North Carolina Again & As Usual

Introduction: A Mirror of America’s Promise — and Betrayal

Before there was January 6th, there was November 10th, 1898.
In Wilmington, North Carolina, armed white supremacists—many of them suited, respected men—launched a violent coup against a legitimately elected, biracial government. They burned Black-owned businesses, killed an untold number of citizens, and drove out leaders of the Fusion movement. Then they rewrote the story: for more than a century, schoolbooks and mainstream retellings described it as a “race riot,” obscuring the fact that this was, and remains, the only successful coup d’état in American history.

A State That Magnifies America’s Contradictions

North Carolina is often lumped in with other swing states—but those of us who live here know better. This land doesn’t just echo national debates; it enlarges them. Here you’ll find visionary coalitions and brutal backlash, progressive court rulings and surgical gerrymanders, cutting-edge universities and regressive reproductive laws.

• Visionary Coalition → Erasure
  In the 1890s, the Fusion movement united Black Republicans and white Populists to push through voter protections, public-school funding, and economic reforms. Their triumph threatened the old guard—and so, under cover of “race riots,” Wilmington’s White Declaration of Independence seized local government in a night of terror.
• Progress and Suppression
  Fast-forward to the 21st century: record turnout in elections; a state Supreme Court race tied up for six months; district maps drawn so precisely they can predict which precincts will flip before a single vote is cast.
• Coercion and Control
  North Carolina’s eugenics program forced sterilizations on poor and Black women long after most states abandoned the practice—finally outlawing it in 2003. Yet today, the state remains a national battleground over access to reproductive care.

From Moral Mondays to Mark Robinson

The Moral Mondays protests of the 2010s, led by Reverend William Barber, channeled Dr. King’s Poor People’s Campaign into a modern moral movement—demanding voting rights, Medicaid expansion, and living wages. And while that campaign drew thousands downtown, rural counties sent to the governor’s mansion a man whose platform rests on attacks on women, LGBTQ+ communities, and the teaching of history: Lt. Governor Mark Robinson.

This tension—moral revolt and reactionary backlash—plays out again in legislative chambers and courtrooms up and down the state.

Why Wilmington Still Matters

Without understanding November 10, 1898, we miss the through-line:

1. Power Undermined
   When election results threaten the entrenched order, the response has too often been extra-legal: mobs, intimidation, and rewriting outcomes.
2. Memory Manipulated
   By labeling Wilmington a “riot” instead of a coup, textbooks absolved white perpetrators and erased Black agency for generations.
3. Lessons Unlearned
   Today’s district maps, voter-ID laws, and judicial fights are new tools—yet they serve the same purpose: limiting who truly governs.

Toward a New Reflection

North Carolina Again is an excavation: of stolen power, suppressed stories, and the forgotten paths—like Fusion—that once held promise for shared governance. Over the next four installments, we’ll trace:

1. The Stolen Lines of Democracy: How gerrymandering turned us into a laboratory of electoral engineering.
2. The Race That Won’t End: Anatomy of the 2024 Supreme Court saga and its warnings for future contests.
3. The Mark Robinson Problem: When representation becomes a vessel for reactionary ideology.
4. Eugenics, Redlining, and the Roots of Control: How reproductive and urban policies cemented racial and economic hierarchies.

Because if we want to change the story, we must first reclaim it.

• Part I — Wilmington, Fusion & the Fight for Power Read →
• Part II: Science & Prejudice — Eugenics in 20th-Century NC Read →
• Part III — Rev. Barber, Repairers of the Breach, and the Poor People’s Campaign Read →
• Part IV: Courts & Contests — The 2024 NC Supreme Court Race (Concession) Read →
• Part V: Breaking the Pattern — Strategies for Lasting Reform Read →

📣 This Series is Part of the Citizens’ Project 2025

A national effort to rebuild civic power through history, solidarity, and action.
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