The only successful coup in American history: how white supremacists 'stole a city,' and the 1898 Wilmington massacre
Four families, one stolen city
The Wilmington massacre and coup d'état of November 10, 1898 is widely known as the only successful coup in American history. Black elected officials were forced to resign office at gunpoint. Dozens, if not hundreds, of Black Wilmingtonians were killed during a day of premediated white supremacist terror.
New Yorker staff writer Lauren Collins grew up in Wilmington, where the little she learned about November 10, 1898 characterized the bloody day as a "race riot." When she realized she had not been taught anything close to the whole story, she got to work…
The skinny
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