The Wilmington Insurrection
This story is from 1898, yet it has all the hallmarks of 2017. Racism, white supremacy, paramilitary groups, overthrow of the government, fake news… When are we going to break the cycle?
Hello, and welcome to On This Date, Some Years Back. Today is November 10, 2017, and on this date, 119 years back, in 1898, the Wilmington Insurrection, a small-scale coup d’état and large scale race riot and massacre began in Wilmington, North Carolina.
Reconstruction in the American South following the Civil War was a pretty shameful time, despite the good intentions. It birthed the Ku Klux Klan and other hate groups, and freed slaves fared barely better than they did as slaves. Lynchings and hate crimes carried out by violent mobs were common.
Many southern cities were inundated with blacks seeking to form their own communities, enclaves where they might be safer than living spread out across the countryside. This led to some Southern cities, including Wilmington, North Carolina, becoming black majorities. It was also the largest city in the state back then. Not only was it a haven for blacks, but they did quite well there, holding positions in the police force, fire brigade, local government, and running the Daily Record newspaper.
In the 1898 elections, the Democratic Party, the anti-equal rights party of that era, took control of the state government. This was achieved, in part, with the help of the Red Shirts, a paramilitary group that specialized in voter intimidation and violent harassment of blacks. They even patrolled Wilmington, despite the black majority, since that city’s local elections were viewed as a bellwether of future elections.
At the city level, Wilmington elected a biracial city council (⅓ black, ⅔ white), and a white, Republican mayor. This sort of progress was not acceptable to the racists.
Two days later, fueled by salacious reports by Raleigh newspapers, an army of white supremacists led by Alfred Moore Waddell, numbering around 2,000, marched on Wilmington. Their first order of business was to destroy the offices of the Daily Record and burn the building to the ground. Waddell’s army, frothed up by the excitement, soon broke ranks and he lost all control of the situation. It was a full-on riot.
Up to one hundred blacks were killed, but exact numbers are impossible to ascertain. Hundreds more fled the city and hid in the surrounding swamps. After the incident, over two thousand blacks would leave Wilmington permanently, surrendering their majority community.
Waddell captured and forced the city government to all resign their positions. He then appointed an all new white supremacist city-council, who in turn named Waddell Mayor. It was the first and only successful coup d’état in American History. It is a blight on American History.
Wilmington residences appealed to the White House for intervention. When President McKinley finally responded, it was only to say that his hands were tied unless the North Carolina Governor requested assistance. The Governor ordered the Wilmington Light Infantry to quell the riot, unaware that they were largely participants in the events.
Waddell and his illegitimate government remained in power, and were reelected the following year (since so many blacks had fled the city). The same year, the state passed new voting laws to disenfranchise blacks, including poll taxes and literacy tests.
This turn of events helped lead to Jim Crow laws and forced segregation that would not be undone until the 1960’s.
Waddell served as mayor until 1905. He was never charged with any crimes, and thus never punished at all. No one was… except for the black population of Wilmington who just wanted to exercise their democratic rights.
One hundred years later, in 1998, an effort was undertaken by local residents and politicians to compile the definitive and unbiased account of the event, and openly discuss it within the community. This endeavor included ways to commemorate the event and mediate it’s yet-ongoing negative effects in the area. After all, the white supremacists had sold the thing as a black riot for nearly a century without being challenged much in that assessment.
In January 2007, 109 years after the fact, the North Carolina Democratic Party denounced the actions of party leadership in the event. Later that year, the state Senate formally expressed “profound regret” over the ordeal.
Racism is still a profound and widespread problem in America, especially the American south.
Thanks for reading, and be sure to check back tomorrow for the passage of a ludicrous 17th century law, that unfortunately, is still championed by many.
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