: 00:26:02

No, this was a well armed force.

It included townsfolk, local businessmen, and crucially, members of the local white militia units like the Wilmington Light infantry, who were present and ready to support the red shirts and Alfred Moore. Waddell, the silver tongue orator of white supremacy, was now effectively their general providing marching orders.

Speaker B: 00:26:21

The first target of the mob was Alexander Manley's Daily Record newspaper office.

Waddell led the procession of armed men to the newspaper office, which was located in the Love and Charity hall, an important black community center and a symbol of Black enterprise.

Speaker A: 00:26:37

They broke into the building, ransacked the office, destroyed the printing presses and equipment, and then they set it ablaze, burning the building to the ground. The destruction of the Daily Record was not just about silencing one editor. It was about extinguishing a vital voice for the entire black community.

Alexander Manley and his brother Frank, by this point had likely already fled Wilmington, possibly using their light skin to pass as white and escape the lynch mob that was undoubtedly hunting for them.

Speaker B: 00:27:06

The Reverend J.

Allen Kirk, a black pastor in Wilmington, who was himself a target of the white supremacists, later wrote an eyewitness account of the event called A Statement of Facts concerning the Bloody riot in Wilmington, North Carolina. He described how on the morning of the 10th, he saw a young man rushing by on his wheel whom he called to and asked what the trouble was.

He said they were all gathering at the armory on Market street, preparing to burn the Record.

Realizing the imminent danger, Reverend Kirk, quote, took his family to the suburbs of the city, hiding in the black cemetery until the disturbances of the day were quite over. End quote.

Speaker A: 00:27:47

By 11am the violence was no longer contained to the newspaper office. It exploded across the city. Shots rung out and, quote, each side claimed the first shot was fired by the other, end quote.

But in reality, the power imbalance was grotesquely skewed.

Speaker B: 00:28:03

Red shirts, local militiamen and white vigilantes, now emboldened by the destruction of the newspaper office and the lack of any opposition, turned their guns on black residents throughout Wilmington. Some black men facing annihilation, attempted to return fire, but they were hopelessly outmanned and outgunned.

The white supremacists had ensured this imbalance. In the days leading up to the coup, local merchants had actually intentionally and knowingly stopped selling ammunition to black, black customers.

Speaker A: 00:28:34

And they had a machine gun. This wasn't just rifles and pistols.

The Wilmington Light infantry, one of the white militia units, boasted a machine gun squad, complete with a rapid fire Gatling gun.

This modern weapon of war had been purchased by white businessmen specifically for this purpose before the election and was mounted on a wagon ready for deployment against the city's black population. The sight of a Gatling gun being turned on a civilian population is horrifying to imagine.

Speaker B: 00:29:03

Reverend Kirk's account of the ensuing terror is harrowing and provides a visceral sense of the chaos. He said, quote, firing began, and it seemed like a mighty battle. In wartime. The streets were dotted with their dead bodies, end quote.

Speaker A: 00:29:18

He continued, describing the indiscriminate nature of the violence. Quote, they gathered around black homes firing like great sportsmen firing at rabbits in an open field. Field.

One fellow was walking along a railroad and they shot him down without any provocation. End quote. Nada. McDonald Cotton, who was just a young child at the time, also left a typescript detailing her family's terrifying experience.

Her family was the only black family living in their white neighborhood, making their situation particularly perilous.

But ultimately, members of the neighborhood came together to guard the Cotton house through the day and night of November 10th and 11th, which saved the family and their home.

Speaker B: 00:29:59

The exact death toll remains a subject of debate and sorrow, largely because the records were either not kept or were deliberately obscured by the perpetrators. One source suggests that at least 14 and perhaps as many as 60 men were murdered.

However, other estimates suggest the number could be as high as 300 black citizens killed. We know the names of a few of the murdered as reported to the coroner. They were Josh Halsey, Daniel Wright, William Muzan, John L. Gregory, John L.

Townsend, Silas Brown and Sam McFarland. Each name represents a life stolen.

Speaker A: 00:30:41

Reverend Kirk mentioned a white gentleman telling him he saw, quote, 10 bodies lying in the undertaker's office at one time, end quote.

And that some victims bodies were left lying in the streets into the next day or were only found later due to the, quote, unquote, stench and miasma that came forth from their decaying bodies under their houses.

Speaker B: 00:31:00

While this horrific massacre was unfolding in the streets, Alfred Waddell and the other leaders of the white supremacist movement were busy with the coup part of this event. The legitimately elected city officials, the Republican mayor, Silas P.

Wright, the city alderman, both black and white, who were part of the fusionist government, and the chief of police, all of them were forced to resign at gunpoint in City Hall.

Speaker A: 00:31:26

By late afternoon of November 10, the Government of Wilmington had been entirely dismantled and it was replaced by men hand picked by the leading Democrats. And who was elected, in quotes, mayor, by the newly seated, wholly illegitimate board of Aldermen.

Well, none other than former Colonel Alfred Moore Waddell. The man who had led the mob and incited the violence was now mayor.

