FORGOTTEN HISTORY, part 2

FORGOTTEN HISTORY, part 2

Atlanta 1906: during the early twentieth century, the South of the country was the scene of countless racial clashes stained by the fury of whites towards the emancipation of blacks. On September 22nd 1906, local newspapers in the city of Atlanta reported the attack and rape of two white women from the community, Ethel Lawrence and her aunt, who were supposed to be at the hands of African Americans. Dozens of white men began to spread panic through the streets of the city, starting in the Five Points area, beating, stabbing and shooting black civilians. The horde of nearly fifteen thousand white men killed between 25 and 30 African Americans and at least 90 wounded were added. The white crowd went to Decatur Street, the hub of African American business, destroying restaurants and lounges and attacking all passing civilians. The arrival of a heavy rain helped calm the attacks but, despite this, some sporadic events continued to occur. The next day, a group of black men including university professors, gathered at Clark University in Brownsville to decide what measures to take against the attacks. The Fulton County police learned of the events, sent the militia to Brownsville, which arrested and disarmed about 250 black men. 

Springfield 1908: before the civil war there was tolerance towards sexual unions between black men and white women but, with the defeat of the southerners and the consequent social resurgence of African Americans, the claims of white supremacism brought back into vogue. Blacks were now being labeled as sex predators, transgressive rapists from whom white women had to be absolutely defended. The theories of black inferiority reached the point of wanting to exclude African Americans from the electoral vote, and to the split of lighter colored people in search of the support of the white population (hence the famous nickname of Uncle Tom). 1908 was an election year in Springfield, a city plagued by 20 years of political corruption; white politicians used to buy black voters' votes in exchange for legal immunity. With the advent of prohibition, the Illinois General Assembly gave residents the ability to determine whether their city should be "wet" (equivalent to serving alcohol), or "dry" (thus pro-prohibition). Springfield maintained that freedom and saw an increase in the influx of drinkers into the salons, many of them unemployed from the surrounding "dry" towns. On the night of July 4th, shortly after the salons closed and the national holiday celebrations, a man broke into the house of Clergy Ballard who, although not having seen the characteristics of the intruder, declared that an African American had tried to rape his daughter. The man dissolved into thin air but Ballard, injured after a struggle by what appeared to be a razor, urged his children to chase a black man who saw passing around the corner of his home. After about twenty minutes and six blocks from the Ballard residence, a mulatto man, Ed Jamison, was stabbed by a man who appears to have attacked him in an attempt to steal his overcoat. Although Jamison only saw the assailant's coat, he claimed to have been attacked by an African American. On the morning of July 5th, a group of white women saw Joe James, barefoot, awaken from a hangover half a mile from Ballard's home, and alerted the community. When the news reached Ballard's children, they went to the scene and brutally beat James. James, still not very lucid, offered no resistance and was dragged by the attackers for at least half a block until his arrest. James had already been arrested a few days earlier for trespassing but never charged for committing the crime, and his release was scheduled for July 7th. On the 4th, being a model prisoner, he was allowed to go to the city for some errands, but James did not return to the prison and stopped to drink in the salons of the city. The young teenager was not used to such goliardic celebrations having grown up in an Alabama family very devoted to the Church. Although the jailers claim that James was unarmed and that he had left the penitentiary barefoot, he was accused by the Ballard family and Jamison as guilty who never really had a chance to see their attackers. James was sentenced to the death penalty. 

On August 14th, Mabel Hallam, a white woman from a middle-class family, was attacked and raped by what Mabel described as an African American. The police in charge of the investigation said that the rapist must belong to the group of workers who worked on the construction site not far from Hallam's house. They were summoned and brought before Mabel, who pointed to George Richardson as her assailant. Richardson came from a highly respected family and enjoyed an excellent social position in Springfield. Although Richardson enjoyed an alibi, he was locked up in the same cell as Joe James. On August 14th, a horde of 500 white men went to Sangamon County Jail demanding that James and Richardson be handed over to them for a lynching. Meanwhile, in the city, a herd of white vandals led by Kate Howard began destroying Loper's and then robbing a pawn shop of all firearms, and continuing to confiscate and consume alcohol from salons owned by African Americans who came later vandalized. They also entered several hotels looking for black customers, who they dragged to the street to publicly beat them. They destroyed a total of 35 African-American-owned businesses, and only white property symbolized by a white flag on the door was spared. On hearing of William Bowe's killing while on his way through the Badlands neighborhood to join the insurgent whites, the group moved to the site of the attack, destroying the homes of all black civilians. Many houses were burned and their tenants forced to burn alive inside. 

Among the cruelest lynchings we remember:

• Scott Burton, 65, barber, who after being brutally beaten, was tied to a rope by the neck, dragged along the street until he was hanged from a tree (it is said that children played with his corpse). After his death he was mutilated with 30 shots and stabbed with weapons, and was also tempted to set him on fire. 

