Joshua Halsey’s funeral procession.Photo: Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images
About 123 years after the massacre of Black people took place in Wilmington, North Carolina, the city ishonoring thosewho were killed in the tragedy.
Crowds of people, including Halsey’s descendants, attended the ceremony as a horse-drawn hearse carried soil collected from Halsey’s home to the funeral service, according to the outlet.Rev. William Barber IIgave the eulogy.
“We were in shock because this is so unprecedented,” Elaine Cynthia Brown, a descendent of Halsey, told the outlet. “But then we said, ‘You know what? Why not Joshua?’ "
Halsey’s remains had been resting in an unmarked grave after the massacre, according to CNN. It wasn’t until the massacre’s 100th anniversary that a historical research group, the Third Person Project, was able to identify Halsey as one of the victims in a 1998 state report, per the outlet.
Researchers, who also identified Samuel McFarland as another victim, told CNN there may be anywhere from 100 to 250 victims in the graves that have yet to be identified.
Joshua Halsey’s headstone.Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images
The massacre unfolded in the late 1890s as the Black community in Wilmington was thriving, according to CNN.
“[Blacks] were employed in all segments of the workforce, as professionals, skilled artisans, government employees, maritime crew members, industrial workers, laborers and domestics,” the outlet reported, citing the 1898 Wilmington Race Riot Commission.
Wanting to remove Black businessmen and their allies from positions of influence, members of the Democratic Party “orchestrated a white supremacist political campaign that resulted in the violent overthrow of the locally elected government,” according to theWilliam Madison Randall Libraryof the University of North Carolina Wilmington.
“A group of armed, white men… attacked and killed Black citizens throughout the city, ran out many others, and finally placed their own Democratic candidates in the newly vacated seats,” the library stated, referring to the “racial coup” as a “turning point in the post-Reconstruction South.”
“[The coup] changed the trajectory of race relations in North Carolina and marked the start of Jim Crow laws in the state, which further enforced racial segregation through the mid-20th century,” the library stated.
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Speaking to CNN, Brown called the discovery of Halsey’s remains “surreal' for her family and said she hopes his funeral will inspire similar action within the city.
“Why not be the beacon of what can happen when we sort of unearth the truth, uncover the truth and unpack it?” Brown explained. “This is where it’s going to start and the stories are going to come out as more victims are found, and we hear their stories. But we now know that it exists. We now know that we can change it. We now are getting the true history of what happened here.”
“Truth is always difficult to talk about, but the more you talk about it, the more it is, you know what I mean?” she continued. “The more you can accept it, the more you can change things, instead of it repeating. So we have to tell the truth, talk about it and then find ways to deal with this. So this sort of thing doesn’t happen again.”
Ina lengthy Twitter threadpinned to their page from last year’s events, Wilmington addressed the events of 1898 and pledged to do better as they create “a better future for all.”
“The only successful Coup d’état in American history happened in our city and destroyed the lives, wealth, and future of many of our citizens,” the statement continued. “The tragic and deadly course of events that unfolded here have left our community broken for more than a century, but we continue the work of healing and reconciliation.”
“The blood shed on our soil must never be forgotten,” it went on. “Once a thriving and diverse community for all, we had an integrated and pioneering government for its time, but Wilmington was robbed of those advances. Now, each day we’re working toward a better future for all.”
Finishing their statement, Wilmington vowed to become “a bastion of equity, hope, and light for all people” and said the city will mourn those lost “so that once was will never be again.”
source: people.com
