On this day in American history, August 26, 1874 — Mob of 400 Lynches Sixteen Black Men Kidnapped from Tennessee Jail

Posted on August 26, 2018 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

On August 26, 1874, sixteen African American men were held in the Gibson County Jail in Trenton, Tennessee, transferred from Picketsville, a neighboring town where they’d been arrested and accused of shooting at two white men.

Around 2:00 a.m. that morning, a contingent of 400-500 masked men, mounted on horses and armed with shot guns, demanded entrance to the Gibson County Jail. The men confronted the jailer and threatened to kill him if he did not relinquish the keys to the cell holding the African American men. After the jailer gave the leader of the mob the key, the members of the mob bound the men by their hands and led them out of the jail cell. The jailer would later testify that he soon heard a series of gun shots in the distance.

Upon investigation soon after the kidnapping, the jailer found six of the men lying along nearby Huntingdon Road – four were dead, their bodies “riddled with bullets.” Two of the men, found wounded but alive, later died before receiving medical attention. The bodies of the ten remaining men were later found at the bottom of a river about one mile from town.

Local white officials denounced the lynching and held an inquest that concluded the men were killed by “shots inflicted by guns in the hands of unknown parties.” The town mayor also expressed local whites’ fears that black people throughout the county were arming themselves in plans to exact retaliatory violence. Just one day after the mass murder of sixteen black men by hundreds of white men who remained unidentified and free, the mayor ordered police to take all guns belonging to Trenton’s black residents and threatened to shoot those who resisted.

 

“The Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) is proud to present A History of Racial Injustice – 2018 Calendar.  America’s history of racial inequality continues to undermine fair treatment, equal justice, and opportunity for many Americans.  The genocide of Native people, the legacy of slavery and racial terror, and the legally supported abuse of racial minorities are not well understood.  EJI believes that a deeper engagement with our nation’s history of racial injustice is important to addressing present-day questions of social justice and equality.

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On this day in American history, August 25, 1956 — Montgomery, Alabama, Home of Bus Boycott Supporter Bombed

Posted on August 25, 2018 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

On the night of April 25, 1956, several sticks of dynamite were thrown into the yard of Pastor Robert Graetz’s Montgomery, Alabama, home where they exploded, breaking the home’s front windows and damaging the front door. A young white minister serving the city’s primarily African American Trinity Lutheran Church, Pastor Graetz was a member of the Montgomery Improvement Association, the community group that had planned and guided the city’s bus boycott to protest racially discriminatory treatment toward black bus riders. Pastor Graetz had been an outspoken supporter of the ongoing bus boycott since it began on December 5, 1955, and was known to regularly provide transportation to boycott participants traveling to and from work.

At the time of the explosion, Pastor Graetz was attending an integration workshop in Tennessee. His wife and children were not at home and no one was injured in the blast. In January 1956, the Montgomery homes of local minister Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and E.D. Nixon, former president of the local NAACP, were bombed. Both men were active boycott leaders.

In response to the bombing of Paster Graetz’s home, Montgomery Mayor W. A. Gayle called it an inside job and claimed the attack was “just a publicity stunt to build up interest of the Negroes in their campaign . . . This latest bombing follows the usual pattern. It’s a strange coincidence that when interest appears to be flagging in the bus boycott something like this happens.” No one was arrested, charged, or convicted for the attack.

 

“The Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) is proud to present A History of Racial Injustice – 2018 Calendar.  America’s history of racial inequality continues to undermine fair treatment, equal justice, and opportunity for many Americans.  The genocide of Native people, the legacy of slavery and racial terror, and the legally supported abuse of racial minorities are not well understood.  EJI believes that a deeper engagement with our nation’s history of racial injustice is important to addressing present-day questions of social justice and equality.

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On this day in American history, August 24, 1923 — Black Man Lynched in Jacksonville, Florida

Posted on August 24, 2018 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

On August 24, 1923, a 34-year-old black farmhand Ben Hart was killed based on suspicion that he was a “Peeping Tom” who had that morning peered into a young white girl’s bedroom window near Jacksonville, Florida. According to witnesses, approximately ten unmasked men came to Hart’s home around 9:30 p.m. claiming to be deputy sheriffs and informing Hart he was accused of looking into the girl’s window. Hart professed his innocence and readily agreed to go to the county jail with the men, but did not live to complete the journey.

