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Wilmington On Fire

Christopher Everett

For more than 100 years, the haunting memory of a race riot has lingered with Wilmington's black community. In 1898, a group of violent white rioters overthrew the local government and attacked the city's black residents.

At the time, Wilmington was predominantly black and held the state's only black-owned newspaper. However, the coup d'etat tarnished black progress in the South and became a turning point in post-Reconstruction race relations.

The new documentary, "https://vimeo.com/wilmingtononfire" target="_blank">Wilmington on Fire," features researchers and North Carolina residents describing the impact and legacy of the riot.

Host Frank Stasio talks with the film's director Chris Everett about the dark moment of North Carolina history. 

"Wilmington on Fire" screens at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 2 at ThalianHall in Wilmington.

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Charlie Shelton-Ormond is a podcast producer for WUNC.
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.
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