Democracy Betrayed: The Wilmington Race Riot of 1898 and Its Legacy

by David S. Cecelski

At the close of the nineteenth century, the Democratic Party in North Carolina engineered a white supremacy revolution. Frustrated by decades of African American self-assertion and threatened by an interracial coalition advocating democratic reforms, white conservatives used violence, demagoguery, and fraud to seize political power and disenfranchise black citizens. The most notorious episode of the campaign was the Wilmington "race riot" of 1898, which claimed the lives of many black residents and rolled back decades of progress for African Americans in the state.
Published on the centennial of the Wilmington race riot, Democracy Betrayed draws together the best new scholarship on the events of 1898 and their aftermath. Contributors to this important book hope to draw public attention to the tragedy, to honor its victims, and to bring a clear and timely historical voice to the debate over its legacy.
The contributors are David S. Cecelski, William H. Chafe, Laura F. Edwards, Raymond Gavins, Glenda E. Gilmore, John Haley, Michael Honey, Stephen Kantrowitz, H. Leon Prather Sr., Timothy B. Tyson, LeeAnn Whites, and Richard Yarborough.

Genres: History, Race, Nonfiction, Historical, Crime, American History, African American

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1998

Reviews

[Marina Burton · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book, or at the very least some of its essays, should be required high school reading not only in the american south but throughout the entire country. if nothing else, wilmington 1898 needs to be a historical event with as much presence in the american cultural zeitgeist as the march on washington or the boston tea party. this book presents an unrelenting, unapologetic view of one of the darkest periods of american history. it presents a clear picture of how, in response to the progress of hope of reconstruction, white racists lied, cheated, threatened, and killed their way back into power. it offers critiques of civility, paternalism, and conservatism. it raises up unknown names like Abraham Galloway, one of the most fascinating figures in Reconstruction-era north carolina, and a man who unfortunately died before his time. if you have ever wondered about why the Jim Crow era lasted for such a long period of american history, i implore you: pick up this book.

[Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am sad that I only came to this book through the events of the past year. Although I did not recognize the names of any of my family on its pages, my family owned buildings of historical import in Wilmington and must have had a role. Even if they were not white vigilante leaders, I still recognize the legacy of politeness and paternalism to which I was enculturated from a young age. That legacy still binds us in hatred, avoidance, shame, silence. It prevents us from truth-telling, repentance, reconciliation, and healing.

This book is an important part of the path forward. It tells lots of stories that have been underrepresented in general education in the U.S. - including mine. Stories of the challenges of reconstruction, of anti-democratic factions fueling hatred to thwart fledgling new possibilities for us to realize more of the promise of democracy in the U.S., of black creativity and excellence and hope, of the reverberations of Wilmington into the present.

I was shocked at how similar the language and thinking of white supremacy remains today compared to 125 years ago. The people who know the history hear the dog whistles clearly. It is incumbent on all of us to learn to hear them, too - the better to defend ourselves from the terrible consequences of such deep hatred.

All the essays add essential information and context for understanding the Wilmington race massacre. I think the one that struck me with the most force was "Love, Hate, Rape and Lynching." The hatred of white supremacists is so deep they register relationships between races - and particularly black men and white women - as rape. The confusion of interracial love with hate, and their own hate with love, justifies the violence they use to suppress people of color. Mistaking love for hate and vice versa is a fundamental ill. We must insist on the truth to heal.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I lived in Wilmington for six years, around the time that a monument was finally built commemorating the massacre of 1898, and I learned more from the introduction of this book than I did living there. Only made it through a few essays before I had to return it to the library, but I'll be returning to this for sure.

[Cynthia Wilcox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative essay about a period in history not commonly shared. A must read

Understanding what happened in Wilmington in 1898 and how it has shape the history of America up to the present time should be required reading at every school .

[Rob · Rating 5 out of 5]

This amazing collection of essays opens the eyes of the reader to the horrifying realities of the history of the Jim Crow south, especially as that history played out in North Carolina. This is a must-read for anyone who cares about race-relations in America.

[J M-B · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really valuable essay collection. The 'epilogue from Greensboro' by William H Chafe demonstrates the continuing relevance of the white supremacist putsch in Wilmington - in case January 6th 2021 isn't quite enough.

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

An ever-so-important history lesson that we did not learn in school in Wilmington, North Carolina....at least not in the late 60's, early 70's.

[Karen Kohoutek · Rating 4 out of 5]

I impulsively ordered this because I wanted to read something about the Wilmington massacre. The next day my library got in a copy of "Wilmington's Lie" (which I've heard very good things about), and I thought if I'd only been more patient, I could have waited for that to go through processing. However, I ended up being very glad to read this!

A collection of essays that commemorated the 100th anniversary of the horrific racist violence that overthrew the legally elected city government in 1898 (clearly relevant to current events), this provides a lot of scope and almost no repetition (save for a few well-known quotes from the instigators, which do recur). There's a good overview of the historical details of the events, plus a lot of context that led up to them, and explorations of the aftereffects, both in the rise of voter suppression, Jim Crow laws, and economic exploitation of both black and white workers. The way its memory has been used to shore up racist paternalism, and to inspire the Civil Rights movement, is also discussed. So it turned out to be a fairly in-depth introduction to multiple facets of this little-known, but very important, piece of American history.

[Frank Ogden · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent resource that covers the 1898 overthrow of Wilmington’s local government that was primarily African-American and legally elected. A minority of white leaders who lend to the murder of hundreds of

[Frederick Bingham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about the 1898 riots in Wilmington. It is a series of essays by assorted writers on various aspects of the events. There is one good essay near the beginning giving a basic historical account. The rest of the essays are about relatively peripheral subjects. This is a good book for professional historians or history students. It's a little more detailed than I was interested in.

[Kai Palchikoff · Rating 3 out of 5]

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