On this day in history, May 21, 1961 –National Guard Disperses White Crowd Threatening Freedom Riders in Montgomery, Alabama

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

The Freedom Riders were an interracial group of civil rights activists who began riding interstate buses in 1961 to test Supreme Court decisions that prohibited discrimination in interstate passenger travel. Their efforts were unpopular with whites who supported continued segregation.

On May 20, 1961, Freedom Riders arriving in Montgomery, Alabama, were attacked by a white mob and several suffered serious injury. On the evening of May 21, more than 1000 black residents and civil rights leaders including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth attended a service at Montgomery’s First Baptist Church organized by Rev. Ralph Abernathy to support the Freedom Riders. A white mob surrounded the church and vandalized parked cars. From the church’s basement, Dr. King called United States Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and requested help. United States Marshals soon arrived to dispel the riot; the growing mob pelted them with bricks and bottles. The marshals responded with tear gas.

When police arrived to assist the marshals, the mob broke into smaller groups and overturned cars, attacked black residences with bullets and firebombs, and assaulted black people in the streets. Alabama Governor John Patterson declared martial law in Montgomery and ordered National Guard troops to restore order. Authorities arrested seventeen white rioters and, by midnight, the streets were calm. Only then were those in the church permitted to leave. Three days later, troops escorted the Freedom Riders as they departed to Jackson, Mississippi, where they would face further resistance.

From the Equal Justice Initiative’s A History of Racial Injustice – 2018 Calendar.

“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 history, May 21, 1961 — National Guard Disperses White Crowd Threatening Freedom Riders in Montgomery, Alabama

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

The Freedom Riders were an interracial group of civil rights activists who began riding interstate buses in 1961 to test Supreme Court decisions that prohibited discrimination in interstate passenger travel. Their efforts were unpopular with whites who supported continued segregation.

On May 20, 1961, Freedom Riders arriving in Montgomery, Alabama, were attacked by a white mob and several suffered serious injury. On the evening of May 21, more than 1000 black residents and civil rights leaders including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth attended a service at Montgomery’s First Baptist Church organized by Rev. Ralph Abernathy to support the Freedom Riders. A white mob surrounded the church and vandalized parked cars. From the church’s basement, Dr. King called United States Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and requested help. United States Marshals soon arrived to dispel the riot; the growing mob pelted them with bricks and bottles. The marshals responded with tear gas.

When police arrived to assist the marshals, the mob broke into smaller groups and overturned cars, attacked black residences with bullets and firebombs, and assaulted black people in the streets. Alabama Governor John Patterson declared martial law in Montgomery and ordered National Guard troops to restore order. Authorities arrested seventeen white rioters and, by midnight, the streets were calm. Only then were those in the church permitted to leave. Three days later, troops escorted the Freedom Riders as they departed to Jackson, Mississippi, where they would face further resistance.

From the Equal Justice Initiative’s A History of Racial Injustice – 2018 Calendar.

“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 history, May 20, 1961 — Mob Attacks Freedom Riders in Montgomery, Alabama

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

On May 16, 1961, mob violence in Birmingham, Alabama, threatened to prematurely end the Freedom Ride campaign organized by the Congress on Racial Equality. The Nashville Student Movement, an interracial group of twenty-two college students studying in Tennessee, volunteered to take over the ride and continue through Alabama and Mississippi to New Orleans, Louisiana.

The new Freedom Riders reached Birmingham on May 17 but were arrested and returned to Tennessee by Birmingham police officers under the command of Police Commissioner Eugene “Bull” Connor. Undeterred, the riders and additional reinforcements from Tennessee returned to Birmingham on May 18. Under pressure from the federal government, Alabama Governor John Patterson agreed to authorize state and city police to protect the riders during their journey from Birmingham to Montgomery.

