In 1898, a white mob massacred at least 60 Black residents of Wilmington, North Carolina. They used a machine gun mounted on a horse-drawn wagon and staged what is considered the only successful coup in U.S. history, overthrowing the city’s multiracial government.
No one was charged for the murders that day. Instead, some of the mob leaders replaced city officials and went on to have celebrated careers — one served as a U.S. Senator for 30 years.
Author Lauren Collins argues this history is critical to understanding not just Wilmington today, but the entire nation — and its legacy is still being written.
Born and raised in Wilmington, Collins joins Charlotte Talks to discuss her new book and the forgotten legacy of a bloody, centuries-old massacre.
GUEST:
Lauren Collins, staff writer at The New Yorker and author of “They Stole a City: Wilmington's White Supremacist Coup and the Families Who Live with Its Legacy"