• William Donnegan, 80, became the target of white barbarism only because he was married to a white woman. In the evening a group of patrons broke into his home; the other members of the family unit fled from the back while Donnegan, almost blind, took refuge under a bed. He was caught, hit in the face, and stoned in the street. His throat was slit with a razor and his body hung from a neighborhood tree. 

Slocum 1910: the massacre took place between July 29th and 30th 1910. Two events are thought to have aggravated the racism and general discontent already present in Texas: the first was a small discussion between Marsh Holley, a black businessman , and Reddin Alford, white and disabled farmer. Alford reported that Holley was trying in every way to cheat him and take advantage of his disability. The second event occurred when Abe Wilson, an African American farmer, was sent to inform other farmers about the maintenance work on the local road. Jim Spurger, a white farmer, was shocked that a black man was sent to help the community, and saw it as an outrage to white supremacism. Although these two events contributed to the escalation of tensions, many white people already believed that a massacre was necessary to counter the social rise of blacks. On July 29th, a group of white people stopped some black teenagers on the streets of the city; one of them was killed. Shortly thereafter, about 50 whites invaded African American neighborhoods in an attempt to kill every black man they encountered. The massacre lasted sixteen hours after which rangers and militia were sent to appease the violence. The whites were all armed and swore to act in self-defense against the impending black insurrection, but the military confirmed that there was no evidence of any conspiracy by African Americans and that they were genuinely terrified of the violent raid by armed whites into their neighborhood. The count of the dead has never been established with certainty, but the census that was held following the massacre confirmed that at least half of the black population was no longer, for some reason, in Slocum. 

East St Louis 1917: World War I was the scene of frequent migrations from Europe to the United States, loss of workforce in cities and movements of African Americans from the South to the North of the country. Much white workforce organized strikes in an attempt to receive higher wages and better working conditions. Whites were replaced by immigrant and black workers, who were often excluded from such abstentions from work by offering their labor at reduced prices. In the summer of 1916, 2,500 white workers from near St Louis went on strike in hopes of receiving higher hourly wages. The employers replaced the strikers with as many African American workers, and hired 800 of the latter to permanently replace part of the white workforce. The same happened in the city of St Louis during the spring of 1917, and as a result of the events white workers gathered at the town hall fomenting racial tensions and circulating gossip about blacks fraternizing with white women. On May 28th, some 3,000 white men began attacking African Americans on the streets and setting their homes on fire. In addition, the East St Louis Labor Council, following investigation, released a statement that many blacks were deluded that they could find financial security, work and permanent home in St Louis by some white-run employment agencies. On July 1st, a Ford T car occupied by a few white individuals drove through the streets of a black neighborhood firing into the crowd. About an hour later a second Ford was spotted along the same streets and the residents, believing they were the same attackers as earlier, fired, killing one of the policemen on board and mortally wounding the other. The next day a group of whites went to the black neighborhood killing men, women and children, setting fire to entire buildings and hanging several African Americans. About 200 African Americans were killed and 6,000 left homeless. 

Chicago 1919: unlike many other realities, Chicago was distinguished by its more liberal ways towards African Americans and immigrants (with the exception of the unofficial segregations implemented on public beaches). These, in addition to white farmers from the south of the country, overpopulated the city becoming more and more defensive and territorial towards their neighborhoods. With the end of the war many white soldiers wanted to return to being part of the workforce, which had now been occupied by African American workers who were therefore hated. On July 27th, 1919, a white man threw rocks at Eugene Williams, an African American, for crossing the line that separated the beach of whites from that of blacks. Williams, after being seriously injured, drowned. Tensions escalated when a white agent prevented a black agent from arresting the white assailant responsible for Williams' fate. Social struggles escalated from that moment. Groups of white men also tried to persuade immigrants from Southern Europe to commit acts of violence against blacks, sometimes taking drastic measures such as setting fire to the homes of immigrants from Lithuania and Poland who had settled in the Back of The Yards neighborhood . Despite efforts to keep the distances between races, there were cases of cooperation between whites, blacks and immigrants. The riots lasted a week until the arrival of the Illinois National Guard. An estimated 38 people were killed (23 African Americans and 15 whites) and 537 injured (two thirds of which were African American civilians).

Elaine 1919: 1919 saw Phillips County in Arkansas inhabited mostly by African Americans working on cotton growing. Most of them were illiterate and unfortunately victims of the abuses and injustices inflicted on a daily basis by white landowners. In the same year Robert Hill, farmer of Winchester, founded the Progressive Farmers and Household Union of America in an attempt to agree more decent wages with wealthy whites. On September 29th, representatives of the Progressive Farmers and Household Union of America gathered with approximately 100 African American farmers at a church near Elaine. A few gunmen showed up to ensure that the meeting could go on without interruption and to protect the participants; it was customary for whites to show up in similar circumstances to violently dismember the haunts of African Americans. The fire began after the arrival of two whites and a black trustee, but it is still unknown who was the first to shoot. Agent Adkins was killed and the second white man wounded and, at that point, the sheriff summoned a gang of white men who were tasked with capturing the suspects and dissolving what was called an African American insurrection. About a thousand armed white men began to shed blood across the county. Federal troops were called in to help appease the mass extermination that was taking place at the hands of white men. More than two hundred black men were detained for questioning and protected from street raiding, despite the military delay having already caused the deaths of at least 237 African Americans and a high number of wounded. 

