Status
Available
Genres
Collection
Publication
Black Cat (2020), 336 pages
Description
"By 1898 Wilmington, North Carolina, was a shining example of a mixed-race community-a bustling port city with a thriving African American middle class and a government made up of Republicans and Populists, including black alderman, police officers, and magistrates. But across the state-and the South-white supremacist Democrats were working to reverse the advances made by former slaves and their progeny. They were plotting to take back the state legislature in the November 8th election and then use a controversial editorial published by black newspaper editor Alexander Manly to trigger a "race riot" to overthrow the elected government in Wilmington. With a coordinated campaign of intimidation and violence, the Democrats sharply curtailed the black vote and stuffed ballot boxes to steal the 1898 mid-term election. Two days later, more than 2,000 heavily armed white nightriders known as Red Shirts swarmed through Wilmington, terrorizing women and children and shooting at least sixty black men dead in the streets. The rebels forced city officials and leading black citizens to flee at gun point while hundreds of local African Americans took refuge in nearby swamps and forests. This brutal insurrection is the only violent overthrow of an elected government in U.S. history. It halted gains made by blacks and restored racism as official government policy, cementing white rule for another seventy years. It was not a "race riot" as the events of November 1898 came to be known, but rather a racially-motivated rebellion launched by white supremacists. In Wilmington's Lie, David Zucchino uses contemporary newspaper reports, diaries, letters, and official communications to create a gripping narrative that weaves together individual stories of hate, fear, and brutality. This is a dramatic and definitive account of a remarkable but forgotten chapter of American history"--… (more)
Media reviews
In the sordid history of white supremacy and violence against blacks after the Civil War — attacks in Memphis and New Orleans in 1866, Atlanta in 1906, Springfield, Ill., in 1908, Chicago in 1919, and Tulsa in 1921, to name a few — Wilmington in 1898 stands apart.... “The coup,” Zucchino
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concludes, “transformed Wilmington from an American mecca for blacks to a bastion of white supremacy virulently hostile to its black citizens.” Deeply researched and relevant, “Wilmington’s Lie” explains how that happened and suggests how much work remains to be done to come to terms with what took place. Show Less
Wilmington has the dubious distinction of being the site of what is apparently the only coup d’etat in American history.... Zucchino keeps his focus tightly on North Carolina, which might be its main weakness. What happened in Wilmington in 1898 was part of a growing trend of white supremacy that
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swept most of the states of the former Confederacy for a decade or more. Show Less
“Wilmington’s Lie” is a tragic story about the brutal overthrow of the multiracial government of Wilmington, N.C., in 1898.... His moral judgment stands at a distance. He simply describes what happened and the lies told to justify it all. A generalized terror comes into view as the white
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citizens of Wilmington mobilized to seize power through violence and outright fraud....Zucchino pulls the story into our present moment. He interviews descendants of those who perpetrated the violence and those who bore the brunt of it. What becomes clear, at least to me, is that memory and trauma look different depending on which side of the tracks you stand. The last sentence of “Wilmington’s Lie,” which quotes the grandson of Alex Manly, makes that point without a hint of hyperbole. “If there’s a hell, I hope they’re burning in it, all of them.” Show Less
Zucchino carefully outlines the roles that black people held in Wilmington’s government and explores why white people were bothered by what they called “Negro rule” when black people held only a small portion of elected positions in the city.... The results of these events “inspired white
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supremacists across the South. . . . Wilmington’s whites had mounted America’s first and only armed overthrow of a legally elected government. They had murdered blacks with impunity. . . . They had turned a black-majority city into a white citadel.” Wilmington’s Lie is a riveting and mesmerizing page turner, with lessons about racial violence that echo loudly today. Show Less
A searing and still-relevant tale of racial injustice at the turn of the 20th century.... The complexities of racial division and party politics in a time before the Republicans and Democrats effectively switched sides are sometimes challenging to follow, but Zucchino’s narrative is clear and
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appropriately outraged without being strident. A book that does history a service by uncovering a shameful episode, one that resonates strongly today. Show Less
... a remarkable account of a distinctive historical moment ... demonstrates that an appetite for violence was stoked and then carefully directed to align with Democratic electoral objectives ... Zucchino's account of the terror and violence that accompanied the Wilmington coup unfolds in
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horrifying detail ... Zucchino emphasizes how what might seem like random violence in fact served practical political aims ... Some of Zucchino's most provocative reflections come in the epilogue, where he draws comparisons between the voter suppression methods of the 19th century and the recent efforts of North Carolina's Republican politicians to limit black, and therefore Democratic, voting. He also writes about the disputed memories of the coup, still a contentious issue after more than a century. Zucchino never needs to stretch to find connections between the 1898 coup and the present day. The trauma--as well as political and economic consequences--still linger. Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member pomo58
Wilmington's Lie: The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy is a thoroughly researched account of the organized mass murders and the subsequent effects of this illegal, immoral, and pure evil strategy.
