I originally published this information about the 1898 Wilmington Massacre in my Family Jewels blog in September 2022. Because of the current political climate and tension that many have been experiencing with this election, I felt that people sometimes need a reminder that history repeats itself. 

January 6, 2021 wasn’t the first political riot aimed at overthrowing the party in power. Thoughout American history, riots have happened for various reasons. Contrary to popular belief, rioting was not invented by African Americans; we learned by example. Race riots have scarred America’s past, starting with the treatment of the Native Americans. White supremacists feared Black political and economic power. This fear, arguably stemming from the potential for retribution due to slavery, was real no matter how irrational. Fearing Black control of city and county politcs, whites orchestrated campaigns of violence and intimidation. 

The Hamburg Massacre, also known as the Red Shirt Massacre, took place in July 1876. Southern Democrats aimed to regain control of the majority Black Republican district of Edgefield in Aiken County, South Carolina. They sought to suppress Black voting and civil rights through intimidation and violence. The Red Shirts, members of white supremacist rifle clubs, wanted to reclaim control due to “negro rule.” “Negro rule” was Blacks holding city political power through elections and appointments during the Reconstruction era. Several incidents preceded the massacre, including an attack by over 100 Red Shirts on 30 Black National Guardsmen at an armory, the torture and murder of four Black militiamen, and the killing of 100 Black citizens of Ellenton in Aiken County, South Carolina.

Another similar incident hits closer to home for me— the Wilmington Massacre of 1898. Wilmington, North Carolina, thrived as an integrated port city with a significant Black middle class. The city of Wilmington had a biracial Fusionist government. The Fusionist Party, formed in the 1890s through an alliance between the Populist Party and the Republican Party. It aimed to challenge the Democratic Party’s dominance. The Democratic Party (different from today’s party) enacted policies disenfranchising African Americans and marginalizing poor white farmers. The Fusionists promoted economic reforms, improved public education, and ensured fair political representation for all citizens, regardless of race. In the 1894 and 1896 elections, the Fusionists gained significant political power in North Carolina, leading to the election of a multiracial government in Wilmington.

Fearing the political and economic power of Black citizens, white supremacists conspiredto overthrow the elected government if it didn’t favor them. On November 10, 1898, around 2,000 white men, led by the “Secret Nine” and the Red Shirts, attacked the city. They burned down the office of the Black-owned newspaper, The Daily Record, and expelled Black and white political Fusionist party leaders from Wilmington. The white supremacists ousted those in power, overthrew the city government and installed their own mayor, police chief and other city officials. The violence resulted in an estimated 14 to 300 deaths of Black residents and detroyed proprty in  the thriving Black community. The riot displaced thousands of African Americans, most of whom fled north. 

The coup transformed North Carolina politics, ushering in more severe racial segregation and disenfranchisement of African Americans. In response to this event, North Carolina enacted some of the harshest Jim Crow laws in the country, which persisted until the Civil Rights Movement over 65 years later. It stands as the only successful coup d’état in U.S. history.

To learn more about the 1898 Wilmington Massacre, click these links for History.com and PBS.

To read The Family Jewels blog, click here.