Ocoee 1920: Since the end of the Reconstruction, Florida was dominated by white Democrats committed to keeping the African American population out of polling stations. While Judge John Mosey Cheney organized a voting registration campaign targeting African Americans who had long supported the Republican party, the KKK regained ground by threatening both Judge Cheney and the black population to refrain from any action to attend polling stations. On election day, African Americans bent on voting encountered a lot of hostility from the white population. They were accused of not being duly registered, although in reality they were, and forcibly expelled from the polling stations. Mose Norman, part of the African American population, informed Judge Cheney of the outrage and was instructed to take note of all the people who were denied the vote, and those who bullied them. Norman returned to the polling stations armed with a rifle, which, in all probability, was stolen from him by the whites who intimidated and chased him away with his own firearm. The whites started a street riot of enormous magnitude, and the African Americans abandoned the polling stations. Police Chief Sam Salisbury, part of the KKK, organized a joke in search of Norman. On the way to Norman's home, Salisbury and the white group were informed of Norman's presence at July Perry's. About 100 white men stationed outside the Perry house asking the two to surrender. No response was heard from the house, and as the whites attempted to break inside, Perry, and a number of other armed African-Americans never determined with certainty, opened fire. Salisbury and other officers tried to enter the back door, resulting in the first being wounded and the others killed. The whites called for reinforcements from Orange County, Orlando and Apopka, while Perry, wounded, attempted to escape. After Perry was discharged from the hospital to be transferred to jail, he was abducted by a group of whites who lynched him and hung him on a telephone pole. Norman was never found. With the arrival of reinforcements, the whites moved to Ocoee, set fire to the homes of African Americans forcing them to go out into the streets and then be killed by gunshots. Every church, loggia room and school were destroyed. The African American population tried to defend themselves as long as it was possible, only to be forced to take refuge in the cities of Winter Garden and Apopka. The siege of Ocoee counted numerous victims, among which we remember Langmaid, a carpenter, beaten and castrated; Maggie Genlack and her pregnant daughter found dead in their home and their bodies partially burned; Roosevelt Barton, shot dead after the whites set fire to Perry's barn where he had found refuge; Harrie Smith who managed to escape from her sister-in-law's house set on fire by the whites, while her sister-in-law and her family died awaiting help. 

Tulsa 1921: the atmosphere in Oklahoma was very tense since 1907, the year in which the recognition of the aforementioned as a state saw the creation of new racial laws by the legislature. In 1916, racial segregation became an obligation, prohibiting blacks and whites from residing in neighborhoods where three-thirds of the population belonged to the other race. On May 30th 1921, Dick Rowland, a nineteen-year-old shoeshineer, took the elevator located in the Drexel Building to go to the toilet which only blacks could use. 17-year-old Sarah Page, white, was the elevator attendant that day. Suddenly those present heard a cry coming from inside the elevator from which, later, Rowland came out running. Although the two were apparently in a relationship and the girl had told the police that nothing had happened between the two, except that Rowland grabbed her arm following what was supposed to be a loss of balance or an argument, many whites saw the incident as an attempted rape. Out of fear, Rowland took refuge with family members in the Greenwood neighborhood. Officers arrested him and took him to the Tulsa City Prison and received an anonymous phone call loaded with death threats against Rowland. Many professionals in the city, knowing the boy as a shoe shine, phoned the police station to assure the police of the good behavior of Rowland who, despite everything, was slandered by the first headlines of the local newspapers. Several hundred whites gathered outside the courthouse and the then sheriff McCullough, ready to avoid a lynching similar to the one that happened in 1920 which saw Roy Belton as a victim, took care to ensure Rowland's safety. Some members of the African American community gathered to discuss the best strategy to ensure Rowland's safety, and so they decided to arm themselves and join the military in the prison to protect the prisoner. At the sight of the armed black men, the herd of whites rushed to their homes or nearby armories to get a weapon. Tensions grew exponentially until both factions opened fire on the enemies. The next morning the armed struggle continued, and some groups of whites crossed Greenwood, setting fire to and destroying civilian homes and businesses, and firing into the crowd. The chaos was joined by teams of white men armed with rifles and bombs who, flying over Greenwood in airplanes, leveled the entire neighborhood. On the morning of June 1st, the National Guard arrived in Tulsa and ended the attacks by declaring martial law.