Introduction to American Coup: Wilmington 1898. Voted In, Terrorized Out.
The PBS series “American Experience” recently aired a documentary titled American Coup: Wilmington 1898. Voted In, Terrorized Out. You can watch it online here. The documentary, direct by Brad Lichenstein and Yoruba Richen, tells the story of the carefully orchestrated violent insurrection, political coup, and bloody massacre of 60 Black people in Wilmington, North Carolina's largest city, in 1898.
Wilmington, North Carolina, 1898: A white mob led by a former Confederate officer burned down Black-owned businesses and killed at least 60 people.
At that time, Wilmington had a thriving Black middle class, and three of the city’s aldermen, as well as many other city officials, were Black. This situation was intolerable to the white supremacists. Whipping up racist fears, white supremacists organized and mobilized an uprising that used intimidation and violence to destroy Black political and economic power and overthrow Wilmington’s elected, multi-racial government. Black residents were murdered and thousands were banished. Like the 1921 massacre of Black people in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and many other horrors, the story of what happened in Wilmington was suppressed and lied about for decades. You can get a fuller account of what happened in Wilmington and the circumstances surrounding it in a letter from a reader at revcom.us on the book Wilmington’s Lie: The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy by David Zucchino.
As I watched the PBS documentary, this line from Bob Avakian’s recent social media message Revolution #102 (“Two Countries” Within This Country—And The Whole Damn System’s Got To Go! This is not a time for demoralization and despair—it is a time for righteous anger and revolutionary determination) jumped out at me:
As I have said before, there is a direct line from the pro-slavery Confederacy, at the time of the Civil War, to the fascism of today, with its determination to make America once again openly, aggressively white supremacist, male supremacist, and anti-LGBT people.
That “direct line” clearly passes through the Wilmington coup.
The documentary is narrated by numerous historians, including David Zucchino. They are joined by descendants of Black businessmen in Wilmington at the time; the editor of the Daily Record, a Black-owned daily newspaper; and descendants of some of those white supremacists who organized and carried out the massacre and coup.
I encourage readers of revcom.us to check out American Coup: Wilmington 1898.