This book gives as detailed an account as possible of the events of the coup as
This is a difficult book to read for a couple of reasons. First, the events and the inhumanity of those who committed and condoned these actions is appalling. Second, the fact that the basic playbook of the white supremacists of that period is being updated and used today in state legislatures as well as the executive branch of the federal government illustrates the extent to which those who can only achieve success through denying it to others will do whatever they have to do to continue that trend.
Make no mistake, any reviewer who claims not to be responsible because it happened so long ago is trying to cover their own pathetic bigotry with such empty logic. They enjoy the fruits of those actions but they want none of the responsibility. That isn't justice, that is immoral inhumanity.
I recommend this book to anyone who wants to know the extent to which people will go to maintain power that they cannot maintain through merit. It was true then and, with the election of Trumpenfuehrer, it is true today.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
This book gives as detailed an account as possible of the events of the coup as
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well as the lies told before, during, and after the murder spree by the whites both in North Carolina and across the country, especially in the south. There will be some who find this to be part of their "southern heritage," and to an extent they are right. Immorality and illegality are indeed among the largest portions of that heritage. There will even be reviewers, as one I have already seen, who misstate or intentionally misunderstands the difference between "being responsible for what my ancestors did" and in making amends for the benefits denied to those murdered (and their descendants) that have been unfairly given to them. If the white supremacists who committed this and the many other crimes, who wrote the bigoted and unconstitutional legislation that denied and/or took away rights and opportunities, had been prosecuted and spent the necessary time in prison and possibly received the death penalty, then today's self-righteous little "it isn't my fault" bigots would not have all of the benefits they now unjustifiably enjoy.This is a difficult book to read for a couple of reasons. First, the events and the inhumanity of those who committed and condoned these actions is appalling. Second, the fact that the basic playbook of the white supremacists of that period is being updated and used today in state legislatures as well as the executive branch of the federal government illustrates the extent to which those who can only achieve success through denying it to others will do whatever they have to do to continue that trend.
Make no mistake, any reviewer who claims not to be responsible because it happened so long ago is trying to cover their own pathetic bigotry with such empty logic. They enjoy the fruits of those actions but they want none of the responsibility. That isn't justice, that is immoral inhumanity.
I recommend this book to anyone who wants to know the extent to which people will go to maintain power that they cannot maintain through merit. It was true then and, with the election of Trumpenfuehrer, it is true today.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
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LibraryThing member hadden
Excellent book about a little known massacre in North Carolina's history. In 1898, a group of white politicians organized a state-wide method to take back their state from Republican and black rule. In a cold blooded conspiracy of white supremacy, they attacked the black and Republican community in
The end result was that innocent men were murdered in broad daylight, with no accounting of either the numbers of men killed or accountability for the white murderers. The attacks were coordinated along the east coast of North Carolina, so even fleeing blacks on the trains were met at each stop by white masked thugs who either denied them getting off the trains, or took them off for rough treatment or death.
Afterwards, the whites left extensive written and printed accounts of their deeds and intentions, but the blacks did not. David Zucchino, a Pulitzer Prize winner, did an excellent job of digging out what could be reconstructed from the viewpoints of the blacks who were attacked or fled or were burned out.
