‘American Coup: Wilmington 1898’ – The racist takeover of a North Carolina town

Writer-Directors Brad Lichtenstein and Yoruba Richen’s film “American Coup: Wilmington 1898” is a well-crafted timepiece. It explores a post-Civil War outrage of death and destruction. But just as crucial as baring the roots of American historical injustices, it dramatically focuses on unresolved problems that threaten today’s political and moral fabric. Once and would-be U.S. President Donald Trump threatens a modern reenactment, Wilmington-style, complete with racist, anti-democratic purges.

In the years after the Civil War, freed African-American slaves, by dint of their hard work and creativity, were able to develop scattered prosperous communities in various locations throughout the Old South. A Black community of schools, businesses, churches, and stores that sprouted up in Wilmington, North Carolina’s largest city, was one of them.

The settlement grew prosperous, fortuitously situated as a port at the terminus of the railway which brought resources and products from inland regions to be traded through larger markets.

Wilmington was a city whose majority Black population (56% of the city) participated on terms of relative equality. Black business and cultural achievement nurtured Black institutions and even effective participation in governance, in partnership with white elders.

The Black-owned newspaper The Daily Record, owned and operated by Alexander Manley, had both Black and white subscribers and advertisers. It campaigned to further advance the condition of African Americans across the South, including paving roads, building more schools, and promoting equal justice.

But Black advances did not come without white resentment. Post-war capitalism pitted the races against each other in a zero-sum game. Bitter white anxiety against Reconstruction spawned Ku Klux Klan lynchings, assassinations, home invasions, intimidation at the polls, and other crimes against Black people.

When white troops enforcing Reconstruction were removed from the South, tensions coagulated into increasingly incendiary incidents. The old Civil War antagonists took back the loose reins of government. The Depression of 1893 exacerbated conflicts and the uneasy Black and white political alliances of convenience frayed and broke. Fusion governments which had run state and localities were split. White supremacists re-seized control.

Josephus Daniels, the powerful newspaper editor of the racist right-wing News and Observer agitated against “negro rule” and a mythological “negro domination.”

Because much of the benighted white population could not read, Daniels ran cartoons of hideously distorted Black figures committing every crime imaginable, especially to the delicate women of the South. He fomented neighborhood security groups to terrorize, beat, and lynch Blacks. Fake news and rumors of Blacks getting ready to re-seize the government continuously filled the newspaper.

To supplement this campaign, Daniels enlisted the firebrand South Carolina Sen. “Pitchfork” Ben Tillman who organized his own posses of red-shirted thugs. Ex-Confederate Lt. Colonel Alfred Waddell re-emerged from a failed military career trying to redeem himself in this new struggle. While the whites under Waddell armed themselves in preparation for inevitable race wars, Blacks were denied self-defense.

On July 10, 1898, after speeches by washout Waddell exhorting the murder of Blacks, the white mob took over the entire city government of Wilmington at gunpoint. They replaced the mayor and police chief and purged any remaining Black officials. The coup replaced elected officials with a pre-determined list of their supporters.

Then the mobs went on a murder spree through the town. Blacks fortunate enough to escape with their lives and a few possessions were escorted out of town to the railway station. Warned in advance, Alexander Manley fled to safety. His newspaper, home, and office were burned to the ground. The mob killed whomever they found in their path.

Others made it to the swamps to hide and never returned to Wilmington. No one knows with certainty how many Black residents were indiscriminately killed. Reports ranged from dozens to hundreds.

The new power structure followed up the massacre by making sure that Blacks would not be able to regain power. A series of laws were passed to eliminate African Americans from participating in elections, as well as the economic order. Poll taxes, literacy laws, and direct exclusion of Black voters enshrined the new order.

The message was received and enforced. In 1896, there had been 126,000 Blacks registered to vote in North Carolina. By 1902, a scant six years later, that number had shrunk to 6,100. For the next century, they were denied any federal representation.

Lichtenstein and Richen have done an admirable job of weaving their story together with old photos, song, interviews with experts, and a touching reunion of the families of survivors. It is generous of them to land their cautionary tale in a relatively positive field.

But as we are faced today with much the same anti-democratic, right-wing, and racist forces, their story could not be more timely. They have given us yet another opportunity to learn from our history.

AMERICAN EXPERIENCE American Coup: Wilmington 1898

Premieres Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, on PBS and Streaming on PBS.org