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Shedding Light on a Dark Chapter in American History

America Coup: Wilmington 1898
PBS

The little-known story of a deadly race massacre and carefully orchestrated insurrection in North Carolina’s largest city in 1898.

8pm Thursday AMERICAN COUP: WILMINGTON 1898 – Documentary
American Coup: Wilmington 1898 tells the story of how “self-described white supremacists used intimidation and violence to destroy Black political and economic power.

 

American Experience: American Coup Wilmington 1898

American Coup: Wilmington 1898 tells the little-known story of a deadly race massacre and carefully orchestrated insurrection in North Carolina’s largest city in 1898 — the only coup d’état in the history of the US. Stoking fears of “Negro Rule,” self-described white supremacists used intimidation and violence to destroy Black political and economic power and overthrow Wilmington’s democratically-elected, multi-racial government. Black residents were murdered, and thousands were banished. The story of what happened in Wilmington was suppressed for decades until descendants and scholars began to investigate. Today, many of those descendants — Black and white — seek the truth about this intentionally buried history.

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