Wilmington Riot

views updated

WILMINGTON RIOT

WILMINGTON RIOT. On 9 November 1898 a mass meeting of whites was held at Wilmington, North Carolina, to protest black rule; most of the city offices were held by blacks, who outnumbered the whites seventeen thousand to eight thousand. The group demanded that the editor of the African American newspaper remove himself and his press by the next morning. When this demand was not met, six hundred armed whites destroyed the printing material and burned the building. In the ensuing riot some ten blacks were killed and three whites wounded. All of the city officials resigned and were succeeded by white Democrats.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Cecelski, David S., and Timothy B. Tyson, eds. Democracy Betrayed: The Wilmington Race Riot of 1898 and Its Legacy. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1998.

Prather, H. Leon. We Have Taken a City: Wilmington Racial Massacre and Coup of 1898. Rutherford, N.J.: Fairleigh Dickenson University Press, 1984.

Hugh T.Lefler/a. r.

See alsoAfrican Americans ; Civil Rights and Liberties ; Disfranchisement ; Magazines and Newspapers, African American ; Riots .

More From encyclopedia.com