May 10, 1740 — South Carolina Passes Negro Act of 1740

Posted on May 11, 2018 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

On May 10, 1740, the South Carolina Assembly enacted the “Bill for the better ordering and governing of Negroes and other slaves in this province,” also known as the Negro Act of 1740. The law prohibited slaves from growing their own food, learning to read, moving freely, assembling in groups, or earning money. It authorized slave owners to whip and kill rebellious slaves.

South Carolina implemented this act after an unsuccessful 1739 slave revolt called the Stono Rebellion, in which approximately fifty slaves killed between twenty and twenty-five whites. In addition to establishing a racial caste and property system in the colony, the assembly sought to prevent any additional slave rebellions by including provisions that mandated a ratio of one white person for every ten slaves on a plantation. The Negro Act rendered slaves human chattel and revoked all civil rights for persons of color.

The law served as a model for future states such as Georgia, which authorized slavery within its borders in 1750 and enacted its own slave code five years later. In 1865, the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment legally abolished slavery in the United States but the effects of the Negro Act of 1740 and similar laws were felt throughout the country for more than two centuries.

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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May 9, 1961 — Civil Rights Leader John Lewis Assaulted at South Carolina Greyhound Bus Terminal

Posted on May 11, 2018 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

On May 9, 1961, 21-year-old John Lewis, civil rights activist and now United States Congressman from Georgia, was savagely assaulted by a mob at the Rock Hill, South Carolina, Greyhound bus terminal. A few days earlier, John Lewis and twelve Freedom Riders, seven African Americans and six whites, left Washington, D.C., on a Greyhound bus headed to New Orleans. They sat interracially on the bus, planning to test a Supreme Court ruling that made segregation in interstate transportation illegal.

The Freedom Riders rode safely through Virginia and North Carolina, but experienced violence when they stopped at the bus station in Rock Hill, South Carolina, and tried to enter the white waiting room together. Mr. Lewis and two other Riders were brutally attacked before a white police officer, who had been present the entire time, finally intervened. The Freedom Riders responded with nonviolence and decided not to press charges. Nearly 47 years later, Rock Hill Mayor Doug Echols apologized to Mr. Lewis, and in 2009, one of his attackers, former Klansman Elwin Wilson, also apologized. Mr. Lewis has said that he has no ill will toward Rock Hill: “I don’t hold the town any more responsible than those men who beat us, and I saw those men as victims of the same system of segregation and hatred.”

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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May 8, 2009 — Klansmen Burn Cross in African American Neighborhood in Alabama

Posted on May 11, 2018 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

On May 8, 2009, Steven Joshua Dinkle, the former “Exalted Cyclops” of the Ozark, Alabama chapter of the International Keystone Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), and one of his KKK recruits, Thomas Windell Smith, burned a cross in an African-American neighborhood in Ozark in order to scare the neighborhood’s residents. The two men built a wooden cross about six feet tall and drove it over to the entrance of a black neighborhood around 8 P.M. They dug a hole in the ground in view of several houses, then stood the cross upright in the hole and lit it on fire before driving away.

Both men were arrested and pled guilty to conspiracy to violate housing rights. At Dinkle’s plea hearing, he admitted that he burned the cross in order to scare the members of the African-American community in Ozark, and that he was motivated to burn the cross because African-Americans were occupying homes in that area.

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 11, 1868 –Convict Leasing Begins in Georgia

Posted on May 11, 2018 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

After the Civil War, Georgia and other Southern states faced economic uncertainty. Dependent on enslaved black labor that was no longer available after emancipation and ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment, Southern economies struggled to find a new solution. For many, leasing state convicts to labor for private businesses seemed the perfect answer.

Ratified in 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment prohibited involuntary servitude “except as punishment for crime” and seemingly permitted the forced labor of prisoners. At the same time, Southern prison populations had grown greatly following the Civil War, and that increase was disproportionately fueled by newly-emancipated black men and women incarcerated for violating discriminatory Black Codes that criminalized unemployment and vagrancy and severely punished even the most minor thefts.

On May 11, 1868, in the midst of Reconstruction, Georgia Provisional Governor Thomas Ruger leased 100 black prisoners to William A. Fort of the Georgia & Alabama Railroad for one year for $2500 under an agreement that made Mr. Fort responsible for their well-being. Sixteen prisoners died before the end of the contract. Undeterred, Georgia officials expanded the system the following year, leasing all 393 state prisoners to work on another railroad. Over the next several years, convict leasing in Georgia proved both deadly and profitable. The state legislature routinely turned a blind eye to reports of inhumane treatment and even murder and, in 1876, authorized the state to enter into long-term, twenty-year convict leasing contracts valued at $500,000.

