When I am giving lectures these days, I am often asked to compare what is happening in America today with the white supremacy movement that rose to power in Wilmington and the rest of North Carolina between 1898 and 1900.
Red Shirts
The Red Shirts in Lumberton, N.C., 1900
At the turn of the 20th century, the Red Shirts were what we today would call a white nationalist militia group. Bedecked in red trousers and shirts, they barricaded polling sites, shot into homes and generally terrorized those who supported black voting rights.
David Cecelski 