Thread by @martensmatt1

Wild story about the 1898 white supremacist coup in Wilmington, NC: a 🧵

In 1885, a small group of members from First Baptist Church of Wilmington started a Sunday school class in a vacant store owned by the Police Chief John Melton.
/1

That small Sunday school class grew quickly and, in 1886, was organized as Brooklyn Baptist Church of Wilmington. The first worship service of this new church was held on Apr 4. In Nov 1893, the church called as its pastor the Rev. John W. Kramer.

/2

In Nov 1898, white supremacists in Wilmington rigged the election of county officials and then violently overthrew the existing city government. Rev. Kramer was a significant participant in the riot and overthrow of the city government.

/3

Rev. Kramer was a member of the "Committee of Twenty-Five" that led the coup.

Overthrowing the Wilmington city government meant ousting the existing mayor and . . . , you guessed it . . . Police Chief John Melton.

/4

A mob accosted Melton and ordered that he submit his resignation to the Committee of Twenty-Five, which included Rev. Kramer.

That Sunday, Rev. Kramer preached a sermon rejoicing that “whites were doing God’s service” in overthrowing the racially integrated Wilmington govt.

/5

Shortly after Melton was ousted as police chief, he was marched to the local train station, put on a train, and forever banished from Wilmington.

/6

The man who had lent his vacant property to host a Sunday school class that became Brooklyn Baptist Church became the victim of a coup led by a man who, a decade later, was the pastor of that church.

/end

@davidzucchino tells of the coup in his book, “Wilmington’s Lie,” in which he mentions the sermon by Rev Kramer. In doing research regarding Kramer, I found on the church’s website (which makes no mention of the coup) the info about Melton’s role in the early days of that church.