cicero © 2008. cause of the riots african-american author, james weldon johnson first used the...
TRANSCRIPT
History Beyond The Textbook
CICEROHistory Beyond The Textbook
CICERO
CICERO © 2008
History Beyond The Textbook
CICEROHistory Beyond The Textbook
CICERO
CICERO © 2008
CAUSE OF THE RIOTS
African-American author, James Weldon Johnson first used the term, “Red Summer.” The race riots
of 1919 had many causes: increasing inflation, escalating unemployment, and raging racism.
Inflation soared in the United States after World War I, and the demobilization of the American military led to higher rates of unemployment.
This exacerbated racial tension between whites and blacks who were competing for jobs.
James Weldon Johnson first used the term “Red
Summer.”
History Beyond The Textbook
CICEROHistory Beyond The Textbook
CICERO
CICERO © 2008
CAUSE OF THE RIOTS
The Red Scare, an American fear of communist infiltration into American life, emerged. African Americans began to talk of their desires for racial equality. Many whites did not believe blacks deserved equal rights, although slavery had been
outlawed in America since 1865. African Americans were branded as “radicals.”
Many whites thought African Americans supported communism’s message of
equality.
Communist Jamaican poet Claude McKay wrote poetry based on “radical”
African Americans.
History Beyond The Textbook
CICEROHistory Beyond The Textbook
CICERO
CICERO © 2008
CHARLESTON AND LONGVIEW RACE RIOTS
The Charleston Race Riot occurred on May 10, 1919, in Charleston, South Carolina. Two African Americans
were killed. The Longview Race Riot began in Longview, Texas, on July 10, 1919, after an article appeared in the Chicago magazine, Defender. The
magazine stated an African American, Lemuel Walters, was in love with a white woman; and he would have married her if the two lived in the North. Walters was
imprisoned for this statement. Some time later, the town sheriff handed Walters over to a white mob, and he was
murdered. African Americans in the region were incensed. This prompted the riot in Longview. This newspaper clipping
describes the Longview Race Riot.
History Beyond The Textbook
CICEROHistory Beyond The Textbook
CICERO
CICERO © 2008
WASHINGTON, D.C.,RACE RIOT
The Washington, D.C., Race Riot occurred on July 19, 1919. An African-American man was accused of harassing a white woman. The woman organized a group of men on the night of July 19 and went looking for African Americans. One African American was
severely injured, and another was killed.
History Beyond The Textbook
CICEROHistory Beyond The Textbook
CICERO
CICERO © 2008
CHICAGO RACE RIOTThe Chicago Race Riot was the most
violent of the riots during the Red Summer. The riot lasted from July 27 to August 3.
Chicago was unlike most cities in the South because public places were not segregated. Most people believe that even before 1915,
Chicago was known as a city in which African Americans were treated well. An
increasing number of blacks started moving to Chicago around 1910, as it was one of
the main destinations during the Great Migration when African Americans left the
South of segregation and lynchings. The states in blue gained the most African Americans during the Great Migration. The red states lost the most African Americans.
History Beyond The Textbook
CICEROHistory Beyond The Textbook
CICERO
CICERO © 2008
CHICAGO RACE RIOTWhen European immigration was curtailed
at the end of World War I, the African-American population in Chicago increased one hundred forty-eight percent between 1916 and 1919. While first settling in the
southern part of the city, African Americans eventually moved into Irish neighborhoods. The two groups competed for housing and employment in Chicago. Whites from the
South also migrated to Chicago for employment, and this created more tension. Segregation also began to be enforced, and African Americans were isolated into the South Side of Chicago where eighty-five percent of the city’s African Americans
resided by 1920.
Chicago Race Riots
History Beyond The Textbook
CICEROHistory Beyond The Textbook
CICERO
CICERO © 2008
CHICAGO RACE RIOT
Returning World War I veterans returned to Chicago expecting to be rehired at the jobs they had held before the war. African-American workers now held some of those jobs, and they
also were competing for employment with African-American veterans of World War I. Many white veterans were hostile toward African-American veterans who thought they deserved better treatment since they had fought for the United States in World War I.
