Wreath laying ceremony held for 126th anniversary of 1898 Massacre and Coup

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — An annual wreath laying ceremony was held in remembrance of the 1898 Wilmington Massacre and Coup. 

The ceremony—which was held at the 1898 Memorial Park—commemorates the 126th anniversary of the only successful coup in US history.  

Although an accurate death toll was never documented, the massacre saw the murder of potentially hundreds of black residents, violent overthrow of black city officials, burning of black-owned businesses, and the exile of thousands from the city. 

The ceremony featured several guest speakers, Including Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo, community historians, and the descendants of those who died during the massacre. 

Gwendolyn Alexis is the granddaughter of Joshua Halsey, who was killed during the massacre. 

“I thank you all for keeping November 10, 1898 in the forefront. People wanted to push it under the rug, they didn’t want to bring it out but all of you here said ‘uh-uh, lift that rug! Bring it out.’ Let’s try to heal from this,” Alexis said at the ceremony. “We don’t know how many ran that day. We don’t know how many babies died in that swamp. We don’t know how many human beings were lost. We don’t know how many families were separated like mine.”

It wasn’t until 2021 that a funeral was held for Alexis’s grandfather after his unmarked grave was discovered at the Pine Forest Cemetery in Wilmington.