On May 20, 1961, nineteen Freedom Riders arrived in Montgomery. Abandoned by state police at the city limits, the bus continued unescorted to the bus station, anticipating the arrival of city police escorts. But Montgomery Public Safety Commissioner L.B. Sullivan had promised the Ku Klux Klan several minutes to attack the riders without police interference. The riders were met at the bus station by several hundred angry whites armed with baseball bats, hammers, and pipes. Montgomery police watched as the mob first attacked reporters and then turned on the riders. Several were seriously injured, including future United States Congressman John Lewis. John Seigenthaler, an aide to Attorney General Robert Kennedy, was knocked unconscious. Ignored by ambulances, two injured riders were saved by good samaritans who transported them to nearby hospitals.

From the Equal Justice Initiative’s A History of Racial Injustice – 2018 Calendar.

“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 history, May 19, 1994 — Justice Department Sues After Principal Threatens to Cancel Prom Due to Interracial Couples

Posted on May 19, 2018 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

On February 24, 1994, Hulond Humphries, principal of Randolph County High School in Wedowee, Alabama, announced at a student assembly that the school’s prom would be canceled if interracial couples attended. When a biracial student stood and asked whom she was allowed to date, Mr. Humphries reportedly told her that her conception had been a mistake and that he hoped to prevent others from making the same error as her parents. Mr. Humphries’s threat and remarks divided the community along racial lines, with most African American residents calling for his removal and many whites defending his position.

School board members declined to formally investigate the principal’s conduct and parents of African American students at the high school called on the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) to intervene. On May 19, 1994, after several weeks of investigation, DOJ filed a lawsuit against the Randolph County School Board, citing its repeated violation of a racial desegregation order in place since 1970. DOJ’s investigation uncovered a pattern of racial discrimination by school administrators that extended beyond the school’s extracurricular activities into its student disciplinary practices and hiring and promotion decisions.

In January 1995, DOJ settled the case after the school board agreed to address its discriminatory practices and suspended Mr. Humphries from campus for two years. The settlement did not require the school to dismiss Mr. Humphries and, to the dismay of many African American community members, he continued to work as a school district administrator. In July 1997, one month after his suspension ended, Mr. Humphries was elected Superintendent of the Randolph County School Board.

From the Equal Justice Initiative’s A History of Racial Injustice – 2018 Calendar.

“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 history, May 18, 1980 — Protests Continue After Four Police Officers Are Acquitted of Beating Arthur McDuffie

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

On December 17, 1979, Arthur McDuffie, a 33-year-old African American insurance sales representative, was riding a motorcycle when he was signaled to pull over by Metro-Dade Police Department (MDPD) officers in Miami, Florida. Mr. McDuffie did not comply, beginning an eight-mile chase through Miami. After he was apprehended, MDPD officers beat him into a coma. There is no evidence that he physically resisted arrest, and officers later ran over Mr. McDuffie’s motorcycle to make it appear as if he had been in an accident. Mr. McDuffie died four days later. After an autopsy confirmed witness reports that he had been beaten to death, five MDPD officers were charged with manslaughter and evidence tampering.

The incident was heavily covered by Miami’s black news media. High poverty, a 40% black unemployment rate, and an influx of new immigrants from the West Indies already had local racial tensions high. The officers’ trial took place in Tampa after the prosecution obtained a change of venue and lasted six weeks. On May 18, 1980, an all-white jury found the officers not guilty and violence broke out across Miami, sparking nine days of riots more violent than those of the 1960s. The National Guard responded and a state of emergency was declared. The riots left 57 dead, more than 1400 arrested, and $125 million in property damage.

From the Equal Justice Initiative’s A History of Racial Injustice – 2018 Calendar.

“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 history, May 17, 1954 — United States Supreme Court Declares Racial Segregation of Public Schools Unconstitutional

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

The Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education grew out of several cases challenging racial segregation in school districts across America, filed as part of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund’s strategy to bar the practice nationwide. Because the lawsuits addressed the same legal questions, the United States Supreme Court consolidated them under the name of a case in which lead plaintiff, Oliver Brown, sued the Topeka, Kansas, Board of Education on behalf of his daughter, Linda.

