1898 Massacre Observance event aims to educate

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Tomorrow St. Andrews AME Zion Church will be holding a program to remember the 1898 Massacre that happened right here in the Port City.

Also known as the Wilmington Insurrection of 1898 or the Wilmington Race Riot of 1898, the event began on November 10, 1898 and lasted for a few days. Today the 1898 Massacre is considered a coup d’etat with white insurgents overthrowing the elected government and forcing black leaders from the city. They also attacked the black newspaper and predominantly black neighborhoods.

“I believe tomorrow is an opportunity to continue to remember the path from whence we come,” said Henry Gregory, the pastor at St. Andrews. “To talk about 1898, to teach our people about what happened during that time, to remind us of that path from which we come.”

Organizers said they hope tomorrow is about education.

“I was taught that if we don’t know our past we won’t be able to really gain a good future,” Gregory said. “We have to know what happened and we have to commemorate, we have to memorialize, we have to remember and observe.”

Gregory said he is concerned that so many people in Wilmington, the state, and even the country don’t know about the events of 1898 and he hopes through events like this, more people will understand our history.