Lawmakers acknowledge, apologize for 1898 Wilmington Race Riots

RALEIGH — Lawmakers in Raleigh are officially acknowledging and apologizing for the 1898 Wilmington Race Riots.

But the move stops short of compensating the families of victims.

Sen. Julia Boseman told me today that the purpose of this bill was to acknowledge
The incident and hopefully get it included in the state’s school curriculum.

The passage of this bill hung in limbo for months. That’s because the lawmaker who introduced the bill, Rep. Thomas Wright, had been under investigation for campaign finance fraud.

Recently the bill started to make headway again and Wednesday the senate passed the bill expressing “profound regret” for the 1898 Race Riots in Wilmington, which were researched extensively for six years by the Wilmington Race Riot Commission.

The riots were the result of white supremacists trying to overthrow the New Hanover County government which included an unusually large number of black leaders for the time.

Meanwhile, race riot historians want to build a memorial to commemorate the incident at the corner of Third and Davis Streets in Wilmington.