The Wilmington insurrection of 1898, also known as the Wilmington massacre of 1898, was a violent attack by white supremacists on the African-American community of Wilmington, North Carolina, in November 10, 1898. The event marked a turning point in post-Reconstruction North Carolina politics, with white Democrats regaining control of the state legislature and enacting new laws to disfranchise black voters.
The insurrectionists overthrew the elected government of Wilmington, which at the time was majority Black, and destroyed the city’s Black-owned businesses and newspapers. At least 60 Black people were killed, and an unknown number were injured. The incident was part of a wave of white supremacist violence across the South during the Jim Crow era.