Wilmington Insurrection of 1898

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The Wilmington Insurrection of 1898, formerly known as The Wilmington Race Riot of 1898, occurred in Wilmington, North Carolina and is considered a turning point in North Carolina politics following Reconstruction. Although it was called a riot, it is seen by many historians as an armed insurrection or coup d'etat.

The nexus of the insurrection was a group of white supremacists planning to reestablish the Democratic Party as the unquestioned controlling entity in the state. Wilmington, then the largest city in the state, was unique among Southern cities with its majority African American population, large number of African American professionals and a strong, biracial Republican Party. Since neither the state nor federal government put down the insurrection, the incident is believed to be the first, and only, violent overthrow of a local government in U.S. history. At least 22 African Americans were murdered in the streets of Wilmington during the insurrection.

Violence broke out in the city on November 10, 1898, just after the general election that brought Democrats back to power in the state legislature. A mob led by Alfred Moore Waddell and others forced white Republican Mayor Silas P. Wright and other members of the city government (both black and white) to resign (they would not be up for re-election until 1899). A new city council elected Waddell to take over as mayor. [1]

Following the insurrection, Democrats (see North Carolina General Assembly of 1899-1900) passed the first Jim Crow laws for North Carolina. These new state laws rolled back many of the rights African Americans in North Carolina had secured after the Civil War, which were then re-affirmed by the African-American Civil Rights Movement several generations later.