A series of events will kick off beginning Thursday to commemorate and honor the victims of the 1898 Wilmington Massacre and Coup D’etat.
The annual remembrance will feature a host of programs, beginning with a soil jar display program event at the University of North Carolina Wilmington’s Sherman Hayes Gallery at 6 p.m. Thursday.
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Programs will continue through the weekend, including an 1898 wreath-laying ceremony at 9 a.m. at 1898 Memorial Park, 1018 N. Third St.
A full list of events with links to registrations is available online.
The massacre took place on Nov. 10, 1898, when a mob of armed white men marched to a local African American newspaper and set it on fire following a campaign by prominent white citizens in the city to overthrow the legally elected biracial city government.
After setting The Daily Record office ablaze, the violent mob rushed the city’s Northside, attacking African Americans. The number of African American Wilmington residents who died that day remains unknown.
Local elected officials, forced to resign, were replaced by white supremacist leaders.
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An online interactive map provides more information and a timeline of events that unfolded during the massacre.