In addition, Chicago had many athletic and social clubs, some tied to the city government. Their members were immigrants who developed political strength and credibility within
their clubs’ membership. Chicago’s white gangs began attacking African Americans in the South Side neighborhoods. City police did little to stop the violence inflicted on the African-
American population. Newspapers did not report these crimes, yet they always mentioned when an African American was in trouble with the law.
History Beyond The Textbook
CICEROHistory Beyond The Textbook
CICERO
CICERO © 2008
CHICAGO RACE RIOTThirty-eight people were killed in the
Chicago Race Riot. Twenty-three were African Americans, and fifteen were white. The violence began on July 27, 1919, when
a young African American, Eugene Williams, drowned after a group of whites assaulted him. When a white police officer did not arrest the white man who threw the
rock that caused Williams to drown, the riots began. The rioting and violence
increased when the same police officer arrested an African-American man. White men search for African Americans
during the Chicago Race Riotof 1919.
History Beyond The Textbook
CICEROHistory Beyond The Textbook
CICERO
CICERO © 2008
CHICAGO RACE RIOTAt first, Chicago newspapers only listed the injuries to white people during the riot. However, the white police force’s
conduct was questioned, and many Chicagoans wondered why African
Americans were arrested instead of the white instigators. Blacks were accused initially of setting fires, but the Illinois State Fire Marshall reported that whites
had started the fires. No whites were convicted of murder. Although one man was prosecuted for Williams’ death, he
was later acquitted.The Chicago Race Riot of 1919 begins.
History Beyond The Textbook
CICEROHistory Beyond The Textbook
CICERO
CICERO © 2008
KNOXVILLE RACE RIOT
The Knoxville Race Riot occurred on August 30, 1919, in Knoxville, Tennessee. The riots began when deputy sheriff Maurice Mayes was arrested. Mayes was a mulatto, a
combination of races. Mayes had been accused of murdering Bertie Lindsay, a white woman. Sheriff W.T. Cate attempted to move Mayes out of Chattanooga. However, a large group of whites managed to break down the prison door. This allowed many of the white prisoners to escape, additional violence ensured, and thirty-six people were killed. Mayes
was not released to the mob; but he was later convicted and executed, although many people believed he was innocent.
History Beyond The Textbook
CICEROHistory Beyond The Textbook
CICERO
CICERO © 2008
OMAHA RACE RIOTThe Omaha Race Riot raged September 28-29, 1919, in Omaha, Nebraska. The incident
began after a 19-year-old white woman, Agnes Loebeck, claimed she had been raped on September 25. The next day, 40-year-old African-American Will Brown was arrested for the rape. Loebeck identified him as the man who had raped her. A large crowd of
whites attempted to lynch Brown the day he was arrested. The incident gained
widespread attention in the Omaha Bee, which also printed sensationalized reports
about African Americans committing crimes against white women.
Will Brown, an African-American man, was accused of raping Agnes Loebeck.
History Beyond The Textbook
CICEROHistory Beyond The Textbook
CICERO
CICERO © 2008
OMAHA RACE RIOTOn September 28 at approximately 2:00 P.M., a group of young white men met near the
Bancroft School and began advancing on the Douglas County Court House, where Brown was held. John T. Dunn, head of the Omaha Detective Bureau, was the first to try stopping them. The men refused to stop. There were thirty police officers guarding the station when the mob arrived at 4:00 P.M. The crowd continued to grow, and confronted police officers. The captain in charge, surprisingly, thought the men would be no threat and sent his fifty
reserve officers home for the day.
However, the group of whites had grown to approximately 4,000 by 5:00 P.M. They began to attack the police. When the officers shot water hoses into the crowd, the mob attacked the police with sticks and bricks. The men began breaking the courthouse windows and making their way onto the first floor of the building. Police officers began to fire their guns down
the elevator shafts to scare off the rioters.
