Due South

"Echoes of a Coup" explores untold history of 1898 Wilmington coup and massacre

Your browser doesn’t support HTML5 audio

"Echoes of a Coup" series art

Zaire McPhearson

Last month, the podcast Scene on Radio launched its sixth season, “Echoes of a Coup,” right on the heels of the anniversary of the Jan 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, which many call an "attempted coup."

The podcast explores the history behind what is widely considered the only successful coup d’état in United States history. In Wilmington, North Carolina in 1898, white supremacists massacred Black people (some estimates put the death toll in the hundreds) and seized power with a violent overthrow of the Wilmington government.

John Biewen, host and producer of Scene on Radio, and Michael A. Betts II, co-host of the "Echoes of a Coup" series, talk to Due South's Leoneda Inge about the reverberations of that political violence today.

Guests
John Biewen, Director of Storytelling and Public Engagement, Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University
Michael A. Betts II, Assistant Professor of Film Studies at UNC Wilmington

Due South 1898 Wilmington Massacre

Leoneda Inge

Leoneda Inge is the co-host of WUNC's "Due South." Leoneda has been a radio journalist for more than 30 years, spending most of her career at WUNC as the Race and Southern Culture reporter. Leoneda’s work includes stories of race, slavery, memory and monuments. She has won "Gracie" awards, an Alfred I. duPont Award and several awards from the Radio, Television, Digital News Association (RTDNA). In 2017, Leoneda was named "Journalist of Distinction" by the National Association of Black Journalists.

See stories by Leoneda Inge

Rachel McCarthy

Rachel McCarthy is a producer for "Due South." She previously worked at WUNC as a producer for "The Story with Dick Gordon." More recently, Rachel was podcast managing editor at Capitol Broadcasting Company where she developed narrative series and edited a daily podcast. She also worked at "The Double Shift" podcast as supervising producer. Rachel learned about audio storytelling at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies. Prior to working in audio journalism, she was a research assistant at the Aspen Institute in Washington, DC.

See stories by Rachel McCarthy