Title: Wilmington's lie :
Authors: Zucchino, David,
Date: 2020
Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press,
Physical description: xxii, 426 pages, 12 unnumbered leaves of plates : illustrations, map ; 23 cm
Language: English
LC classification: F
Abstract: "By 1898 Wilmington, North Carolina, was a shining example of a mixed-race community-a bustling port city with a thriving African American middle class and a government made up of Republicans and Populists, including black alderman, police officers, and magistrates. But across the state-and the South-white supremacist Democrats were working to reverse the advances made by former slaves and their progeny. They were plotting to take back the state legislature in the November 8th election and then use a controversial editorial published by black newspaper editor Alexander Manly to trigger a "race riot" to overthrow the elected government in Wilmington. With a coordinated campaign of intimidation and violence, the Democrats sharply curtailed the black vote and stuffed ballot boxes to steal the 1898 mid-term election. Two days later, more than 2,000 heavily armed white nightriders known as Red Shirts swarmed through Wilmington, terrorizing women and children and shooting at least sixty black men dead in the streets. The rebels forced city officials and leading black citizens to flee at gun point while hundreds of local African Americans took refuge in nearby swamps and forests. This brutal insurrection is the only violent overthrow of an elected government in U.S. history. It halted gains made by blacks and restored racism as official government policy, cementing white rule for another seventy years. It was not a "race riot" as the events of November 1898 came to be known, but rather a racially-motivated rebellion launched by white supremacists. In Wilmington's Lie, David Zucchino uses contemporary newspaper reports, diaries, letters, and official communications to create a gripping narrative that weaves together individual stories of hate, fear, and brutality. This is a dramatic and definitive account of a remarkable but forgotten chapter of American history"--
Contents: Book one: days of hope -- Cake and wine -- Good will of the white people -- Lying out -- Marching to the happy land -- Ye men of unmixed blood -- The avenger cometh -- Destiny of the negro -- A yaller dog -- Book two: reckoning -- The negro problem -- The incubus -- I say lynch -- A vile slander -- An excellent race -- A dark scheme -- The nation's mission -- Degenerate sons of the white race -- The great white man's rally and basket picnic -- White-capping -- Buckshot at close range -- A drunkard and a gambler -- Choke the Cape Fear with carcasses -- The shepherds will have nowhere to flee -- A pitiful condition -- Retribution in history -- The forbearance of all white men -- Book three: line of fire -- What have we done? -- Situation serious -- Strictly according to law -- Marching from death -- Not the sort of man we want here -- Justice is satisfied, vengeance is cruel -- Persons unknown -- Better get a gun -- The meanest animals -- Old scores -- The grandfather clause -- Leave it to the whites -- I cannot live in North Carolina and be treated like a man -- Epilogue
Subject headings (LCSH): African Americans--Civil rights--North Carolina--Wilmington--History--19th century.; White supremacy movements--North Carolina--Wilmington--History--19th century.; Wilmington (N.C.)--Politics and government--19th century.; Wilmington (N.C.)--Race relations--History--19th century.; Wilmington Massacre, Wilmington, N.C., 1898.