Dr. Jan Davidson
Cape Fear Museum of History and Science
In 1897, North Carolina’s Democratic Party decided to embark on a white supremacy campaign to try to drive Populist and Republican politicians out of office during the 1898 election. The campaign used speeches, propaganda cartoons, and the threat of violence to create support for white supremacy.
On November 8, 1898, New Hanover County's Democrats used threats and intimidation to stop African Americans from voting. Pro-Democratic Party election officers tampered with the returns. Because of these tactics, Democrats swept the election. On November 10, 1898, two days after the contested election, a mob of armed white men marched to the office of The Daily Record, the local African American newspaper, and set it on fire.
After burning The Daily Record offices, a violent mob then took to the streets, and on the Northside of town, attacked African Americans. An unknown number of African Americans died. Other people—white and Black—were "banished" from the city. On the same day, local elected officials were forced to resign, and were replaced by white supremacist leaders.
Once generally referred to as a “riot,” these events are now more widely understood to have been a white supremacist massacre and a coup d’état.
Life After Emancipation, 1865-1870
After the Civil War, the country passes three Constitutional Amendments that transform previously enslaved peoples’ legal status.
The 13th Amendment abolishes slavery, “…except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.”
The 14th Amendment’s first clause grants citizenship to “all persons born or naturalized” in the U.S. and includes clauses designed to provide everyone with the same rights under the law.
The 15th Amendment declares “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”
These amendments, and North Carolina's new state constitution, give newly-enfranchised Black men access to political power for the first time in their lifetimes.
The Rise of the State Democratic Party, 1870s and 1880s
After the promise of 1868 expands democracy in the state, things change in the 1870s.
North Carolina's pro-Confederate Democratic Party gains power over the state government.
Both white and Black Republicans continue to serve in elected offices in Wilmington and New Hanover County. But the General Assembly limits elections, and where they can, they appoint Democrats to office.
The General Assembly also carves Pender County out of New Hanover County to take power away from the county's Black majority.
North Carolina's Republicans and Populists Gain Power,
beginning in 1894
White Democrats lose control of the North Carolina General Assembly in 1894 when a coalition of Populists and Republicans win power. This "fusion" government is more supportive of popular democracy, and works to pass policies that help ordinary people, rather than members of the elite.
Momentum continues to swing in the Fusionists' favor in 1896. Daniel L. Russell becomes Governor of North Carolina, the first Republican to win the governorship since the 1870s.
A White Supremacist Speech, August 11, 1897
Mrs. Rebecca Felton gives a speech in Tybee Island, Georgia where she calls for the lynching of African American men to protect white women.
In the speech, Felton declares “…if it needs lynching to protect woman’s dearest possession from the ravening human beast – then I say lynch; a thousand times a week if necessary.”
The Georgian white supremacist’s inflammatory speech receives widespread attention. Wilmington's newspapers reprint a version of her speech in August, 1898.
The White Supremacy Campaign, 1897 and 1898
A year before the 1898 election, the Democratic Executive Committee meets in Raleigh on November 20, 1897. The committee, under the leadership of Furnifold M. Simmons, issues a call to “reestablish Anglo Saxon rule and honest government in North Carolina."
State leaders make plans to create county-level White Government Union clubs. These government unions are designed to persuade white men to vote for white supremacist candidates in the November 1898 election.
The Raleigh News and Observer declares, “It is the plan of the leaders of the white party to organize a white Government Union to secure united white action by white men. It has no secrecy, grips or pass-words, and is designed to do nothing but promote the elevation of the white man.”
The Daily Record's Editorial Rebuttal, August 18, 1898
Wilmington's African American newspaper, The Daily Record, publishes an editorial that counters the claims that Mrs. Felton’s speech makes. The Daily Record editorial, which was likely written by the paper's editor Alexander Manly, suggests that some sexual relationships between white women and black men were based on mutual consent. The editorial uses the words “fall in love” to characterize white women’s feelings towards black men. This is an incendiary sentiment in an era where mixed-race marriages were illegal.
