The situation in Michigan reminds me of an oft-forgotten part of our history that occurred in 1898 North Carolina. There, armed men took over Wilmington, North Carolina, killed or ran out of town African Americans and Fusion Republican whites. They then took over the newly elected government and installed an illegal one composed of white supremacists.
This was part of a multi-city effort to remove black residents as well as white Republican sympathizers and put into place white supremacists.
It was the morning of November 10, 1898, in Wilmington, North Carolina, and the fire was the beginning of an assault that took place seven blocks east of the Cape Fear River, about 10 miles inland from the Atlantic Ocean. By sundown, Manly’s newspaper had been torched, as many as 60 people had been murdered, and the local government that was elected two days prior had been overthrown and replaced by white supremacists.
For all the violent moments in United States history, the mob’s gruesome attack was unique: It was the only coup d’état ever to take place on American soil. Read the article in The Atlantic here and here and here and listen here.
