Transcript Unit 12 - PowerPoints - Red Summer Race Riots of 1919

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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.”
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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.
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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.
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This newspaper clipping
describes the Longview
Race Riot.
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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.
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CHICAGO RACE RIOT
The states in blue gained the most African
Americans during the Great Migration. The
red states lost the most African Americans.
The 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.
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CHICAGO RACE RIOT
When European immigration was curtailed
at the end of World War I, the AfricanAmerican 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.
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Chicago Race Riots
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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 AfricanAmerican population. Newspapers did not report these crimes, yet they always mentioned
when an African American was in trouble with the law.
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CHICAGO RACE RIOT
White men search for African Americans
during the Chicago Race Riot
of 1919.
Thirty-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.
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CHICAGO RACE RIOT
At 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.
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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.
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OMAHA RACE RIOT
The Omaha Race Riot raged September 2829, 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.
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OMAHA RACE RIOT
On 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.
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OMAHA RACE RIOT
Omaha 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
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OMAHA RACE RIOT
Rioters attack the Douglas County
Court House.
By 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.
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OMAHA RACE RIOT
As 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.”
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OMAHA RACE RIOT
By 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.
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The mob set the Douglas County
Court House on fire.
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OMAHA RACE RIOT
The mob lynched Will Brown and
burned his body.
People 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.
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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.
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OMAHA RACE RIOT
The infantry is deployed to Omaha to calm
the rioters.
Rioters 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.
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ELAINE RACE RIOT
The 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.
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ELAINE RACE RIOT
Violence 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 AfricanAmerican 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.
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ELAINE RACE RIOT
NAACP Field Secretary
Walter F. White
Eventually, 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.
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ELAINE RACE RIOT
Between 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.
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ELAINE RACE RIOT
At 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.
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African-American attorney
Scipio Africanus Jones
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ELAINE RACE RIOT
Judge John Ellis Martineau issued
the Elaine defendants the original
writ of habeas corpus.
In 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.
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ELAINE RACE RIOT
After 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.
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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.
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