(This story was updated because an earlier version included an inaccuracy.)
Nov. 10 marks the 126th anniversary of a dark day in Wilmington’s history: the coup and massacre of 1898, when armed white supremacists organized by some of the town’s leading citizens killed dozens of Black people, drove some 2,000 others out of town under threat of death, and forced the resignation of several local elected officials who were part of a biracial coalition.
Information about the coup was suppressed for decades, but the history is now well-known in Wilmington. It will reach a much wider audience 9 p.m. Nov. 12, when the documentary “American Coup: Wilmington 1898” premieres on PBS stations nationwide as part of the long-running American Experience series. The film will also be available at PBS.org and on the PBS app.
“American Coup” will have its North Carolina premiere Nov. 7 at Thalian Hall, where it will screen for a sold-out audience of invited guests.
Many of the interviews in the doc were shot in Thalian Hall, where white citizens rallied in the days leading up to the 1898 coup to hear racist speeches encouraging violence against their Black neighbors.