White women , as social and economic beneficiaries of a white-dominant racial hierarchy , were not only purveyors of this treatment of blacks , but in many cases , actively sought such treatment against blacks . For example , just 10 years prior to the attacks in Springfield , the notion of protecting white virtue was violently used to overthrow a local government led by a coalition of blacks and poor whites in Wilmington , North Carolina , resulting in the only successful coup d'état on U.S. soil . The attack followed a speech by Rebecca Felton , a well respected socialite who later became the first female U.S. senator . Felton proclaimed that the biggest threat white women faced was " the black rapist " , and she called on white men to protect them : Such notions commenced an era of terrorism and lynching of black men
the only successful coup d'état on U.S. soil
Wilmington insurrection of 1898
Springfield race riot of 1908