A black public school student in Topeka, Kansas, Linda Brown lived blocks from an elementary school but was forced to travel over an hour to reach the all-black school she was designated to attend. When she tried to enroll in the closer neighborhood school, which was all-white, the Board of Education denied her request.

In the United States Supreme Court, NAACP lawyer Thurgood Marshall argued that segregated schools were harmful and left black children with feelings of inferiority. On May 17, 1954, the Court unanimously ruled that segregation in public education is unconstitutional, overturning the “separate but equal” doctrine established by Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896. Relying on evidence of segregated facilities’ negative psychological impact on black children, Chief Justice Earl Warren declared that “in the field of public education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.”

From the Equal Justice Initiative’s A History of Racial Injustice – 2018 Calendar.

“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 history, May 16, 2012 North Carolina Attempts to Compensate Eugenics Victims

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

On May 16, 2012, the North Carolina legislature considered a bill recommending compensation for victims of the state’s forced sterilization program. Beginning in 1933, the Eugenics Board of North Carolina oversaw approximately 7600 forced sterilizations. In contrast with other eugenics programs in the United States, North Carolina’s board enabled county departments of public welfare to petition for sterilization of their clients, including some girls as young as ten. According to board records, approximately 71% of sterilized women were said to be “feeble-minded.” Distinct from the “mental disease” category, the so-called “feeble minded” included many women of color, poor women, and women from large families. Approximately 60% of the women sterilized against their will in North Carolina were African American.

In 1977, the North Carolina General Assembly repealed the laws authorizing the board’s existence and ended the active sterilization program, but the involuntary sterilization laws that underpinned the board’s operations were not repealed until 2003.

Twenty-five years after the sterilizations stopped, North Carolina Governor Michael Easley issued a formal apology to the victims in December 2002. In June 2012, however, the North Carolina Senate refused to support the compensation measure proposed by the House in May 2012 that set aside $10 million ($50,000 per victim) for compensation. The measure would have made North Carolina the first state to compensate eugenics victims.

From the Equal Justice Initiative’s A History of Racial Injustice – 2018 Calendar.

“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 history, May 15, 1916 — Jesse Washington Brutally Lynched in Waco, Texas

Posted on May 15, 2018 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

On May 15, 1916, after an all-white jury convicted Jesse Washington of the murder of a white woman, he was taken from the courtroom and burned alive in front of a mob of 15,000.

When he was accused of killing his employer’s wife, seventeen-year-old Jesse Washington’ greatest fear was being brutally lynched – a common fate for black people accused of wrongdoing at that time, whether guilty or not. After he was promised protection against mob violence, Jesse, who suffered from intellectual disabilities, according to some reports, signed a statement confessing to the murder. On the morning of May 15, 1916, Washington was taken to court, convicted of murder, and sentenced to death in a matter of moments. Shortly before noon, spectators snatched him from the courtroom and dragged him outside, the “promise of protection” quickly forgotten.

The crowd gathered to watch and/or participate in the brutal lynching grew to 15,000. Jesse Washington was chained to a car while members of the mob ripped off his clothes, cut off his ear, and castrated him. The angry mob dragged his body from the courthouse to City Hall and a fire was prepared while several assailants repeatedly stabbed him. When they tied Jesse Washington to the tree underneath the mayor’s window, the lynchers cut off his fingers to prevent him from trying to escape, then repeatedly lowered his lifeless body into the fire. At one point, a participant took a portion of Washington’s torso and dragged it through the streets of Waco. During the lynching, a professional photographer took photos which were later made into postcards.

Following news reports of the lynching, the NAACP hired a special investigator, Elizabeth Freeman. She was able to learn the names of the five mob leaders and also gathered evidence that local law enforcement had done nothing to prevent the lynching. Nevertheless, no one was ever prosecuted for their participation in the lynching of Jesse Washington.

From the Equal Justice Initiative’s A History of Racial Injustice – 2018 Calendar.