This is a horrible story that is not well known. What is particularly frightening about it is the political schemes to deny blacks the vote, or to hold office, or to register, are still being applied in North Carolina state politics. Many of the ideas and techniques for intimidation and denial were copied from and by other states, to shape the Southern politics of the turn of the century to the 1960s.For generations, white families felt justified in killing the blacks that they saw as murderous rioters and people who wanted control over white men and women. Instead, this is a cold blooded plan to deprive black citizens full citizenship and the right to vote. By overwhelming the black community, the white leaders suffered no political or legal consequences for their actions. This is the lie in Wilmington they told and lived for several generations.
This is a horrifying tale, ably told by a good writer. Recommended for history lovers who can objectively look at the dark side of American history. Also recommended for every high school and college in North Carolina and the southern east coast.
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Wilmington, North Carolina, and murdered perhaps 60 black men, and banished even more black and white leaders so they could cement their control. Using infantry and naval units back from the Spanish-American war, black leaders were hunted down and either killed, chased away or banished from the town. Others were shot down by gleeful white "Red Shirts", KKK and drunken thugs who were told this was a riot by blacks who wanted to take over the town.The end result was that innocent men were murdered in broad daylight, with no accounting of either the numbers of men killed or accountability for the white murderers. The attacks were coordinated along the east coast of North Carolina, so even fleeing blacks on the trains were met at each stop by white masked thugs who either denied them getting off the trains, or took them off for rough treatment or death.
Afterwards, the whites left extensive written and printed accounts of their deeds and intentions, but the blacks did not. David Zucchino, a Pulitzer Prize winner, did an excellent job of digging out what could be reconstructed from the viewpoints of the blacks who were attacked or fled or were burned out.
This is a horrible story that is not well known. What is particularly frightening about it is the political schemes to deny blacks the vote, or to hold office, or to register, are still being applied in North Carolina state politics. Many of the ideas and techniques for intimidation and denial were copied from and by other states, to shape the Southern politics of the turn of the century to the 1960s.For generations, white families felt justified in killing the blacks that they saw as murderous rioters and people who wanted control over white men and women. Instead, this is a cold blooded plan to deprive black citizens full citizenship and the right to vote. By overwhelming the black community, the white leaders suffered no political or legal consequences for their actions. This is the lie in Wilmington they told and lived for several generations.
This is a horrifying tale, ably told by a good writer. Recommended for history lovers who can objectively look at the dark side of American history. Also recommended for every high school and college in North Carolina and the southern east coast.
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LibraryThing member larryerick
Apparently this is what you get when a Pulitzer Prize winning newspaper journalist tries to write history. You get excellent history. Early into my reading of this book, it was very easy to compare it to the best histories I've read of American Civil War battles, such as, Gettysburg, Antietam, and
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Shiloh. True, this wasn't about the Civil War -- it's from 33 years later -- but forces at work are very much derived from that war. Factors leading up to the event are well laid out. Key personalities are well drawn. The main event is reported in detail. The aftermath is followed out many years. But it should be pointed out that even if a reader already knew the basic elements of the Wilmington, North Carolina, event of 1896, and decided to forego the meticulous detail but compelling narrative the author provides, the Epilogue itself is worth the price of admission, in my opinion. The connections from the Civil War to 1896, and then from that time to today is stunningly clear without the author ever making a specific point about it. Somewhat amazingly, it was the day I finished reading this book that news came out about present day events in the same North Carolina city that could have just as easily been quoted in this book. Then again, maybe it's not amazing, but incredibly sad and disturbing. Show Less
LibraryThing member muddyboy
A great study about how Wilmington, North Carolina becomes the blueprint for how southern whites totally disenfranchise Black voters and assume total political control and dominance over local and state government. Their methods include violence,, intimidation , grandfather clauses, literacy tests
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and poll taxes. These methods spread all across the South to guarantee white supremacy throughout the South. In 1898 North Carolina had a majority Black population. By 1900 there are no Black office holders in the state. Zucchino sees similar problems for Blacks today with voter restrictions. Show Less