Shortly after midnight the next day, Hart’s handcuffed and bullet-riddled body was found in a ditch about three miles from the city. Hart had been shot six times and witnesses reported seeing him earlier that night fleeing several white men on foot who were shooting at him as several more automobiles filled with white men followed.

Police investigating Hart’s murder soon determined he was innocent of the accusation against him; he was at his home 12 miles away when the alleged peeping incident occurred.

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On this day in American history, August 23, 1989 — Black Teen Murdered by White Mob in Brooklyn, New York

Posted on August 23, 2018 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

On August 23, 1989, 16-year-old Yusef Hawkins and three friends went to the predominately white Bensonhurt section of Brooklyn, New York, to inquire about a used Pontiac for sale. On their way through the neighborhood, the three black boys encountered a group of 30 white youths gathered in the street. Armed with baseball bats and at least one handgun, the mob set upon the three boys. While his companions managed to escape the attack without serious injury, Yusef was shot twice in the chest and later pronounced dead at nearby Maimonides Medical Center.

Later investigation revealed that a neighborhood girl, Gina Feliciano, had recently spurned the advances of a young white man in the neighborhood and was rumored to be dating an African American. Angry, the rejected white boy gathered friends to lay in wait for the black boyfriend they believed would be visiting Ms. Feliciano. Yusef Hawkins walked into this scene of racial tension.

Hawkins’s death was the third murder of a black male by a white mob in the 1980s in New York, where racial tensions were high. Shortly after the slaying, the Reverend Al Sharpton led a protest march through Bensonhurst. Neighborhood residents met the protesters with such intense resistance that one marcher said she had “not been through an experience like this since the 60s.” A year after Hawkins’s murder, 18-year-old Joseph Fama was convicted of second degree murder and a string of lesser charges and sentenced to 32 years in prison. Five other participants were charged in connection with Hawkins’s murder and received lesser sentences.

 

“The Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) is proud to present A History of Racial Injustice – 2018 Calendar.  America’s history of racial inequality continues to undermine fair treatment, equal justice, and opportunity for many Americans.  The genocide of Native people, the legacy of slavery and racial terror, and the legally supported abuse of racial minorities are not well understood.  EJI believes that a deeper engagement with our nation’s history of racial injustice is important to addressing present-day questions of social justice and equality.

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On this day in American history, August 22, 1905 — Whites Riot After Black Man Enters Pittsburgh Restaurant

Posted on August 22, 2018 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

According to newspaper reports, an African-American man named Charles Julius Miller, and an unnamed African-American woman entered Café Neapolitan, a Pittsburgh restaurant, on August, 22, 1905. The couple was immediately refused service and ordered to leave. When Miller refused to exit, a “free-for-all” ensued, leaving many injured and resulting in approximately fifty arrests. Mr. Miller was among those hospitalized for his injuries.

Though many choose to view racial tension and violence as an exclusively southern problem, such riots and disturbances were commonplace occurrences throughout the country, where racial segregation and bias remained pervasive problems. As in most cases, the newspapers at the time reported the riot as having been caused by the African-American who dared enter an establishment where he did not belong.

 

“The Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) is proud to present A History of Racial Injustice – 2018 Calendar.  America’s history of racial inequality continues to undermine fair treatment, equal justice, and opportunity for many Americans.  The genocide of Native people, the legacy of slavery and racial terror, and the legally supported abuse of racial minorities are not well understood.  EJI believes that a deeper engagement with our nation’s history of racial injustice is important to addressing present-day questions of social justice and equality.

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On this day in American history, August 21, 1831 — Nat Turner Leads Enslaved Black People in Virginia Rebellion

Posted on August 21, 2018 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

Nat Turner was an enslaved black man who lived in Southampton, Virginia. By many accounts, Turner was a very religious man who ministered to fellow enslaved blacks as well as whites. Turner studied the Bible fervently and often claimed to have divine visions. In the late 1820s, Turner claimed to have several visions leading him to believe that God was calling him to lead a rebellion. In February 1831, he witnessed a solar eclipse and interpreted it as a sign to start his campaign. Turner and his followers planned to rebel on July 4, 1831, but postponed the plan. On August 13, 1831, Turner witnessed a second eclipse and believe it to be yet another sign to begin the rebellion.

