Chapter 1 | AMERICAN COUP: WILMINGTON 1898 | AMERICAN EXPERIENCE | PBS

Summary

The Wilmington Coup of 1898 was a violent overthrow of an elected government targeting African American citizens in North Carolina, representing a brutal assault on Black political and economic progress during Reconstruction. This event occurred in Wilmington, a prosperous city with a Black majority population where African Americans had achieved significant economic and social advancement, including business ownership, professional careers, and equal market participation. The coup, driven by white supremacist ideology, systematically murdered Black citizens, destroyed their community, and deliberately erased this history, serving as a stark example of how fragile American democracy can be when racism and violence are used to suppress citizenship rights. The incident ultimately represented a devastating rollback of the post-Civil War promises of equality and opportunity for African Americans.