Wilmington Coup d'État: White Supremacists Overthrow Elected Government

In Wilmington, North Carolina, white supremacist Democrats — led by Alfred Moore Waddell — overthrow the legitimately elected biracial Fusionist government the day after elections. Armed mobs kill an estimated 60 to 300 Black residents, burn the Black-owned Daily Record newspaper, and expel Black and white Republican officeholders at gunpoint. Waddell installs himself as mayor. The national press largely celebrates it. It remains the only successful coup against a US municipal government.