On August 21, 1831, Turner led his most trusted followers to various plantations, recruiting other blacks, until their ranks swelled to between 60 and 70 fighters armed with muskets and tools. As the rebels moved, they indiscriminately killed white plantation owners, but seemed to spare poor whites. Turner and his followers killed nearly 60 whites before they were confronted and defeated by a militia. Turner’s men were killed or captured immediately, but he escaped and remained at large until October 30, 1831. Upon capture, Turner was criminally convicted and executed along with 30 other blacks convicted of insurrection. In the wake of the rebellion, angry white mobs tortured and murdered hundreds of blacks and Southern legislatures passed laws prohibiting blacks from assembling freely, conducting independent religious services, and gaining an education.

 

“The Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) is proud to present A History of Racial Injustice – 2018 Calendar.  America’s history of racial inequality continues to undermine fair treatment, equal justice, and opportunity for many Americans.  The genocide of Native people, the legacy of slavery and racial terror, and the legally supported abuse of racial minorities are not well understood.  EJI believes that a deeper engagement with our nation’s history of racial injustice is important to addressing present-day questions of social justice and equality.

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On this day in American history, August 20, 1619 — First Enslaved Africans Land in Jamestown, Virginia

Posted on August 20, 2018 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

The stage was set for slavery in the United States as early as the 14th century, when Spain and Portugal began to capture Africans for enslavement in Europe. Slavery eventually expanded to colonial America, where the first enslaved Africans arrived in the Virginia colony at Point Comfort on the James River on August 20, 1619. There, “20 and odd Negroes” from the White Lion, an English ship, were sold in exchange for food; the remaining Africans were transported to Jamestown and sold into slavery.

Historians have long believed that these first African slaves in the colonies came from the Caribbean but Spanish records suggest they were captured in the Portuguese colony of Angola, in West Central Africa. While aboard the ship São João Bautista bound for Mexico, they were stolen by two English ships, the White Lion and the Treasurer. Once in Virginia, the enslaved Africans were dispersed throughout the colony.

Although Virginia was the first British colony to legally define slavery in mid-17th century North America, slavery did not immediately become the predominant form of labor there. For decades after slavery was formalized, Virginia plantation owners held nearly ten times as many indentured servants as enslaved Africans, and many of them were white. By the 1680s, however, African slave labor became the dominant system on Virginia farms and the slave population continued to grow exponentially. At the start of the Civil War, Virginia had the largest population of enslaved black people of any state in the Confederacy.

“The Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) is proud to present A History of Racial Injustice – 2018 Calendar.  America’s history of racial inequality continues to undermine fair treatment, equal justice, and opportunity for many Americans.  The genocide of Native people, the legacy of slavery and racial terror, and the legally supported abuse of racial minorities are not well understood.  EJI believes that a deeper engagement with our nation’s history of racial injustice is important to addressing present-day questions of social justice and equality.

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On this day in American history, August 18, 1995 — NAACP Protests Uncovering of “Faithful Slave” Monument

Posted on August 18, 2018 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

On August 18, 1995, the NAACP sent a letter of protest to the Department of the Interior to protest the uncovering of a decades-old monument in Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia.

In October 1859, white abolitionist John Brown led a raid on the Harper’s Ferry Armory in what is now West Virginia, in hopes of launching a massive rebellion of enslaved black people. The raid was put down and Brown and many of his followers were convicted and hanged, but the Civil War followed soon after and the Confederacy’s loss led to widespread emancipation. A generation later, descendants of Confederate soldiers and former slave owners began efforts to create a monument at Harper’s Ferry dedicated to the first casualty of the raid: Heyward Shepherd, a free black man who worked for the local railroad.

Mr. Shepherd was not enslaved; other details about his life and politics are unknown. Nevertheless, the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) in 1905 found him a fitting subject for a so-called “faithful slave monument” that would promote the message that “the white men of the South were the Negro’s best friend then.” In 1920, the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) and the UDC agreed to jointly fund construction of the monument.

After a number of sites refused to host the monument, it was completed and dedicated in 1932 at a ceremony where speakers justified and praised slavery. The monument’s inscription in part praised “the character and faithfulness of thousands of Negroes who, under many temptations throughout subsequent years of war, so conducted themselves that no stain was left upon a record which is the peculiar heritage of the American people, and an everlasting tribute to the best in both races.” Writing in 1932, black scholar and activist W.E.B. Dubois sharply criticized the monument and its dedication ceremony as a “pro-slavery celebration.”

