Catalog

Record Details

Catalog Search



Wilmington's lie : the murderous coup of 1898 and the rise of white supremacy

Image of item
Book

First edition.

"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 inU.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"--

Available copies

  • 22 of 22 copies available at Westchester Library System.

Current holds

1 current hold with 22 total copies.
Location Call Number /
Shelving Location
Barcode Status /
Due Date
Mount Pleasant Public Library 305.8 Z (Text)
Nonfiction
31024153639607
Available
-
Mount Vernon Public Library 305.8 Z (Text)
Nonfiction
31018155321479
Available
-
North Castle Public Library 305.8 Z (Text)
Nonfiction
31001151952695
Available
-
North White Plains Branch 305.8 W (Text)
Nonfiction
31001250558047
Available
-
Ossining Public Library 305.8009 Z (Text)
Nonfiction
31021153282636
Available
-
Rye Free Reading Room TIMES - 305.8 ZUCCHINO (Text)
Nonfiction
31028153101971
Available
-
Scarsdale Public Library 305.8 Z (Text)
Nonfiction
31029154210175
Available
-
Somers Library 305.8009 Z (Text)
Nonfiction
31031151826045
Available
-
Town of Pelham Public Library 305.8 Z (Text)
Nonfiction
31023151266611
Available
-
White Plains Public Library 305.8 Z (Text)
Nonfiction
31544209957935
Available
-
« Previous 10 Next 10 »

Additional Resources