Wilmington’s Lie – a bifurcated review

Wilmington’s Lie: The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy by David Zucchino

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


February 8, 2021 — There is something I find slightly Moby Dick-ish about this book and I am only a quarter of the way through. Short chapters like Moby Dick that provide glimpses into the context of the history as it unfolds remind me of little packets of energy. The focus on the “obsession” in the narrative, zooming in and zooming out, provides additional context.

I am a NC native, so it all has special meaning for me. And so many of the surnames remain in “circulation,” enhancing my own curiosity. I heard the story before in my youth, but as I mentioned to a friend, it was whispered about. Hushtones.

And there is a bit of irony in how i acquired the book. Our docent group (LOC) does “enrichment” visits and tours and one was to the NPR studio and offices just up from the UDC metro station. We ended the tour in a room that housed a library of books that writers and publishers donate to NPR. The tour guide told us to take whatever we wanted of the collection (I guess they needed the empty shelf space) and Wilmington’s Lie was on the shelf right in front of me. So I grabbed it and it grabbed me almost simultaneously.

I am reading this book slowly at bedtime. A couple of chapters a night. Hope to be done by the end of the month. Will finish this review then. See ya!

March 22, 2021

Took me a while but after several interruptions I finished the book. Painful reading, very painful as I identified not with the victors, but with the slain, the humiliated, the disenfranchised. A lot of research went into this book, making the unpacking of events clear and intentional. I applaud the author for painstaking research and examination of all sides of the issue.

Reputations were made in the effective execution of the 1898 coup against an elected government. Reputations were equally lost, destroyed. A narrative to explain the deeds of the victors was created, sustained by university scholarship, the state press, and the state education system. Fingerprints are everywhere and well preserved. We are especially indebted to researchers who chose this as their dissertation topic, with special recognition to Helen Edmonds of N.C. Central University, who wrote about a hidden topic with lucidity, clarity and courage in 1951 when it was not exactly sexy to do so.

Over time I have sided with thinkers who say blacks should have never left the south. Cast down your buckets where you are, Booker T Washington and others intoned and advised. But in 1898 Wilmington, what choice did people have? Stay and die, or flee and live? There was no in-between. I wonder will I ever be able to return to North Carolina to live? After reading Wilmington’s Lie, my heart may never be in returning, much less forgiving. In my hometown everything is named for Charles Aycock, well not everything, but the reputed best junior high when integration came was Aycock Junior High and the performing arts venue we all attended as children and as adults was Aycock Auditorium on the campus of UNCG, which fully integrated before most venues did. And to think Aycock was one of the leading propagandists of the Wilmington Lie and a leading proponent of separate but (un)equal education in North Carolina for over half a century.

I do recommend reading this book, especially for present-day Democrats and leaders in the cancel culture.



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