Speaker B: 00:31:49

We should also note that some of the members of the Secret Nine, that influential behind the scenes democratic group in Wilmington, were given offices in the municipal government. Hugh McRae, the developer and cotton businessman, became a city alderman.

It seems that the: 1898

Speaker A: 00:32:13

And the purge didn't stop with the elected officials, prominent black citizens, community Leaders, successful businessmen, ministers, anyone who could be seen as a voice of opposition, along with their white allies who had supported the Fusion government, were rounded up.

They were forcibly marched to the train station, often under armed guard, and banished from Wilmington, threatened with death if they ever dared return to the city. This systematically stripped the black community of its leadership and its allies.

Speaker B: 00:32:43

The violence on November 10 was not just random chaos. It had a terrifying dual nature.

On one hand, it was a brutal, performative display of terror meant to cow the entire black population into submission and send a message that any resistance was futile.

The indiscriminate shootings, the burning of the daily record in full view of the cheering mob, the parading of the Gatling gun, these were all designed to inflict maximum psychological damage.

Speaker A: 00:33:14

But simultaneously, it was a series of calculated strategic actions and aimed at dismantling black institutions, at eliminating black leadership through murder or banishment, and seizing complete political control of the city. The forced resignations at city hall were happening while the bullets were flying in other parts of the city.

The burning of the press was both symbolic, the silence of a powerful black voice, as well as practical destroying a very successful black owned business.

The killings were intended to terrorize the broader community and physically eliminate individuals perceived as threats or those who might rally resistance.

Speaker B: 00:33:53

This wasn't just a, quote, riot that got out of hand.

It was controlled chaos, meticulously directed towards achieving specific strategic outcomes, which included the utter subjugation of Wilmington's black community and the seizure of all levels of power by white supremacists.

Speaker A: 00:34:29

The smoke eventually cleared over Wilmington, but the ashes left a permanent stain not just on the city, but on North Carolina and arguably the nation. The silence that followed the violence was almost as damning as the violence itself.

Speaker B: 00:34:43

In the wake of such blatant violence, the murder of scores of citizens and an illegal overthrow of an elected government, you'd expect a swift and decisive response from higher authorities. Right. Federal troops to restore order. Arrest of the ringleaders, prosecution for murder and treason. Something right, actually.

Speaker A: 00:35:03

Crickets. State and federal leaders largely failed to react, or their reactions were toothless.

President William McKinley, despite the national attention the events garnered, received no official request for assistance from the North Carolina's Governor, Daniel Russell. Russell himself was a Republican, theoretically opposed of the Democratic white supremacists. But he seemed powerless.

Or perhaps he was unwilling to intervene effectively against such entrenched and violent movement.

Speaker B: 00:35:31

Governor Russell was a perplexing guy. As mentioned, he was a Republican and supported most Republican policies.

But he did not see black and white men as Equals, nor did he want them to be. Around the same time that the Wilmington coup was taking place.

Governor Russell refused to deliver a speech to a black audience, noting that in view of my activity in the white supremacy campaign, I felt that the black residents might not relish my addressing them.

Speaker A: 00:36:00

The Governor's racist views appear to have been common knowledge.

In: 1898

One recent anti Russell meeting, attended only by black Republicans, adopted resolutions opposing Russell's nomination for governor in the next round of elections.

And an anti Russell article in the newspaper, the Wilmington Sentinel, had recently attacked Governor Russell's character and asserted that he would not be nominated since Russell had called black people savages and had denied that they were fit to actually carry out the vote. It also quoted Governor Russell as having stated, quote, all blacks are naturally born thieves.

They will steal six days in a week and go to church on Sunday and shout and pray it off, end quote.

Speaker B: 00:36:50

sacre and coup in November of: 1898

Speaker A: 00:37:04

I think that's actually really likely, Elena. It's also possible that President William McKinley might not have even sent federal troops to assist even if Governor Russell had requested it.

In the aftermath of the: 1898

Speaker B: 00:37:22

We should also note that the U.S.

files were quietly closed in: 1900

Speaker A: 00:37:34

It's really quite astounding how public all of this really was.

As scholars of this horrible event have noted, quote, the murderers gloated about the day, the national white press concurred and historians at the time lauded it. End quote. No one was ever held accountable for the Wilmington coup.

Not a single white supremacist was ever investigated, charged or punished for the murders, the arson, the destruction of property, or the overthrow of the government. All crimes carried out in full public view.

This lack of accountability is absolutely crucial for understanding why the coup was successful and why its impacts were so devastating and long lasting.

It sent a clear message to Wilmington, to North Carolina, and to the wider United States that such actions would not only be tolerated, but possibly even implicitly endorsed.

Speaker B: 00:38:24

The coup leaders moved quickly to consolidate their ill gotten power.

fficially elected in March of: 1899

lence and intimidation of the: 1898

Speaker A: 00:39:05

They enacted the state's first Jim Crow legislation.

ate constitution by voters in: 1900

This amendment, with its literacy tests and poll taxes, often coupled with a grandfather clause that exempted most white voters, effectively disenfranchised black voters across North Carolina for generations.

