1898 Wilmington Massacre

Scene on Radio host and producer John Biewen and film studies professor Michael A. Betts II talk with Leoneda Inge about their new podcast series “Echoes of a Coup" and the reverberations felt today from the 1898 Wilmington massacre and coup d’état.

Throughout the nation’s history, promising signs of Black American progress have been shattered by acts of violence serving the interests of white supremacy. The extent of that violence is widespread and ongoing. From lynchings to the decimation of entire communities by white mob savagery with deadly and far-reaching consequences. Examples of this American brand of white violence affected Black wealth and Black lives in Colfax (1873) and Coushatta, Louisiana (1874), Wilmington, North Carolina (1898), Atlanta (1906), Elaine, Arkansas and Chicago (1919), in Ocoee, Florida (1920) and the Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma (1921), to name only a few. | Learn more at waysandmeansshow.org.

In 1898, the elected government in Wilmington, N.C. was overthrown by white supremacists who sought to undermine Black progress. The impact of the violent…

The deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol evokes memories of the only successful coup d'état on American soil, more than a century ago, when the government was…

Author John Russell calls the 1898 Wilmington Massacre an “un-secret secret.” While there has recently been some renewed focus and attention on the racial…

Author John Russell calls the 1898 Wilmington Massacre an “un-secret secret.” While there has recently been some renewed focus and attention on the racial…