Wilmington Was a Black-Majority City Until the 1898 Massacre
It had Black-owned banks, elected officials, and police officers before violence drove out residents and flipped its majority.
Stuff You Should Know · The Wilmington MassacreIn 1898, Wilmington, North Carolina, the state's largest city with about 20,000 residents, had a Black majority.
It had Black doctors, attorneys, and business owners, three Black-owned banks, and Black elected officials including the treasurer, the jailer, and the coroner. About 10 of its 26 police officers were Black, although they could not arrest white people.
During the massacre, an armed white mob shot into Black-owned businesses and homes, killed Black residents, and ransacked Black churches. White leaders then forced the mayor, the police chief, and other officials to resign under threat and installed themselves in office.
Many Black residents fled to surrounding swamps, woods, and a cemetery and hid for days. About 10 percent of Black residents ultimately left the city, some on their own and some marched out at gunpoint.
Those who stayed could be pushed out of jobs, with less access to good work and loans, as Black-owned businesses closed. By 1900, Wilmington had become majority white, and its remaining Black residents were poorer and less literate. No one was ever prosecuted.
Questions people ask
How many people were killed in the massacre?
Estimates vary widely. The coroner's report listed 14 dead, other contemporary accounts put the number as high as 300, and a 2006 state report concluded that the toll was likely as high as 60. All of those reported killed were Black.
What happened to Wilmington's government?
White supremacist leaders forced the mayor, police chief, and other officials to resign under threat. Alfred Moore Waddell then declared himself mayor and installed his allies in other city offices, completing a coup against the elected biracial government.
Why did this history stay little known for so long?
For decades it was called the Wilmington Race Riot, language that suggested Black residents had caused the violence. A state commission later formally recognized it as a massacre and coup, after work by historians including Helen Gray Edmonds as early as 1951.