By Antjuan Seawright, Columnist
We like to think and talk about history, particularly American history; we do so in romantic and idyllic terms as if our past was painted by Norman Rockwell or directed by Frank Capra. But, of course, this view, while tempting, is not true.
The reality is that much of history is distasteful, disgraceful, or outright abhorrent. I’m not saying we should be ashamed of it, but we should recognize it for what it is…and we should learn from it.
Instead, when it comes to certain parts of history, we either mash the ignore button, skip it like some internet ad, or resort to the delete button, hoping to erase it forever.
Unfortunately, those events and people getting ignored and deleted are usually the most critical events in history.
By now, especially considering the publicity surrounding its 100th anniversary this past May, we all should know about the Tulsa Massacre.
We all should know about that horrible day in 1921 when an armed mob organized and mobilized by white supremacists killed an estimated 300 black men, women, and children, left thousands destitute and homeless, and snuffed the light of progress from our eyes.
We all should know about how the dream of Black Wall Street was razed by hate leaving behind a living nightmare.
We like to think and talk about history, particularly American history; we do so in romantic and idyllic terms as if our past was painted by Norman Rockwell or directed by Frank Capra. But, of course, this view, while tempting, is not true.
The reality is that much of history is distasteful, disgraceful, or outright abhorrent. I’m not saying we should be ashamed of it, but we should recognize it for what it is…and we should learn from it.
Instead, when it comes to certain parts of history, we either mash the ignore button, skip it like some internet ad, or resort to the delete button, hoping to erase it forever.
Unfortunately, those events and people getting ignored and deleted are usually the most critical events in history.
By now, especially considering the publicity surrounding its 100th anniversary this past May, we all should know about the Tulsa Massacre.
We all should know about that horrible day in 1921 when an armed mob organized and mobilized by white supremacists killed an estimated 300 black men, women, and children, left thousands destitute and homeless, and snuffed the light of progress from our eyes.
We all should know about how the dream of Black Wall Street was razed by hate leaving behind a living nightmare.
But, if few people knew about the Tulsa Massacre, even fewer have ever heard of the Wilmington Massacre, also known as the Wilmington Insurrection.
Yeah, I said “insurrection” because it was just that, a successful coup d’etat right here on American soil.
You see, Wilmington was a unique place in 1898. Sitting on the banks of the Cape Fear River, Wilmington was remarkably integrated. Three of the city’s ten aldermen were black, and African Americans served as policemen, firefighters, and magistrates.
But the diverse progressivism of Wilmington enraged a number of white supremacists, particularly men who remained faithful to the old Confederacy, and they vowed to end this “Negro domination” in the 1898 state legislative elections.
Former Confederate colonel Alfred Waddell whipped up white outrage to a fever pitch suggested that white citizens should “choke the Cape Fear with carcasses” to keep black voters from the polls. These terrorists answered the call by arming themselves and patrolling black neighborhoods to intimidate and suppress black voters, winning every legislative seat on the ballot.
Of course, these were state elections. African Americans still maintained power in Wilmington’s city government.
That’s when Waddell led a mob of roughly 800 to the county courthouse to proclaim a “White Declaration of Independence” which began, “We, the undersigned citizens… do hereby declare that we will no longer be ruled, and will never again be ruled by men of African origin.”
The next day, Waddell led another mob of 2,000 armed men to the Daily Record, Wilmington’s black newspaper, and burned it to the ground.
The fire and the violence quickly spread with white supremacist forces firing on unarmed black men and pouring into black neighborhoods with rifles, revolvers, and a Gatling gun.
Amidst the bloodshed, Waddell threw out the democratically-elected aldermen and installed his representatives, who, of course, proclaimed Waddell mayor.
Black leaders, including the former Aldermen, were jailed before being marched to the train station under armed escort and run out of town.
As bullets were still flying, This was nothing less than a coup d’état. The hand-picked men “elected” Waddell mayor. Many Black leaders were jailed “for their safety” and then forcibly marched to the train station under military escort and sent out of town.
By the time it was all over, as many as 300 black citizens had been killed, thousands had fled, and the stage had been set for North Carolina to establish some of the worst Jim Crow laws in America just two years later.
Of course, in a well-worn pattern of obfuscation and misinformation, the established white-owned press called the insurrection a “race riot” instigated by black troublemakers, and that’s exactly as history recorded it for generations.
But that’s not the way it was. Instead, the truth was just ignored…and deleted.
It’s a shame too. Think of what we could have learned from this stain on American history. Think of how, having identified the hallmarks of insurrection, we could have prevented future violence.
Unfortunately, that opportunity was lost. Let’s not lose it again.
Antjuan Seawright is a Democratic political strategist, founder and CEO of Blueprint Strategy LLC, a CBS News political contributor, and a senior visiting fellow at Third Way. Follow him on Twitter antjuansea.
