The remains of the office of the Black-owned newspaper the Daily Record after it was burned in the Wilmington coup and massacre, November 10, 1898. (McCool/Alamy)
The Wilmington Massacre of 1898 was long referred to as a riot, but was in fact, a bloody coup executed by a White mob organized by local Democrats. The mob burned down the offices of the local Black Newspaper, killed over 50 Black people, and banished numerous citizens of both races from Wilmington.
Such incidents were common during Reconstruction, the decades after the Civil War. In towns and cities throughout the country, White vigilantes ran smear campaigns in the press that often culminated in the violent overthrow of elected Blacks and Republicans, as well as mass displacement of Black communities.
Sources:
North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources
Southern Coalition for Social Justicetary-underway-on-the-wilmington-massacre-of-1898/