Today in History: November 10, white supremacists stage coup in Wilmington, North Carolina

Today is Tuesday, Nov. 10, the 314th day of 2026. There are 51 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Nov. 10, 1898, a mob of up to 2,000 white supremacists killed dozens of African Americans in Wilmington, North Carolina, burned Black-owned businesses and forced the mayor, police chief and aldermen to resign at gunpoint before installing their own mayor and city council in what became known as the “Wilmington Coup.”

Also on this date:

In 1775, the Continental Congress established the Continental Marines, later known as the U.S. Marine Corps.

In 1954, the U.S. Marine Corps Memorial, depicting the raising of the American flag on Iwo Jima in 1945, was dedicated by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in Arlington, Virginia.

In 1969, the children’s educational program “Sesame Street” made its debut on National Educational Television (now PBS).

In 1975, the Great Lakes freighter SS Edmund Fitzgerald sank in a severe storm in Lake Superior, claiming the lives of all 29 crewmembers.

In 1982, Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, who had succeeded Nikita Khrushchev in 1964, died in Moscow at age 75; his death ushered in several years of leadership change before Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in 1985.

In 2019, Bolivia's first indigenous president, Evo Morales, resigned after weeks of public protests in response to alleged fraud in a general election that year.

In 2021, Kyle Rittenhouse took the stand in his murder trial, testifying he was acting in self-defense when he shot and killed two men and wounded a third during a 2020 protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, against police brutality. (He would be acquitted of all charges.)

In 2024, a shooting during homecoming weekend at Tuskegee University in Alabama left one person dead and 16 others wounded, a dozen of them by gunfire.

Today’s Birthdays: Grammy Award-winning singer and composer Bobby Rush is 93. Lyricist Tim Rice is 82. Film director Roland Emmerich is 71. Author Neil Gaiman (GAY’-mihn) is 66. Actor Hugh Bonneville is 63. Actor-comedian Tommy Davidson is 63. Long jump world record holder Mike Powell is 63. Actor-comedian Tracy Morgan is 58. Actor Ellen Pompeo is 57. Actor Walton Goggins is 55. Football Hall of Famer Isaac Bruce is 54. DJ and music artist Diplo is 48. Rapper-actor Eve is 48. Country singer Miranda Lambert is 43. Actor Taron Egerton is 37. Golfer Jon Rahm is 32. Actor Kiernan Shipka is 27. Olympic gold medal pole vaulter Armand Duplantis is 27. Actor Mackenzie Foy is 26.