Speaking & Teaching

Long termed a “race riot,” the turmoil that enveloped Wilmington, North Carolina on November 10, 1898 is now called an armed insurrection. White Democratic supremacists drove from power all of the black and white elected officials of this predominately African American city in what was believed to be the only violent overthrow of a local government in United States history. Twenty-two blacks were killed during the insurrection and hundreds of African American citizens were forced to flee the city, many of whom never returned. This blatant attempt to erase any potential alliance between whites willing to fuse their interests with African American interests was motivated by southern white Democrats who's only motive was to utterly decimate this potentially promising racial alliance. In my history books there was mention of the Wilmington White Mob political takeover of 1898. What appears below is a rare eyewitness account provided by Rev. Charles S. Morris who became one of the refugees from the city. Morris provided the account in a speech in January 1899 before the International Association of Colored Clergymen meeting in Boston. I will read the account on my blog. On my read-aloud project, I detailed this tragic event when I read aloud the book Wilmington’s Lie. I wonder if the political overthrow of growing African American influence in Wilmington, North Carolina hadn't been brushed under the carpet of historical ignorance. Would we be just a little more adamant about gaining reparations today?

They have been scorned, they have been abused, they have been terrorized, they have been ravaged, they have been lynched, they have been raped, they have incarcerated, they have been denied the rights of citizenship, they have been ignored, they have had their voices silenced, and yet throughout the history of this nation's bleak history of oppression, they have continued to stand by, stand up, and deliver. Who are they? Of course, they are African American women. Yes, African American women have continued to save this nation in its bleakest times. This year, 2020, it seems that African American women have turned the tide against the forces of white supremacy being trumpeted by the Republican Party. In the face of overwhelming odds, African American women have delivered the bellweather states of Michigan, Georgia, Wisconsin, and Pennslyvania. These four states turned a potentially embarrassing Democratic Party loss into a miraculous victory. Our African African women pumped and primed the waters of a sinking democracy to a free-flowing river of hope and possibility. Now, I am not saying that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are saviors for America. They do in fact have pretty obvious flaws. But those flaws don't measure up to the terrible flaws that were apparent during the past 46 months of this Trump Presidency. So, African American women as they have always done in America's history prodded, and probed our many communities to engage people to vote for a reactive change. You gotta give our sisters credit. I had an interesting conversation with a friend yesterday about the historical importance of our African American women ancestors. So, today, I wanna bring back my video that saluted the women of the Black Power Movement, who defied logic and said to our communities "you can make it if you try". They said it again leading up to the final votes that are being tabulated in those four essential states. States that snatched the presidency from those seeking to promote and ideology of strife and division.