LibraryThing member atozgrl
Wilmington's Lie tells the story of the coup led by white supremacists in North Carolina to overthrow the Fusionist government of Wilmington, made up of white Republicans and a number of black men. This is a tale that was largely lost to history until a few people at the centennial of the events
By 1898, Wilmington was a remarkably successful (for the time) community of mixed races. White supremacists in Wilmington and around the state were angry and determined to overthrow that government. This book sets the stage for events leading up to the coup. It provides background history from the Civil War to the end of the century, and introduces the leading characters who played a role on both sides. Zucchino describes the white supremacist campaign designed to frighten white Fusionist voters and scare them into voting for white supremacist Democrats. Democrats succeeded in regaining near complete control over the state legislature and full control of county offices in the election of 1898. But this was not enough for them. City government offices were not up for election until the following spring. So the day after the election, they set their plan in motion to force the Mayor, Chief of Police, and other city officials to resign. This led to the notorious massacre of many black men on November 10. Zucchino recounts the event of this day in detail. Of course, the white supremacists claimed there was a riot of black men, and they had to put it down. But Zucchino presents a great deal of evidence to show that the events of that day had been planned in advance by a number of the white supremacist leaders.
I was surprised to see how much of the country knew about the events. Apparently people were expecting a race war in Wilmington, and there were correspondents from around the country covering the election there. Also appalling was the complete lack of a response from the federal government. It was a truly horrific event and a stain on our country's history.
Wilmington's Lie gives about as complete a recounting of the events of that day, as well as what led up to it and what followed, as is probably possible to make. It is extremely well researched, with 41 pages of notes and an extensive bibliography. Zucchino has unearthed some unpublished memoirs which help to fill in the details. It is also very well written and compelling. Given events in this country at the present day, it is important that we not forget what happened here, as we do not want to see a repeat. I recommend this book for everyone, but North Carolinians in particular should read it.
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started pushing for a way to commemorate it and the state legislature in 2000 created a commission to investigate it.By 1898, Wilmington was a remarkably successful (for the time) community of mixed races. White supremacists in Wilmington and around the state were angry and determined to overthrow that government. This book sets the stage for events leading up to the coup. It provides background history from the Civil War to the end of the century, and introduces the leading characters who played a role on both sides. Zucchino describes the white supremacist campaign designed to frighten white Fusionist voters and scare them into voting for white supremacist Democrats. Democrats succeeded in regaining near complete control over the state legislature and full control of county offices in the election of 1898. But this was not enough for them. City government offices were not up for election until the following spring. So the day after the election, they set their plan in motion to force the Mayor, Chief of Police, and other city officials to resign. This led to the notorious massacre of many black men on November 10. Zucchino recounts the event of this day in detail. Of course, the white supremacists claimed there was a riot of black men, and they had to put it down. But Zucchino presents a great deal of evidence to show that the events of that day had been planned in advance by a number of the white supremacist leaders.
I was surprised to see how much of the country knew about the events. Apparently people were expecting a race war in Wilmington, and there were correspondents from around the country covering the election there. Also appalling was the complete lack of a response from the federal government. It was a truly horrific event and a stain on our country's history.
Wilmington's Lie gives about as complete a recounting of the events of that day, as well as what led up to it and what followed, as is probably possible to make. It is extremely well researched, with 41 pages of notes and an extensive bibliography. Zucchino has unearthed some unpublished memoirs which help to fill in the details. It is also very well written and compelling. Given events in this country at the present day, it is important that we not forget what happened here, as we do not want to see a repeat. I recommend this book for everyone, but North Carolinians in particular should read it.
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Awards
Pulitzer Prize (Winner — General Non-Fiction — 2021)
Independent Publisher Book Awards (Gold — 2021)
BookTube Prize (Octofinalist — Nonfiction — 2021)
Boston Globe Best Book (Nonfiction — 2020)
Notable Books List (Nonfiction — 2021)