Wilmington's Lie: The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy

by David Zucchino

That J. F. Parker overtook her while on her way to the Office of the Superintendent of Freedmen, put one end of rope around her neck, tied the other round the neck of his mule, and so dragged her more than two miles.

One gains the impression of a small boy about to cry,”

The white men told him they were planning “a necktie party” in Wilmington for Alex Manly, the black editor. Manly had a ready reply. He told the men that he, too, was “going after that scoundrel Manly.” One of the men told him: “If you see that nigger Manly up there, shoot him.” Noticing that Manly was unarmed, he handed him a rifle.

When the results were announced, the Democratic candidate, W. J. Davis, had received an astonishing 456 votes—113 more than the total number of registered voters in the precinct.

He was the governor, after all, with an entire state militia at his disposal. He sat back, glumly, and sank into the mailbags.

Inspired by the sweeping success of North Carolina’s grandfather clause, other Southern states adopted variations of the law—Alabama in 1901, Virginia in 1902, Georgia in 1908, and Oklahoma in 1910.