History Beyond The Textbook
CICEROHistory Beyond The Textbook
CICERO
CICERO © 2008
OMAHA RACE RIOTOmaha Chief of Police Marshall
Eberstein tried to speak with the crowd. Eberstein said justice would prevail, and
there was no need for the mob to riot. The crowd did not want to hear what the
chief was telling them. They began to yell and scream, making sure Eberstein’s voice would not be heard. Eberstein gave up and stopped speaking to the crowd. By 6:00 P.M., the police had lost control of the mob. The mob attacked and stripped the police of their weapons. Some whites attempted to help the African Americans.
However, they were assaulted. A large mob forms outside the Douglas County Court House
History Beyond The Textbook
CICEROHistory Beyond The Textbook
CICERO
CICERO © 2008
OMAHA RACE RIOTBy 7:00 P.M., the policemen had retreated
to the fourth floor of the courthouse. Sheriff Michael Clark of Douglas County instructed his deputies to protect Brown. However, by 8:00 P.M., the mob had taken gasoline from a nearby gas station, poured it on the bottom
floor of the courthouse, and set the courthouse on fire. Nearby stores were
looted, and more that one thousand firearms were stolen. Police officers who got in the way of the mob were shot. Seven officers were wounded during the exchange. Two members of the mob, Louis Young and
James Hiykel, were killed. Rioters attack the Douglas County Court House.
History Beyond The Textbook
CICEROHistory Beyond The Textbook
CICERO
CICERO © 2008
OMAHA RACE RIOTAs the fires raged at 11:00 P.M., Omaha Mayor Edward Smith came out from hiding in the courthouse. When he emerged, a shot rang out. A man in the crowd claimed Smith had shot him. A crowd of people rushed toward Smith, who tried to fight them off. He was hit in the back of the head with a baseball bat and a noose was put around his neck. Smith stated “if you must hang somebody, then let it be me.” The mayor was dragged toward the center of Harney Street. One of the women in the street removed the rope from Smith’s neck. The
mob began to fight with people watching the incident. Some of these men saved Smith and loaded him into the back of a police car. However, the mob broke through and overturned
the car, once again capturing the mayor. The noose was placed around his neck, and he was hanged from the tower of a traffic signal. State Agent Ben Danbaum drove his a car into the base of the tower, knocking it down. Smith was brought to Ford Hospital where he almost
died from his throat injuries. In the hospital, the mayor stated, “They shall not get him. Mob rule will not prevail in Omaha.”
History Beyond The Textbook
CICEROHistory Beyond The Textbook
CICERO
CICERO © 2008
OMAHA RACE RIOTBy this time, the fire had spread to the third floor of the courthouse. Police officers tried to appeal to the
crowd, but the mob demanded that Brown be delivered to them. In the courthouse, jars of
formaldehyde had broken, sending deadly gases wafting to the floors above. At this point, Sheriff Clark led his one hundred twenty-one prisoners to
the roof to avoid the fire. Will Brown was one of the men brought to the roof. Fellow prisoners tried to
throw him off the roof, but the deputy sheriffs stopped them. The women prisoners, white and
black, were eventually freed to leave the roof, and they were escorted through the burning building to safety. The mob then poured more gasoline in the
building, and the flames rose higher.
The mob set the Douglas County Court House on fire.
History Beyond The Textbook
CICEROHistory Beyond The Textbook
CICERO
CICERO © 2008
OMAHA RACE RIOTPeople on top of the courthouse began
sending messages to the crowd. The first one stated, “The judge says he will give up Negro Brown. He is in the Dungeon. There are 100 white prisoners on the roof. Save
them.” Another one enticed the mob, “Come to the fourth floor of the building and we will hand the Negro over to you.”
At this point, a fireman’s ladder was placed on the side of the building. People climbed
the ladder, armed with a noose and shotguns. While these men were climbing up one side of building, a series of shouts
and gunshots were heard from the other side – Will Brown had been captured.
The mob lynched Will Brown and burned his body.
