RichmondCC Celebrates Black History Month with Documentary Screening

“A massacre kept secret for over 100 years. Now the truth will finally be revealed.”

In celebration of Black History Month, Richmond Community College’s Global Diversity Committee will present filmmaker Chris Everett, a Scotland County native, to share a clip from his feature documentary, “Wilmington On Fire,” from 10 to 11 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 23, at the Cole Auditorium on the College’s main campus in Hamlet. This event is free and open to the public.

“I've always had a love for researching and learning more about African-American history, especially history that is rarely discussed or talked about,” said Everett. “That was one of the main reasons I decided to do a film on the 1898 Massacre in Wilmington, N.C. I really wanted to make a film from the perspective of the African-American victims and also how the Coup plotters were able to pull of this horrific event that changed the course of American history forever.”

The Wilmington Massacre was a bloody attack on the African-American community by a heavily armed white mob with the support of the North Carolina Democratic Party on Nov. 10, 1898. It is considered one of the only successful examples of a coup d'état in the United States that left countless numbers of African-American citizens dead and exiled from the city. It was a springboard for the white supremacy movement and Jim Crow segregation throughout the state of North Carolina and the American South.

“I want this film to really engage and start dialogue on this history along with current race relations not only in Wilmington and throughout North Carolina, but all over America,” Everett said.

“Wilmington on Fire” gives a compelling historical and present day look at how the violent overthrow of an existing government not only cemented white supremacy in the city of Wilmington and the state of North Carolina but also throughout the United States of America.

As an added extra, Everett will close the Feb. 23 showing with a 20-minute question-and-answer session.
The College welcomes others in the community to come share in this page from North Carolina history books as seen from one of its native sons.