Narrative, Political Unconscious and Racial Violence in Wilmington, North Carolina

This book is an innovative piece combining historical archival data and contemporary interviews to analyze the function of narratives in communities.

Using a case study of racial violence in Wilmington, North Carolina in 1898, Hossfeld examines 'narratives of terror' surrounding the event, tracing these over a one hundred year period.

The context in which the racial violence emerged was part of a larger white supremacy campaign sweeping the South.

Local leaders and state-supported organs of the Democartic party overthrew elected Fusion and Republican leaders in Wilmington in 1898, creating the only coup d'etat in the nation's history.

The political overthrow turned violent and scores of African Americans were said to have been killed and run out of town.

The 'narratives of terror' emanating from this violence have remained in the community ever since.

Hossfeld traces the function of the public dominant narrative about white supremacy expressed by the white power structure in 1898 and its mutation over time to a liberal narrative about reconciliation expressed in the 1998 centennial commemoration of the event. This book is important in understanding cultural stories and their impact on communities, and the role of narrative and ideology in creating or averting fundamental societal change.