The Story Behind The Wilmington Massacre

The White Declaration of Independence

By The Richmond Planet — Library of Congress, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=65656703

It’s the several subtitles of the article describing the Wilmington Massacre that captured my attention:

Innocent and Unarmed Colored Men Shot Down

Hundreds Run to the Woods

The Mob Captures the Town

White Ministers Aiders and Abettors of Murder

The Governor Powerless and the President of the United States Silent

Anarchy Rules

Before November 8, 1898, Wilmington, NC, might have been considered a model for successfully mixing the races. Three of the ten aldermen were Black, and the City had Black policemen and judges. Reconstruction was effectively over in most of the South from the day federal troops pulled out after the Compromise of 1877. Yet, North Carolina still had Black state legislators, and towns like Wilmington had Black elected officials among the Republicans holding office.

Some white citizens found this unacceptable. Before the November 1898 mid-term election, Democrats decided they would eliminate Republican legislators, suppressing Black voters by any means necessary. The “red shirts” openly threatened Black voters, carrying weapons as they rode on horseback through Black communities. Furnifold…