Speaker B: 00:39:35

as dramatic and immediate. In: 1896

By: 1902

Speaker A: 00:39:55

Economically, black Wilmington was devastated. Successful black owned businesses were destroyed during the coup or abandoned as their owners fled for their lives.

The vibrant black middle class that had been a hallmark of the city was shattered, and the outmigration following the violence negatively affected the ability of black Americans to recover. In the weeks and months following the Coup, an estimated 2,100 black Wilmingtonians abandoned the city, seeking safety and opportunity elsewhere.

A significant loss of talent, capital and community.

Speaker B: 00:40:27

s that the events of November: 1898

This insidious lie painted black citizens as the aggressors or suggested that the violence was a necessary, albeit regrettable measure to restore order.

Newspapers like the Wilmington messenger and Josephus Daniels, Raleigh News and Observer were pivotal in creating and perpetuating this false narrative.

Speaker A: 00:41:01

From the outset, the truth was systematically suppressed. And over the next century, a false history was taught in schools, reinforcing the white supremacist worldview.

Organizations like the United Daughters of the Confederacy played a central role in shaping this distorted historical narrative, ensuring that generations of students learned a sanitized and self serving version of the events.

Speaker B: 00:41:24

e a few of the players in the: 1898

For example, Josephus Daniels, editor of the Raleigh News and Observer, and the future Democratic governor, Charles Brantley Acock, both of that speaking group of the White Supremacy campaign, had buildings on the UNC campus named for them.

of the coup in Wilmington in: 1898

Speaker A: 00:42:24

It took until the: 1990

Speaker B: 00:42:34

The eminent historian John Hope Franklin, whose own work transformed our understanding of Southern history, called the Wilmington Coup a, quote, turning point in American history. Nothing less than a revolution against interracial democracy, end quote.

He argued its aftermath, quote, strangled the aspirations of generations of blacks and whites, end quote.

Speaker A: 00:42:58

The Wilmington Coup, after all, wasn't just an isolated tragic event.

It was a pivotal event that served as a direct and rapid catalyst for the legal codification of white supremacy across North Carolina and by an example in itself, emboldened similar efforts throughout the Southern United States.

The fact that the coup was successful, that the perpetrators seized power, faced no punishment, and saw their actions legitimized by state and federal inaction was a green light for the widespread implementation of Jim Crow laws and voter disenfranchisement.

Speaker B: 00:43:34

The coup demonstrated with brutal clarity that violent overthrow of a multiracial government and the suppression of black political power would go unpunished by federal authorities. This created a permissive, even encouraging environment for the forces of white supremacy. The coup wasn't just about local control of Wilmington.

It was a strategic move to reclaim the entire state of North Carolina and fundamentally alter its legal and social structure to ensure permanent white dominance.

Speaker A: 00:44:04

The speed with which disenfranchisement laws and Jim Crow statutes followed the coup is undeniable evidence of this direct linkage.

As John Hope Franklin explicitly stated, it brought the birth of the Jim Crow social order, the end of black voting rights, and the rise of a one party political system in the south, end quote.

nt for places like Atlanta in: 1906

Speaker B: 00:44:38

All future episodes a Crime buried, a truth distorted, a city's vibrant future stolen. When a lie holds for so long, what does it take to finally bring the truth to light? And what does that truth demand of us today?

Speaker A: 00:44:55

The Wilmington coup of: 1898

Speaker B: 00:45:06

lysis have rightly called the: 1898

The tactics employed there, the calculated use of propaganda and disinformation rooted in racist ideologies like race science, widespread voter intimidation, the deployment of paramilitary violence by groups like the Red Shirts, the co opting of legal and political structures, and then, crucially, the long term control of the historical narrative. We've seen echoes of these tactics throughout history, haven't we?

Speaker A: 00:45:40

And we have. And that's precisely why remembering Wilmington is so critical for us today.

It's not just about correcting a historical wrong, though that is profoundly important to do.

It's about understanding the inherent fragility of democracy and the constant vigilance required to protect it from those who would dismantle it for their own ends, often using the same playbook of fear, disinformation and the demonization of the other.

Speaker B: 00:46:07

Understanding this rhetorical inversion, how language often infused with the poison of race science was twisted to justify unimaginable oppression that is key to deconstructing white supremacist narratives, both historical and contemporary.

Speaker A: 00:46:23

The story of Wilmington is also, in its own way, a testament to the resilience of those who sought the truth, like the descendants of both victims and perpetrators who are now part of the difficult but natural, necessary reconciliation efforts in the city. And it's a stark, enduring reminder of what can happen when hate is organized, when it is backed by power, and when democracy is left undefended.

Speaker B: 00:46:46

A crime that lay hidden in plain sight for far too long, its echo still resonating in the fault lines of American society today. Join us next time on History's Greatest Crimes as we delve into another chapter of the past that refuses to stay buried. I'm Alana.

Speaker A: 00:47:04

And I'm Michael. Until we meet again, stay curious.