The White Declaration of Independence

It’s the several subtitles of the article describing the Wilmington Massacre that captured my attention:

Innocent and Unarmed Colored Men Shot Down

Hundreds Run to the Woods

The Mob Captures the Town

White Ministers Aiders and Abettors of Murder

The Governor Powerless and the President of the United States Silent

Anarchy Rules

Before November 8, 1898, Wilmington, NC, might have been considered a model for successfully mixing the races. Three of the ten aldermen were Black, and the City had Black policemen and judges. Reconstruction was effectively over in most of the South from the day federal troops pulled out after the Compromise of 1877. Yet, North Carolina still had Black state legislators, and towns like Wilmington had Black elected officials among the Republicans holding office.

Some white citizens found this unacceptable. Before the November 1898 mid-term election, Democrats decided they would eliminate Republican legislators, suppressing Black voters by any means necessary. The “red shirts” openly threatened Black voters, carrying weapons as they rode on horseback through Black communities. Furnifold Simmons was appointed Democratic Party Chairman for North Carolina. He sent speakers to every community with a message of white supremacy. He accused the two other major political parties, the Republicans and Populists, of supporting “negro domination.”

On August 18, 1898, an article appeared in the Daily Record, a Black newspaper published by Alex Manly in Wilmington. A Georgia woman had called for widespread lynching of Black men in defense of white women. The Daily Record published an editorial response saying consensual relationships between Black men and white women were common and only called rape after the relationship was discovered. The editorial was reprinted throughout the state, sometimes run on a daily basis to rile up Democrats. Here is a section of the editorial that white men found particularly offensive.

“Every Negro lynched is called a big, burly black brute, when in fact, many of those who have been dealt with had white men for their fathers and were not only black and burly but were sufficiently attractive for white girls of culture and refinement to fall in love with them, as is very well known to all. Let virtue be something more than an excuse for them to intimidate and torture helpless people. Tell your men that it is no worse for a black man to be intimate with a white woman than for a white man to be intimate with a colored woman. You set yourself down as a lot of carping hypocrites in that you cry aloud for the virtue of your women when you seek to destroy the morality of ours.”

Populists and Republicans had combined forces for the past four years to defeat Democratic candidates, but the Populists voided the compact, joining the Democrats in spreading white supremacy and condemning Democrats for appointing Blacks to some positions. When election day came on November 8, 1898, Democrats assumed almost every position, and Blacks were removed from the state legislature. That still left Black officials in the City of Wilmington, as none of the Black aldermen were facing reelection at that time.

On November 9, 1898. Eight hundred white citizens, led by former Confederate Colonel Alfred Waddell, gathered at the county courthouse and produced the White Declaration of Independence. They gave publisher Alex Manly 24 hours to leave town and take his printing press with him. He was given twelve hours to respond, notifying the white group of his intentions. Here is the declaration.

The White Declaration of Independence

[Printed in the Raleigh News and Observer, November 10, 1898]

Believing that the Constitution of the United States contemplated a government to be carried on by an enlightened people; believing that its framers did not anticipate the enfranchisement of an ignorant population of African origin; and believing that the men of the State of North Carolina who joined in forming the Union did not contemplate for their descendants a subjection to an inferior race;

We, the undersigned citizens of the city of Wilmington and county of New Hanover, do hereby declare that we will no longer be ruled, and will never again be ruled, by men of African origin. This condition we have in part endured because we felt that the consequences of the war of secession were such to deprive us of the fair consideration of many of our countrymen.

We believe that, after more than thirty years, this is no longer the case.

The stand we now pledge ourselves to is forced upon us suddenly by a crisis, and our eyes are open to the fact that we must act now or leave our descendants to a fate too gloomy to be borne.

While we recognize the authority of the United Sates and will yield to it if exerted, we would not for a moment believe that it is the purpose of more than 60,000,000 of our own race to subject us permanently to a fate to which no Anglo-Saxon has ever been forced to submit.

We, therefore, believing that we represent unequivocally the sentiment of the white people of this county and city, hereby for ourselves, and representing them, proclaim:

1. That the time has passed for the intelligent citizens of this community, owning 95 per cent of the property and paying taxes in like proportion, to be ruled by negroes.

2. That we will not tolerate the action of unscrupulous white men in affiliating with the negroes so that by means of their votes they can dominate the intelligent and thrifty element in the community, thus causing business to stagnate and progress to be out of the question.

