Wilmington, NC and surrounding area
How white supremacists staged the only successful coup in U.S. history (Cbsnews)
Summary: Lauren Collins’s new book, "They Stole a City," revisits the 1898 Wilmington coup, the only successful coup in U.S. history, in which a white supremacist mob murdered dozens to hundreds of Black residents, destroyed the city’s only Black newspaper, and forcibly removed a multiracial government. The event, long suppressed in local memory, reduced Wilmington’s Black population from 56% to roughly 15% over the following century. Collins, a New Yorker journalist who grew up in Wilmington, traces the coup’s legacy through families of both perpetrators and victims, revealing how the violence was framed as a "race riot" and never prosecuted. The book arrives as the city’s institutions, including First Presbyterian Church, begin grappling with their complicity.
Why it matters: For Wilmington, this is the foundational trauma that reshaped its demographics, economy, and political culture—a story that remains largely unknown nationally but directly explains the city’s current racial composition, tourism narratives, and ongoing struggles with historical memory.
Context: The 1898 coup was part of a broader wave of post-Reconstruction white supremacist violence across the South, but Wilmington’s case is unique as the only instance where insurgents successfully overthrew a legally elected government and installed their own.
"When they walked into the room, the Board of Aldermen had seven white men and three Black men. And when they walked out, all of those officials had resigned – literally at gunpoint." — CBSNEWS
Commentary: Collins’s book arrives at a moment when Wilmington’s cultural institutions—from churches to museums—are slowly reckoning with this history, but the city’s tourism and film industry infrastructure still largely sidesteps it. The 15% Black population figure is a stark economic and cultural consequence: the coup didn’t just kill people, it systematically dismantled a Black middle class and property base whose recovery would take generations. For readers tracking Southern urban development, this is the suppressed variable that explains Wilmington’s present-day political geography and why heritage tourism here remains a contested project.
Date: July 12, 2026 09:18 AM ET
URL: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/white-supremacists-successful-1898-coup-in-wilmington-n-c/
AI Sentiment Score: Positive (50%)
AI Credibility Score: 10.0/10 — High
Scores and text generated by AI analysis of the source article indicated.Film incentives make the cut in new North Carolina budget signed earlier this week (Wect)
Summary: North Carolina’s new state budget, signed by Governor Josh Stein, significantly increases film production incentives, raising the maximum grant for individual productions from $7 million to $20 million and for television series from $15 million to $25 million per season. A new 5% bonus is available for companies investing $80 million or more across multiple in-state productions within two years. The budget also creates a $1.2 million annual grant program for micro-budget films ($50,000 to $1.5 million). This comes after near-record low production numbers in 2025, as local officials warned that productions were fleeing to Europe for cheaper costs.
Why it matters: For Wilmington, whose film industry is a critical economic and cultural anchor, this incentive overhaul is a direct attempt to reverse production flight and restore competitiveness against lower-cost international markets.
Context: North Carolina had not passed a budget since 2023, and the film sector had been lobbying for years for increased grant caps to stem the loss of major productions to states like Georgia and to European locations.
"Film incentives make the cut in new North Carolina budget signed earlier this week RALEIGH, N.C. (WECT) – Film and TV production in North Carolina generated an estimated $185 million in direct." — WECT
Commentary: The $20 million per-production cap and the multi-production bonus are calibrated to attract tentpole projects that previously bypassed the state. The micro-budget program is a smart hedge, nurturing local talent and smaller studios that can build a more resilient production ecosystem. The real test will be whether these numbers are enough to pull back productions from Georgia’s uncapped transferable tax credit or the UK’s 25.5% cash rebate.
Date: July 09, 2026 05:06 PM ET
URL: https://wect.com/2026/07/09/film-incentives-make-cut-new-north-carolina-budget-signed-earlier-this-week
AI Sentiment Score: Negative (85%)
AI Credibility Score: 10.0/10 — High
Scores and text generated by AI analysis of the source article indicated.Post ID: 49bfbd29