Wilmington 1898 Coup d'etat Literary Tour - Clio

Entries on This Tour

1. Kilwins' Chocolates by the Waterfront

To fully appreciate Michael White's poem "Coup," grab an ice cream from Kilwins and take a walk down to the pier by the waterfront. This is where White both felt the inspiration to write his poem and where he chose for his poem to take place, looking out over the water with his daughter, ice cream in hand. "Coup" creates a strange dichotomy of the present - a man eating ice cream with his daughter - to the past - a traumatic time of racial rioting and murder. The poem acts as a reminder and an anchor to reality, exposing the reader to the innocence of the moment and the horrors of what had recently taken place there over a hundred years prior. Drifting from the peaceful afternoon on the docks to the cold memories of dead men who had been targeted solely for the color of their skin, White's language fluidly moves from one feeling to the next, carrying his audience with him. This control of the mood places White's audience in a mindset that beyond the scenery lies the cold truth and results of a racist past, that even in locations of beauty we must not forget the tragedies that there also exists.

2. Cape Fear Club (circa 1898)

Founded in 1866, the Cape Fear Club is a professional men's club. It is one of the oldest social clubs of continuous existence in the Southeast. The club, which remains an all-male organization, has switched locations several times through downtown Wilmington. One of the buildings sold to the club in 1888 was the former house of banker James Dawson, on the northwest corner of Front and Chesnut St., which was torn down in 1913 and stands as the Murchison building today. The Cape Fear Club serves as a prominent setting in the novel Cape Fear Rising by Philip Gerard, which is based on the events of the 1898 Wilmington Coup d'etat.

3. Sprunt's Champion Cotton Compress

Sprunt's Champion Compress was the location of a tense showdown in the middle of the violence in the Wilmington Coup d'etat in 1898, as portrayed in Philip Gerard's Novel "Cape Fear Rising." It was a large business occupying significant waterfront property in Wilmington, beginning in 1879. The business employed a large number of Black laborers, and Sprunt made significant efforts to protect them and prevent violence. The property is now owned by Cape Fear Community College

4. Brooklyn Neighborhood (near Fourth and Harnett intersection)

The predominantly African American neighborhood of Brooklyn marks where the violence of the Wilmington 1898 Race Riot began. Witnesses said that "hell broke loose" around 11:00 am on November 10, 1898. Several African American men lay dead or wounded at this intersection after shots were fired. The violence continued into Manhattan Park and surrounding areas. In his novel, Cape Fear Rising, Philip Gerard describes this event, when a neighborhood became a site of terror.

5. Thalian Hall

Since its construction from 1855-1858 Thalian Hall has served as city hall and community cultural center. As a result, Thalian Hall has been at the center of many key moments in the city's history, perhaps none more important than those preceding the 1898 Race Riot. Thalian Hall shows up repeatedly in literature depicting the events surrounding the 1898 coup d'etat and demonstrates the immense role it played in what transpired. Prejudicial laws were drafted and angry mobs of white citizens were rallied all under the same roof of Thalian Hall.

6. Daily Record Office (aka Love and Charity Hall)

Currently an empty lot, this site is all that remains of Wilmington’s locally run African American newspaper, the "Daily Record". Central to the rising tension and unfolding of the horrors one day in November of 1898, the "Daily Record" is renown in both historical nonfiction and historical novels such as Cape Fear Rising written by Philip Gerard. Historical writers and novelists such as Gerard incorporate elements of history within their work to preserve the emotional turmoil surrounding this significant landmark and to retain a sense of its structural value that has been physically lost from destruction and time.

This Tour is a Walking Tour.

Wilmington 1898 Coup d'etat Literary Tour

Created by Karin Zipf on April 18th 2017, 6:05:59 am.

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Description

This tour offers a literary perspective on one of the most dramatic political takeovers in American History. In 1898, white supremacists in Wilmington, NC orcehstrated a massacre and coup d'etat that resulted in the deaths of many African Americans, exile of prominent members of a biracial political coalition and a coup d'etat that replaced the entire city council and mayor of the city. Each site features the work of one of several prominent authors, including Charles Chesnutt, Phililp Gerard and Michael White who dramatized the events of 1898 in their fiction and poetry. Students at East Carolina University have designed this tour to highlight the intersection of literature, history, and geography in a digital visualization. Each site at once serves as historical record, landmark, and insight into the human condition. This tour provides visitors a peek into Wilmington's multilayered personality.

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