The Charlotte News and Observer offers this fascinating report, which begins: “The 1898 riot and coup d’etat in Wilmington that killed an unknown number of black residents actually was a planned insurrection that white supremacists spent months organizing. The violence was part of a statewide effort — with a pivotal role played by The News & Observer and other newspapers — to put white supremacist Democrats in office and stem the political advances of black citizens, according to a draft report released Thursday by the state-appointed 1898 Wilmington Race Riot Commission. The incident is the only known violent overthrow of a government in U.S. history. Afterward, white supremacists in state office passed the laws that would disfranchise a race of people for generations — until the civil rights movement and Voting Rights Act of the 1960s.” The report itself is here.