“Wilmington on Fire” (2023, Christopher Everett, Director and Producer) presents the story of the 1898 Massacre carried out against Black residents of Wilmington, North Carolina.

The initial excuse was an editorial published on August 11, 1898 by Alexander Manley of The Daily Record, which stated that White women had engaged in consensual relations with Black men “since we got off the boats.” The ensuing outrage was used politically along with other accusations against Black people, and the all-white Democratic ticket prevailed on November 8, 1898.

On November 10, 1898, militias created by the White Government Union (est. 1897) broke into Manley’s building, set it on fire, and destroyed the printing press. Elite members of the Black community were jailed overnight, put on a train in the morning, and told to never return.

The mob increased from 500 to 2,000 White men, burning down most of the Black community, killing “hundreds and hundreds” of Black people, choking the Cape Fear River with Black bodies. The Black population decreased from almost 12,000 to 6,000, after death, exile or escape.

The perpetrators were never identified or punished.

Available on YouTube.