November 1898

On November 10, 1898, in Wilmington, North Carolina — then the state's largest city with a Black majority and a functioning interracial government — approximately 2,000 armed white men led by former Confederate soldiers overthrew the elected Republican city government, killing at least 14 and possibly 60–300 Black residents. The mob burned the offices of the Black newspaper 'Daily Record,' expelled Black and white Republican officials, and installed a Democratic government at gunpoint. It remains the only documented successful coup d'état against a US government. Wilmington had been a center of Black economic and political life; the coup destroyed its Black professional class. No federal intervention occurred; no prosecutions followed.

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.

Former Confederate colonel Waddell announces days before the election: 'We will never surrender to a ragged raffle of negroes.' After Democrats win through fraud and intimidation, Waddell leads over 2,000 armed men — including a Gatling gun — to overthrow the remaining Fusionist city government. He rules as self-installed mayor for four years.

Alexander Manly, editor of Wilmington's Daily Record — the only Black daily newspaper in the United States — was targeted by white supremacist coup leaders for an August 1898 editorial challenging the rape myth used to justify lynching. His press was burned on November 10, 1898. Manly fled to the North; he never returned. The destruction of his press symbolized the violent silencing of Black journalism across the South.

The Wilmington Daily Record, owned and edited by Alexander Manly — one of the only Black-owned daily newspapers in the South — is set ablaze by a white mob as part of the November 10 coup. Manly had written an editorial challenging the rape pretext for racial violence. His office is destroyed before he flees. Dozens of Black community leaders, ministers, and elected officials are forced at gunpoint onto trains and expelled from the city permanently.

Former Confederate colonel Alfred Moore Waddell leads the Wilmington coup, having announced days before the election: 'We will never surrender to a ragged raffle of negroes.' After Democrats win the election through fraud and intimidation, Waddell leads an armed mob of over 2,000 men — including a military-grade rapid-fire gun — to overthrow the remaining Fusionist city government. He installs himself as mayor and rules for four years, celebrated by the white press.

Major Northern newspapers — including the New York Times — frame the Wilmington coup as a legitimate restoration of white governance against 'negro domination.' Press coverage adopts the white supremacist Democrats' narrative wholesale. President McKinley, who has received desperate telegrams from Wilmington's Black residents, takes no action. The federal government's silence confirms that the post-Reconstruction abandonment of Black citizens is complete at the century's end.

Major Northern newspapers including the New York Times frame the Wilmington coup as legitimate restoration of white governance against 'negro domination.' President McKinley, who receives desperate telegrams from Wilmington's Black residents, takes no action. Federal silence confirms the post-Reconstruction abandonment of Black citizens is complete.

Ida B. Wells led a delegation of Black citizens to petition President McKinley to investigate and condemn the Wilmington coup and the murder of Black citizens. McKinley took no action, offering only vague expressions of sympathy. The failure of federal response confirmed the complete abandonment of Black constitutional rights by the executive branch.

White supremacists violently overthrow a multiracial elected government in North Carolina.