Lauren Collins recently published They Stole A City: Wilmington’s White Supremacist Coup and the Families Who Live with its Legacy. Collins grew up in Wilmington and recently returned to her hometown to attend a July 17 book discussion event at the Brooklyn Arts District hosted by Floodplain Books.
She also stopped by the WHQR Public Media studios to have an in-depth conversation about the Black and White families who are a part of the Wilmington coup and massacre story — and how its legacy impacted events like the integration of public schools, the Wilmington Ten, and current political battles over how to teach history that involves talking about white supremacy.
Many in our area tuned in for Collins’ recent visit to CBS This Morning, which focused broadly on how our nation is still waking up to the story of 1898 — but for our Cape Fear region community, we’re going deeper into what happened. But for those who haven’t heard the basics: White supremacist leaders forced the multi-racial city government to give up their seats at gunpoint — and burned down The Daily Record, Wilmington’s Black-owned newspaper. They removed Black public servants from their positions on the fire brigade, police force, and customs office. And they murdered countless Black Wilmingtonians; Collins says dozens, possibly hundreds.
But we’ll start with why Collins wanted to write this book — and a brief history of the places that influenced her upbringing, like attending New Hanover High School and going to church at First Presbyterian in downtown Wilmington.
Links
- Belles and Whistles, The Assembly
- How white supremacists staged the only successful coup in U.S. history, CBS This Morning
- A conversation with Freeman family descendants Christopher Eaton and Dorian Cromartie, WHQR's The Newsroom
- Echoes of a Coup: Michael Betts and John Biewen tackle the 1898 massacre in a new Scene on Radio series, WHQR's The Newsroom
- At a NHC NAACP meeting, community members say "no" to selling Mary Washington Howe pre-K, WHQR
- Unpacking the removal of 'Stamped' by the New Hanover County Board of Education, WHQR
- Local leaders weigh in on upcoming hearing on 'Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You', WHQR
- NHC school board tackles wages, teaching history, Title IX, staffing, and more, WHQR
- Some call it 'teaching history,' others call it 'indoctrination,' and the fight is far from over, WHQR
- McKinley's Guns, IMDB
