North Carolina's Biracial Fusionist Government Elected Before 1898 Coup

In 1896, North Carolina's Republicans and Populists form a Fusionist coalition, electing a biracial state government that appoints Black magistrates and aldermen, funds Black schools, and restores some voting rights protections. Wilmington's Black community gains political representation for the first time since Reconstruction. The success of the Fusionist experiment in governance is precisely why white supremacist Democrats plan and execute the 1898 coup.