... was launched in a city used to such things. A commenter in the
post below pointed out the history of the city. It is worth looking at closer, since it is an indictment of the racist past of both the Democratic party and the South of Reconstruction, but it can generate some hope, since we live in racial harmony, compared to 1890, today. The Democratic Party changed from the party of hate, but the Republican party of 1890 has morphed into the Democratic Party of 1890. Still, there is hope from history, but in order to appreciate it, you need to understand it. The following Wikipedia article is thorough, but I won't vouch for its absolute accuracy.
Wilmington insurrection of 1898 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
The Wilmington coup d'etat of 1898, also known as the Wilmington massacre of 1898 or the Wilmington race riot of 1898, began in Wilmington, North Carolina on November 10, 1898 and continued for several days...
5 comments:
Hi, Bob - commenter from prior article here:
These are some links that may help with researching the takeover, absent actually going to Wilmington and spending time in New Hanover County Library's special collections room:
http://www.ah.dcr.state.nc.us/1898-wrrc/
This is the NC Dept. of Natural Resources "Final Report" issued in 2006 on the takeover. (please note that the event was called a "race riot" from start to finish by the newspapers at the time, and is even now by the state agency. To me, that term seems inaccurate and slanted so as to justify violence by white men, so I've been trying to avoid it - the rioters and rebellers were the white men in this case)
http://www.nccu.edu/formsdocs/proxy.cfm?file_id=2506
This newsletter from the historically black NCCU law school in Durham has an in-depth account of the events.
http://media2.newsobserver.com/content/media/2010/5/3/ghostsof1898.pdf
the layout is somewhat difficult to read, but seems to have a more complete account of the events.
http://www.myreporter.com/2009/03/hugh-macrae/
short and easy to read, mostly benign towards MacRae, but does note his "whites only" policies for all those wonderful endeavors. May not be in this article, but MacRae did specify that no one in his settlements could sell land to anyone but another white and only white people were allowed to use the park he donated to the city.
I wish I could find the link again that referenced the thorough documentation housed in Wilmington's New Hanover County library collection. That was what first alerted me to the importance of the whole issue, after several people I met in Wilmington dropped a few vague references in a "we all know about this but don't discuss it" kind of way.
Arrrgh - posted too fast. That link above - http://www.ah.dcr.state.nc.us/1898-wrrc/
was from the NC Office of Archives and History. -not- Natural Resources (No idea how they got DCR out of that, but I do need to check acronyms before hitting submit)
Whoa. Man, that's some good stuff. I plan on chipping away at it over the next few days. Thanks for the info. The more I read, the more I think there's a novel lurking here. If I weren't buried in another writing project, I'd jump on it myself. Maybe Anon you should take up the torch here and write the novel.
Please don't worry about following up on all that. I can bet money Wilmington's not going to change anytime soon.
All I thought I could do was make people aware of its past, and especially the undertow that continues into the present day, that makes tRump's threatening hint that much more irresponsible. You've definitely helped by posting about it.
"Maybe Anon you should take up the torch here and write the novel"
It's been done :) Most recently, and most successfully, with "Cape Fear Rising" by UNCWilmington prof. Phillip Gerard, in 1994. It seems that book is what got people talking about what really happened, and helped counter the false and benign picture given out by those who won and stayed on in the government. Good informative reviews here: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1192229.Cape_Fear_Rising
I plan to read the book. Thanks for contributions-- I always appreciate learning something new.
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