History Beyond The Textbook
CICEROHistory Beyond The Textbook
CICERO
CICERO © 2008
OMAHA RACE RIOT
After a brief struggle, Brown was hanged from a telephone pole at the corner of Eighteenth and Harney streets. Brown’s body was cut from the telephone pole, and the corpse was tied to the back of an automobile. Brown’s body was dragged through the streets of Omaha. The
car stopped at the intersection of Dodge Street and Seventeenth Street. Lantern oil was poured on the corpse, and it was set on fire. After the corpse of Will Brown was burned, it
was dragged through the streets again.
History Beyond The Textbook
CICEROHistory Beyond The Textbook
CICERO
CICERO © 2008
OMAHA RACE RIOTRioters continued to run rampant for hours after Brown’s murder. On three separate
occasions, the mob gathered at the local jail, threatening to burn it to the ground. Soldiers
managed to prevent the attack. However, the riots continued until 3:00 A.M. when
Colonel John E. Morris and the 20th Infantry arrived in Omaha, and Major General
Leonard Wood came the next day with 1,600 soldiers. General Wood enacted
martial law throughout Omaha. Brown’s body was buried in Omaha’s Potters’ Field
on October 1. The infantry is deployed to Omaha to calm the rioters.
History Beyond The Textbook
CICEROHistory Beyond The Textbook
CICERO
CICERO © 2008
ELAINE RACE RIOTThe Elaine Race Riot, or Elaine Massacre, took place on October 1, 1919, in Elaine,
Arkansas. The riot started when black sharecroppers were meeting to discuss how they could receive fair prices for the crops they harvested for the white planters who
controlled the land. The sharecroppers expressed an interest in joining the
Progressive Farmers and Household Union of America. The African Americans were also
considering filing a lawsuit against the landlords. The union representatives wanted armed guards at the meeting, in case there
was trouble. A sheriff’s deputy and railroad detective were hired to provide security for
the meeting. This sensational newspaper headline appeared in 1919.
History Beyond The Textbook
CICEROHistory Beyond The Textbook
CICERO
CICERO © 2008
ELAINE RACE RIOTViolence between whites and blacks erupted at the site of the sharecroppers’ meeting. The deputy sheriff was wounded, and the railroad detective was killed. Leaders of the church where the meeting was held called for an investigation. The riots continued outside the
church, as more whites came from neighboring counties; and the crowd grew to approximately one thousand people. Fighting between whites and blacks erupted for the next three days. Newspapers began to make outlandish claims, stating that this was the
prelude for an insurrection. When more white men arrived in the Elaine area, they began randomly killing African Americans.
Arkansas Governor Hillman Brough warned of a “Negro uprising.” Brough contacted the United States War Department and requested five hundred troops be sent to the region. The
soldiers went to the Hoop Spur Church, where they exchanged gunfire with African-American farmers. After days of fighting, two hundred eighty-five blacks were arrested.
Many blacks and whites were killed and wounded. An estimated one hundred to two hundred African Americans were killed.
History Beyond The Textbook
CICEROHistory Beyond The Textbook
CICERO
CICERO © 2008
ELAINE RACE RIOTEventually, the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) launched an investigation into the Elaine Race Riot. NAACP Field
Secretary Walter F. White traveled to the region. Due to his mixed ethnicity, White appeared to be white and was given credentials from the Chicago Daily News. He met
with Governor Brough. White interviewed white and black residents and concluded that up to one hundred African Americans had been killed. He published his findings in many magazines, including the Chicago
Defender and the NAACP magazine, Crisis. Brough tried to force the United States Postal Service not to mail these
publications. Eventually, White was identified as an African American. For his safety, White had to return to
Little Rock, Arkansas. NAACP Field Secretary Walter F. White
History Beyond The Textbook
CICEROHistory Beyond The Textbook
CICERO
CICERO © 2008
ELAINE RACE RIOTBetween October and November 1919, one hundred twenty-two African Americans were indicted for alleged crimes. Many African Americans did not meet the state of Arkansas’
requirements for jurors, so the juries for these cases were all white. Seventy-three charges of murder were handed out as well as charges of insurrection and conspiracy. During the trial,
some blacks were cleared of all charges, but they had to agree to work for the white landlords without pay, and they had to testify against other African Americans. Those who
did not agree to these conditions were indicted. Some African Americans were tortured with whippings or electric shocks into confessing to crimes.