When the National Park Service took responsibility for the Harper’s Ferry site as a national historic landmark, the Hayward Shepherd monument was removed during construction. When it was returned in 1981, a plywood box covered the lengthy inscription. Following several years of complaints and pressure from the SCV, UDC, and Southern congressmen, including North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms, the superintendent of the site ordered the covering removed on June 9, 1995. The West Virginia NAACP protested the decision and condemned in its August 1995 letter the monument’s implication that “all slaves were satisfied to be whipped, raped, tortured, torn away from their families and sold.”

 

“The Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) is proud to present A History of Racial Injustice – 2018 Calendar.  America’s history of racial inequality continues to undermine fair treatment, equal justice, and opportunity for many Americans.  The genocide of Native people, the legacy of slavery and racial terror, and the legally supported abuse of racial minorities are not well understood.  EJI believes that a deeper engagement with our nation’s history of racial injustice is important to addressing present-day questions of social justice and equality.

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On this day in American history, August 17, 1965 — Days of Riots End in Watts

Posted on August 17, 2018 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

On the evening of August 11, 1965, a police officer pulled over brothers Marquette and Ronald Frye in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. A crowd gathered to watch and quickly grew as officers questioned the young men. Police presence grew as well. When the young men’s mother arrived on the scene, a struggle ensued, police beat Marquette and Ronald with batons, and all three Fryes were arrested. Outraged, the crowd of onlookers began throwing rocks at police cars, then at passing city buses and other motorists. The unrest soon erupted into pockets of rioting throughout the 20-block area of Watts.

Black youth in the community, exasperated by police brutality and government officials’ indifference, took to the streets. They threw bricks and other debris through store windows, at police cars and at white passersby, and soon grew to include at least 5000 people. When a force of 400 police officers arrived to try to contain the crowds, they exchanged gunfire with the young protesters and beat and arrested many of them but remained unable to quell the unrest. After six days, the riots ended, leaving 34 dead, 1032 injured, nearly 4000 arrested and $40 million in damage.

After the riots, California Governor Pat Brown convened a commission to identify its roots. In December 1965, the commission released a report entitled Violence in the City – an End or a Beginning?, which concluded that the riots were the culmination of Watts’ black residents’ long-felt dissatisfaction with high unemployment rates, poor housing, and inadequate schools. Despite the commission’s findings, little was done in the following decades to address these inequalities or to rebuild Watts.

 

“The Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) is proud to present A History of Racial Injustice – 2018 Calendar.  America’s history of racial inequality continues to undermine fair treatment, equal justice, and opportunity for many Americans.  The genocide of Native people, the legacy of slavery and racial terror, and the legally supported abuse of racial minorities are not well understood.  EJI believes that a deeper engagement with our nation’s history of racial injustice is important to addressing present-day questions of social justice and equality.

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On this day in American history, August 16, 2006 — Florida Attorney General Names Suspects in 55-Year-Old Civil Rights Murders

Posted on August 16, 2018 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

On the evening of December 25, 1951, a bomb exploded at the Florida home of Harry and Harriette Moore, killing the couple on their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. Harry Moore’s mother and the couple’s daughter were asleep in adjoining rooms but escaped with minor injuries. It was one of a series of bombings in Florida at the time that targeted African Americans, Jews, and Catholics.

The Moores were leading civil rights activists and teachers in Brevard County, Florida. In 1934, they established the first Brevard County branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). With the organization’s support, Harry Moore filed a lawsuit to gain equal pay for black teachers. In 1945, he established the Florida Progressive Voters League, which helped register thousands of black voters in the state. Appointed director of the Florida NAACP a year later, he called for investigations into a number of lynchings throughout the South. The Moores’ deaths were among the first murders of prominent civil rights leaders during the civil rights era and sparked a number of meetings and protests across the nation. No arrests were made.

Nearly fifty-five years later, on August 16, 2006, Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist announced that the state had enough evidence to conclude that Klu Klux Klan member Earl Krooklyn had recruited three other Klan members and used floor plans of the Moore home to orchestrate the bombing. By the time of the announcement, all four suspects were deceased.

“The Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) is proud to present A History of Racial Injustice – 2018 Calendar.  America’s history of racial inequality continues to undermine fair treatment, equal justice, and opportunity for many Americans.  The genocide of Native people, the legacy of slavery and racial terror, and the legally supported abuse of racial minorities are not well understood.  EJI believes that a deeper engagement with our nation’s history of racial injustice is important to addressing present-day questions of social justice and equality.
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