In November 1898, on the heels of the state Democratic Party’s white supremacy campaign, violence broke out in Wilmington. A white mob burned the offices of a black newspaper and killed at least twenty-five African Americans, then threw the elected Republican government of the city out of town and installed a white Democratic mayor and council in its place. In this chapter, we’ll examine first-hand accounts of the riot and its aftermath. We’ll also evaluate at the “suffrage amendment” of 1899 that effectively barred blacks from voting in North Carolina.

Section Contents

• The Wilmington Record Editorial
• The Democrats Appeal to Voters
• The Wilmington Race Riot
• The "Revolutionary Mayor" of Wilmington
• Letter from an African American Citizen of Wilmington to the President
• J. Allen Kirk on the Wilmington Race Riot
• The Suffrage Amendment
• Voter Registration Cards
• Governor Aycock on "The Negro Problem"