Commemorating 1898 massacre: Wilmington, New Hanover County announces slate of events

The city of Wilmington, in partnership with New Hanover County and a number of local organizations, announced a plan Tuesday for nearly a dozen events to be held in November commemorating the 123rd anniversary of the 1898 Wilmington coup and massacre.

As part of the commemoration — events start on Nov. 1 and span through Nov. 10, the actual date of the attacks — a procession and funeral will be held at Pine Forest Cemetery to honor Joshua Halsey and Samuel McFarland, two of the eight known victims of the attack. Descendants of Halsey identified by the Equal Justice Initiative will be in attendance, as will the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, former head of the N.C. NAACP.

In addition, a historical marker will be installed Nov. 10 at Third and Red Cross streets honoring the Rev. J. Allen Kirk, former pastor of Central Baptist Church, now Central Missionary Baptist Church, who wrote an account of the attacks, "A Statement of Facts Concerning the Bloody Riot in Wilmington."

The evening of Nov. 10, a commemoration ceremony at Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church in Wilmington will feature an appearance by Dr. Benjamin Chavis, civil rights activist and member of the Wilmington Ten.

More:UNCW receives grant to study Wilmington's 1898 coup and massacre

'The worst moment in Wilmington's history'

Dozens of Blacks, perhaps as many as 100 or more, are thought to have been killed in Wilmington during the violence of 1898, while hundreds more left town, some under threat of death. Shootings were carried out by a white supremacist mob who also overthrew a biracial government in what is thought to be the only successful coup d'etat on American soil.

The events of 1898 have received nationwide attention in recent years, including just this month in The New Yorker in a story by Wilmington native Lauren Collins. A 2020 book about 1898, "Wilmington's Lie" by David Zucchino, who will return to Wilmington for a talk on Nov. 9, won a Pulitzer Prize earlier this year.

Speaking during a press conference Tuesday at 1898 Memorial Park, Julia Olson-Boseman, chairwoman of the New Hanover County Commissioners, said that she didn't know much about 1898 until she joined the 1898 Wilmington Race Riot Commission, established by the North Carolina General Assembly, as a state senator in 2000.

"My involvement on the commission was eye-opening," Olson-Boseman said. "It was swept under the rug for decades ... I am glad that we are no longer ignoring the events of 1898."

Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo called 1898 "the worst moment in Wilmington's history."

"1898 left our community broken," he said, referencing a thriving Black middle class that was effectively wiped out by the coup. Saffo said he hopes the series of events commemorating the massacre can help "continue the healing" in Wilmington.

Commemoration efforts

Saffo also acknowledged Bertha Boykin Todd, who was in attendance, calling her "the mother of 1898 commemoration efforts."

Todd, now 91, spoke of working with others to create the movement to commemorate 1898, which started in 1995 in advance of its 100th anniversary. The 100th anniversary commemoration was the first time many Wilmington locals, especially white ones, had ever heard of the 1898 tragedy.

Also speaking was Jim Downey of the New Hanover County Community Remembrance Project, which has sought to research the victims and notify their descendants. On Nov. 6, the project will hold a Soil Collection Memorial Ceremony, with soil gathered from areas where Blacks are known to have died during 1898, at 1898 Memorial Park.

In researching the victims, the project has worked with Wilmington's Third Person Project, a research-driven nonprofit that pushes research into 1898. Speaking at the press conference, John Jeremiah Sullivan, a writer for the New York Times Magazine and co-founder of the Third Person Project,  said "it's been known for a long time" that at least two people -- Halsey and Samuel McFarland -- murdered during the 1898 attacks are buried in Wilmington's Pine Forest Cemetery, which Sullivan called "one of the most important Black cemeteries in America."

Over the course of his research, Sullivan said, he was able to identify the graves of both McFarland, which still has its stone but has been eroded and is illegible, and of Halsey, whose grave has no stone.

"The focus became to have a funeral for these men 123 years later," Sullivan said, which will happen on Nov. 6 with a procession from the 1898 Memorial to Pine Forest, with some of Halsey's descendants in attendance. His grave will also be given a new stone.

Sonya Bennetone-Patrick, director of New Hanover County chapter of the Black Leadership Caucus, traces her family's history in Wilmington back to before 1898. Her great-grandmother was a founding member of Central Baptist Church, now Central Missionary Baptist Church, at Seventh and Red Cross streets, where Rev. J. Allen Kirk was a pastor during the 1898 attacks.

A historical marker acknowledging Kirk's work in making the events of 1898 known will be erected at Third and Red Cross on Nov. 10, the anniversary of the attacks.

"We are glad that his name will be remembered," Bennetone-Patrick said.

Schedule of events

For more information on these events, go to Diversity.NHCgov.com/1898ILM.

• Nov. 1: Proclamation of 1898 Commemoration Month, historic New Hanover County Courthouse, 4 p.m.
• Nov. 3: 1898 lunch/teach-in, 1898 Memorial Park, noon
• Nov. 4: Pastors' prayer brunch, MLK Center, 10 a.m.
• Nov. 5: Race and reconciliation webinar, 6 p.m.
• Nov. 6: Soil collection ceremony, 1898 Memorial Park, 2 p.m.
• Nov. 6: Funeral procession and graveside ceremony for Joshua Halsey at Pine Forest Cemetery, 3:30 p.m.
• Nov. 9: "Red Cape" screening, Cape Fear Museum, 3:30 p.m.
• Nov. 9: "Wilmington's Lie" author David Zucchino, First Baptist Church, 6:30 p.m.
• Nov. 10: Rev. Dr. J. Allen Kirk marker installation Ceremony, Third and Red Cross streets, noon
• Nov. 10: 1898 commemoration service, Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church, 6:30 p.m.

Contact John Staton at 910-343-2343 or John.Staton@StarNewsOnline.com.