The Wilmington newspaper's editorial fuels white supremacists’ fears of consensual interracial relationships.
"A Horrid Slander," August 30, 1898
For months, the white-owned Wilmington Star reprints an article with the title “A Horrid Slander” that repeats the assertion that The Daily Record's editorial was an “infamous assault on the white women of this state.”
Alfred Moore Waddell Speaks at the Opera House (Thalian Hall), October 24, 1898
Speakers around the state give rabble-rousing speeches in support of the white supremacy campaign.
In Wilmington, local lawyer, Democrat, and former Confederate officer Alfred Moore Waddell addresses a large crowd and declares “Negro domination shall henceforth be only a shameful memory to us, and an everlasting warning to those who shall ever again seek to revive it.” Waddell asserts he is willing to “choke the current of the Cape Fear with carcasses” if that is necessary to ensure white men once again rule the state.
Red Shirts and Rough Riders Meetings, October 26, 1898
Groups of armed men—some calling themselves Red Shirts, others Rough Riders—organize themselves in the city to further support white supremacy efforts. Many are also members of White Government Union clubs.
They meet and rally in support of white supremacy in Wilmington.
On November 8, 1898, in a tense and corrupt election, Democratic candidates are elected in the Republican city of Wilmington.
The next day, November 9, The Wilmington Messenger says “Yesterday was a glorious day for white supremacy in New Hanover county.”
Meeting at the Court House, 11 AM, November 9, 1898
The election is not the end of the white supremacy campaign. On November 9, The Wilmington Messenger publishes a notice: “Attention White Men: There will be a meeting of the White Men of Wilmington this morning at 11 o’clock at the Court House. A full attendance is desired, as business in the furtherance of White Supremacy will be transacted.”
An estimated 1,000 people attend the meeting, including what the paper calls “…Wilmington’s very best citizens, including ministers, working men, lawyers, doctors, merchants and all classes of our people.”
The resolutions drafted at the meeting become known as the “White Declaration of Independence.” White Wilmingtonians assert whites should rule and demand that The Daily Record’s editor, Alexander Manly, leave town. Attendees declare, “We, the undersigned citizens of the city of Wilmington and the county of New Hanover, do hereby declare that we will no longer be ruled, and will never again be ruled by men of African origin.”
More than 450 white men sign the declaration.
The Committee of Colored Citizens Meets, Evening, November 9, 1898
A group of African American leaders are summoned to a meeting, and asked to respond to the White Declaration of Independence by 7:30 AM on November 10. The Committee of Colored Citizens drafts a reply at David Jacobs' barber shop.
Armond Scott, Evening, November 9, 1898
A young lawyer, Armond Scott, is supposed to deliver the Committee of Colored Citizens' reply to the demands in the White Declaration. Wilmington's streets are filled with armed white men. Fearing for his safety, Scott puts the reply in the mail, and does not deliver it in person.
White leaders claim the reply does not arrive at its destination in the proscribed amount of time.
A Crowd Gathers, Wilmington Light Infantry Building, 8 AM,
November 10, 1898
On November 10, 1898, a crowd gathers. When the Committee of Colored Citizens’ response does not arrive, hundreds of armed white men march from the Wilmington Light Infantry’s armory on Market Street to The Daily Record' s office.
Burning The Daily Record Office, 9 AM, November 10, 1898
The mob ransacks The Daily Record office, which is located in the Love and Charity Hall, an African American community center. The crowd burns down the building.
Shooting Starts, 11 AM, November 10, 1898
At approximately 11 AM, shots are fired at North Fourth and Harnett streets, starting a wave of deadly violence in the city. Witnesses disagree about who shot first, African Americans or whites.
At noon, more shooting occurs at the same spot.
Martial Law is Declared, November 10, 1898
Governor Russell puts Colonel Walker Taylor, an officer in the local branch of the state militia, in charge of troops and calls for him to “preserve the peace.” Wilmington is under martial law.
Wilmington Light Infantrymen shoot African Americans near the Fourth Street Bridge. As many as 25 people may have been killed.