3. That the negro has demonstrated, by antagonizing our interest in every way, and especially by his ballot, that he is incapable of realizing that his interests are and should be identical with those of the community.

4. That the progressive element in any community is the white population, and that the giving of nearly all of the employment to negro laborers has been against the best interests of this county and city, and is sufficient reason why the city of Wilmington with its natural advantages has not become a city of at least 50,000 inhabitants.

5. That we propose in the future to give the white men a large part of the employment heretofore given to negroes, because we realize that white families cannot thrive here unless there are more opportunities for the different members of said family.

6. That the white men expect to live in this community peaceably, to have and provide absolute protection for their families, who shall be safe from insult for all persons whomsoever. We are prepared to treat the negroes with justice and consideration in all matters which do not involve sacrifices of the interest of the intelligent and progressive portion of the community. But we are equally prepared now and immediately to enforce what we know to be our rights.

7. That we have been, in our desire for harmony and peace, blinded to our best interests and our rights. A climax was reached when the negro paper of this city published an article so vile and slanderous that it would in most communities have resulted in the lynching of the editor. We deprecate lynching, and yet there is no punishment provided by the laws adequate for this offense. We therefore owe it to the people of this community and of this city, as a protection against such license in the future, that the paper known as the Record cease to be published, and that its editor be banished from this community.
We demand that he leave this city within twenty-four hours after the issuance of this proclamation; second, that the printing press from which the Record has been issued be packed and shipped from the city without delay; that we be notified within twelve hours of the acceptance or rejection of this demand. If it is agreed to within twelve hours, we counsel forbearance on the part of all white men. If the demand is refused, or if no answer is given within the time mentioned, then the editor, Manly, will be expelled by force.

8. It is the sense of this meeting that Mayor S.P. Wright and Chief of Police J.R. Melton, having demonstrated their utter incapacity to give the city a decent government and keep order therein, their continuance in office being a constant menace to the peace of this community, ought forthwith to resign.

The declaration was presented to a group of Black citizens who immediately responded they weren’t responsible for the editorial printed by Manly but would try to get him to comply with the request.

REPLY OF THE COLORED COMMITTEE TO “THE WHITE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE”

[The Committee of Colored Citizens to Hon. A.M. Waddell, undated typewritten copy in Alfred M. Waddell Papers, Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina Library.]

Dear Sir,

We the colored citizens to whom was referred the matter of expulsion from this community, of the persons and press of A.M. Manly, beg most respectfully to say that we are in no wise responsible for nor in any way endorse the obnoxious article that called forth your activities. neither are we authorized to act for him in this matter, but in the interest of peace we will most willingly use our influence to have your wishes carried out.

Very respectfully,

The Committee of Colored Citizens

Alex Manly fled town in fear for his life. It’s unclear whether he notified Colonel Waddell of his intentions. Waddell gathered a mob that grew to about 2,000 as he marched to the newspaper office on November 10, 1898, and burned down the building. Instead of dispersing, the mob started randomly attacking Black people in response to a rumor that one white man had been shot. When it was over, over 60 Black people were murdered, and many left their homes for good, running into the woods without their possessions.

The elected representatives of the City were forced to resign or be killed. The Black ones and some white Republicans were jailed and forced to leave town by train the following day. Waddell replaced the elected government with one of his own; Waddell himself became the Mayor.

The Red Shirts, the Wilmington Light Infantry, and the White Government Union were fighting on the side of Waddell. A segregated Black militia might have stood with the Black population, but they were conveniently stationed out of town in Georgia. The Wilmington Massacre was planned from the outset, yet newspapers claimed it was a riot, as if both sides shared blame. I choose to recall that white ministers were part of the massacre, invoking God’s will as their inspiration. I’ll remember that the Governor of North Carolina and the President of the United States did nothing in response to this coup. The North Carolina legislature enacted their first Jim Crow laws afterward, using the “grandfather clause” to keep Black people from voting in subsequent elections.

I’ll also remember the “White Declaration of Independence” handed out and published in major newspapers across the state. The other Declaration of Independence, penned by Thomas Jefferson, was intended for white people, but this one was much more specific.

“While we recognize the authority of the United States and will yield to it if exerted, we would not for a moment believe that it is the purpose of more than 60,000,000 of our own race to subject us permanently to a fate to which no Anglo-Saxon has ever been forced to submit.”

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This post was previously published on The Polis.

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