White supremacists took over a city – now NC is doing more to remember the deadly attack

The North Carolina government is officially recognizing what historians call the only successful coup d’etat in American history, when white supremacists overthrew the Reconstruction-era government in Wilmington in 1898.

The state’s Highway Historical Marker Committee has approved a new plaque to be installed in Wilmington in 2018 near a busy intersection, which will tell people about the racist attack that left dozens dead and heralded the start of the Jim Crow era here.

This isn’t the first time North Carolina has officially acknowledged the coup – which went completely unpunished. The state commissioned a report released in 2006 about the violence. But a public marker in a busy area is more likely to be seen by the public than that 464-page report.

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article192202109.html#storylink=cpy