During the trials, many whites, armed with weapons, gathered near the courthouse. White observers in the courtroom also were armed. The lawyers for the African-American defendants did not allow the accused African Americans to testify, and twelve of the
defendants were sentenced to death in the electric chair. In some cases, a trial would last less than one hour; and the juries would render a decision in less than ten minutes. Thirty-six
blacks pleaded guilty, and sixty-seven others were sentenced up to twenty-one years in jail. The Arkansas Gazette praised these trials, claiming the legal system had worked, and that no
blacks had been lynched.
History Beyond The Textbook
CICEROHistory Beyond The Textbook
CICERO
CICERO © 2008
ELAINE RACE RIOTAt the same time, the NAACP began to
formulate appeals of the defendants’ sentences. The organization raised more
than $50,000 for its plan and hired African-American attorney, Scipio
Africanus Jones, and former Arkansas Attorney General Colonel George W. Murphy. Together, they reversed the verdicts in six of the twelve cases in
which African Americans were sentenced to death. They accomplished this because
the jury did not state during the trial whether the blacks were charged with first-degree or second-degree murder.
This oversight required that the cases be sent back for a retrial.
African-American attorney Scipio Africanus Jones
History Beyond The Textbook
CICEROHistory Beyond The Textbook
CICERO
CICERO © 2008
ELAINE RACE RIOTIn the case of the other six blacks, their death sentences
were upheld. The court stated in its decision that the mob atmosphere did not violate the blacks’ right to due
process of law. These defendants were first denied a petition for a writ of certiorari, which would have
sought judicial review for the case. The defense next tried to get a writ of habeas corpus, in which they
sought relief for an unwarranted sentence. The defendants claimed they were sentenced because of the
pressure of the angry mob, with no regard for their constitutional rights. Judge John Ellis Martineau delivered their writ, but the Arkansas State Court promptly overturned his decision. However, this
allowed the execution date to be delayed until the defendants petitioned and were issued a writ from
United States District Judge Jacob Trieber.Judge John Ellis Martineau issued the Elaine defendants the original
writ of habeas corpus.
History Beyond The Textbook
CICEROHistory Beyond The Textbook
CICERO
CICERO © 2008
ELAINE RACE RIOTAfter this, the state of Arkansas said it would not deny any claims of torture or intimidation used to force from the African Americans. But this was not cause for a denial of due process. While this allowed the United States District Court to reject the writ, the fact that there was probable cause for an appeal led the case to the United States Supreme Court. In Moore v. Dempsey, the
Supreme Court ruled that the use of torture and a mob-influenced atmosphere had led to the denial of due process of law for the defendants under the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. The defendants were ordered retried, and they received sentences of twelve
years in jail.
In the aftermath, attorney George Ross wrote to Governor Thomas McRae, who was in the last few weeks of his term as Governor of Arkansas. Ross implored McRae to release the other
defendants if they pled guilty. This had to be done quickly, because the governor-elect, Thomas Jefferson Terral, was a member of the Ku Klux Klan. Before he left office, McRae contacted
Scipio Jones, stating the prisoners would be released under the cover of darkness and taken out of Arkansas. In addition, Scipio Jones secured the release of those with lesser sentences.
History Beyond The Textbook
CICEROHistory Beyond The Textbook
CICERO
CICERO © 2008
LEGACY OF THE RED SUMMER RACE RIOTS
The Red Summer Race Riots of 1919 were a time of horrendous injustices against African
Americans. However, the decision in the Moore v. Dempsey case allowed the United
States government to investigated court cases in the South that involved African Americans. In addition, the NAACP gained credibility and
respect when it engineered the release of several African-American prisoners. For
Walter F. White, the tremendous risks he took led to his election as executive secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People.