“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 history, May 14, 1961 –Freedom Riders Attacked in Anniston, Alabama

Posted on May 14, 2018 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

The Freedom Riders, an interracial group of civil rights activists, began riding interstate buses in 1961 to test Supreme Court decisions that prohibited discrimination in interstate passenger travel. Their efforts were unpopular with whites who supported segregation.

On Mother’s Day, May 14, 1961, a Greyhound bus carrying Freedom Riders arrived at the Anniston, Alabama, bus station shortly after 1:00 p.m. The station was locked shut. A mob of fifty men led by Ku Klux Klan leader William Chapel and armed with pipes, chains, and bats, smashed windows, slashed tires, and dented the sides of the Riders’ bus. Though warned hours earlier that a mob had gathered at the station, local police did not arrive until after the assault had begun.

Once the attack subsided, police pretended to escort the crippled bus to safety, but instead abandoned it at the Anniston city limits. Another armed white mob arrived and the Freedom Riders refused to exit the bus. They received no aid from two highway patrolmen. When a member of the mob tossed a firebomb into a broken window on the bus, others in the mob attempted to trap the passengers inside the burning vehicle by barricading the door but were scared away by fuel tank explosions. The Riders escaped the ensuing flames and smoke through the bus windows and main door, only to be attacked and beaten by the mob outside. After police finally dispersed their attackers, the Freedom Riders received substandard, limited medical care before being evacuated in a convoy organized by Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth.

From the Equal Justice Initiative’s A History of Racial Injustice – 2018 Calendar.

“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 history, May 13, 1956 — Four White Men Kidnap and Rape Black Girl in Tylertown, Mississippi

Posted on May 13, 2018 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

On May 13, 1956, sixteen-year-old Annette Butler of Tylertown, Mississippi, was kidnapped and gang raped by four white men. Ms. Butler and her family reported the assault and the men were arrested, jailed, and tried for the crime – a rarity in Mississippi for white men charged with assaulting black women. Despite a confession, all-white juries refused to convict three of the four defendants, and the fourth was allowed to plead to a reduced charge in exchange for a sentence of twenty years hard labor.

Near dawn on May 13 (Mother’s Day), Ernest Dillon, his brother Ollie, and their cousins Olen and Durora Duncan set out looking for “colored women.” When they found the Butler home where Annette Butler was staying with her mother, Ernest claimed he was a police officer and told Ms. Butler she was under arrest. Ernest then forced her into the car, while another of the four men kept a gun trained on her mother. The men then drove Ms. Butler to the nearby Bogue Chitto swamp and took turns raping her. When the men were finished they left her alone and half-dressed in the woods. She sought help from a group of black fishermen working nearby and they notified the police.

When the men were apprehended, the district attorney charged them with “forcible ravishment and kidnap.” Upon his arrest, Olen Duncan signed a statement admitting his guilt. Judge Tom Brady, a known white supremacist, presided over the trials and appointed Mississippi’s best lawyers to represent the men. The defense attempted to reduce sympathy toward Ms. Butler by accusing her of being a prostitute and presented white witnesses to testify she had a poor reputation.

At that time in Mississippi, the crime of rape was punishable by death or life imprisonment. In order to avoid either of those fates, on March 26, 1957, Ernest Dillon pleaded guilty to assault and later received a sentence of twenty years imprisonment. At sentencing, Judge Brady, a staunch opponent of interracial sexual relations whether consensual or forced, expressed no concern about the crime’s impact on young Ms. Butler but castigated Mr. Dillon for committing a crime that “had brought bitter condemnation on the State of Mississippi.”

None of the other three attackers received prison time for the rape of Annette Butler: Ollie Dillon was permitted to plead solely to a kidnapping charge; Olen Duncan pleaded not guilty despite his confession and was acquitted by an all-white jury; and charges against Durora Duncan, who pleaded not guilty, were thrown out after his trial resulted in a hung jury.

From the Equal Justice Initiative’s A History of Racial Injustice – 2018 Calendar.

“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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