Wilmington's Lie: The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy by
David Zucchino
My rating:
4 of 5 stars
Another peek into the shameful heritage and history of the state of North Carolina and her leaders and citizens. "
Wilmington's Lie" is a excellent work of historical journalism, providing a concise account of the 1898 white supremacist coup that replaced the legally elected progressive Republican and Fusionist government of Wilmington NC with a Democratic party sponsored white supremacist government. The tactics used were illegal, immoral, and murderous, yet had the full support of mainstream Democratic Party leaders, media outlets (Raleigh's own News and Observer), educators, and even clergy and mainstream religion. The African-Americans who escaped torture and murder were driven out of the city and the region. When repeated appeals were made for Federal assistance, all the way up to the level of president McKinley, they were ignored or given simply lip service. The events reported in this book paved the way for 70 years of Jim Crow discrimination and voter suppression, some of which is still a problem in NC today (2020). This is a horrid and shameful chapter in NC history which was only recently even acknowledged, but needs to be mandatory curriculum for all NC students, and as such should serve as a reminder never to let it happen again.
more reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilmington_insurrection_of_1898
http://media2.newsobserver.com/content/media/2010/5/3/ghostsof1898.pdf
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