WUNC | 91.5fm | the state of things | Audio Archive � 1898 Wilmington Race Riot
Air Date: 12/22/2005
In the thirty years of reconstruction following the Civil War, the city of Wilmington, N.C. grew into a diverse and prosperous city.That cross-cultural prosperity ended in violence in November of 1898, when a democratic party coalition of white leaders and white supremacists took to the streets and attacked blacks. The ensuing riot would become the only successful overthrow of a local government in American history. Last week, a commission looking into the 1898 Wilmington Race Riot released a report and will soon offer recommendations to the N.C. General Assembly. Host Frank Stasio looks at the events and the legacy of the riot with: Timothy Tyson, historian and co-author of “Democracy Betrayed: the Wilmington Race Riot of 1898 and its Legacy†(UNC Press/1998); Irving Joyner a professor of law at North Carolina Central University and co-chairman of the 1898 Wilmington Race Riot Commission; and Harper Peterson, a member of the Commission and the mayor of Wilmington from 2001 to 2003.