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 7, 1955 — Rev. George Lee Fatally Shot After Attempting to Register to Vote in Belzoni, Mississippi

Posted on May 7, 2018 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

Reverend George Lee, co-founder of Belzoni, Mississippi’s NAACP chapter and the first African American to register to vote in Humphreys County since Reconstruction, is considered one of the first martyrs of the Civil Rights Movement. Rev. Lee first moved to Belzoni to preach and had been working to register other African Americans to vote since the NAACP chapter’s 1953 founding; he later served as chapter president. Rev. Lee registered some 100 African American voters in Belzoni, an extraordinary feat considering the significant risk of violent retaliation facing black voters in the Deep South at the time.

Belzoni’s White Citizen’s Council became aware of Rev. Lee’s voter registration efforts and unsuccessfully tried to stop him using threats and intimidation. On the night of May 7, 1955, Rev. Lee was driving home when bullets were fired into the cab of his car, ripping off the lower half of his face. He later died at Humphreys County Medical Center. When NAACP field secretary for Mississippi Medgar Evers came to investigate the death, the county sheriff told him that Rev. Lee had died in a car accident and the lead bullets found in his jaw were dental fillings.

According to FBI records, efforts to bring murder charges against two members of the White Citizen’s Council stalled when the local prosecutor resisted taking the case further. Rev. Lee had an open casket funeral, and the NAACP memorial service held in his honor brought more than 1000 mourners to Belzoni.

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 4, 1992 — Worst of Los Angeles Riots Ends

Posted on May 4, 2018 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

The 1992 Los Angeles Riots erupted on April 29, 1992, after police officers who were videotaped beating Rodney King, a black man, during a traffic stop were acquitted of criminal charges. Initially peaceful protests grew larger and turned violent, as crowds looted from nearby stores, vandalized vehicles, and set fires.

Television news helicopters broadcasted much of the riots, including the violent beating of Reginald Denny, a white truck driver dragged from his vehicle while stopped at an intersection and severely beaten by an angry mob of black residents. Police and 2000 California national guard troops responded to continued unrest, looting, and fires on April 30, but by May 1 order still had not been restored and state officials sought federal help.

On May 1, Rodney King held a press conference urging peace. That evening, President George H.W. Bush gave a national, televised address denouncing the riot’s “random terror and lawlessness” and announcing that he had directed the Justice Department to investigate possible federal prosecution of the acquitted officers. Many national guard and military troops flowed into Los Angeles over the next two days and the violence was mostly under control on May 2 when 30,000 people attended a local peace rally.

Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley lifted the emergency dawn-to-dusk curfew on May 4, 1992, acknowledging the official end of the riots, but scattered violence continued for several days and the city maintained a military presence for weeks. The riots resulted in approximately 58 deaths, more than 3000 buildings destroyed, and upwards of $1 billion 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 3, 1946 — Black Teen Survives Louisiana Electric Chair

Posted on May 3, 2018 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

In 1945, a black sixteen-year-old named Willie Francis was sentenced to death in St. Martinville, Louisiana. Willie was convicted of killing Andrew Thomas, a fifty-three-year-old Cajun pharmacist, and the case revealed many flaws in the state’s justice system: Willie’s jury included no black jurors; his court-appointed attorneys did not present a defense and declined to cross-examine the State’s witnesses; and the State’s case relied on a confession Willie made to police with no lawyer present.

Willie’s conviction was upheld, and his execution went forward on May 3, 1946. But when executioners strapped Willie into “Gruesome Gertie,” the electric chair that had been used to execute twenty-three people, he convulsed and screamed, and did not die. When the sheriff ordered the electricity shut off, Willie was taken back to his cell, spared and hopeful. Reflecting on the experience afterward, Willie wrote:

“I didn’t think about my whole life like at the picture show. Just, ‘Willie, you’re going outta this world in this bad chair.’ Sometimes I thought it so loud it hurt my head and when they put the black bag over my head I was all locked up inside the bag with the loud thinking . . . I felt a burning in my head and my left leg and I jumped against the straps. When the straps kept cutting me I hoped I was alive and I asked the electric man to let me breathe. That’s when they took the bag off my head.”

Within an hour of the failed execution, Louisiana Governor Jimmie Davis ordered the chair fixed and a second try scheduled for one week later. Betrand DeBlanc, a young Cajun lawyer returning from war, took on the boy’s case and challenged the state’s right to try to kill Willie again. Before the United States Supreme Court, Mr. DeBlanc argued that a second electrocution would violate double jeopardy protections and constitute cruel and unusual punishment.

In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court rejected the appeal in Francis v. Resweber in January 1947. On May 9, 1947, at 12:05 p.m., Willie Francis died in Louisiana’s electric chair.

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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May 2, 1963 — Black Children Arrested and Assaulted While Protesting Segregation in Birmingham

Posted on May 2, 2018 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

On May 2, 1963, more than 700 black children protesting racial segregation in Birmingham, Alabama, were arrested, blasted with fire hoses, clubbed by police, and attacked by police dogs. As part of the Children’s Crusade launched by Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) to revive the Birmingham anti-segregation campaign, more than 1000 African American children trained in nonviolent tactics walked out of their classes and assembled at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church to march to downtown Birmingham. Hundreds were arrested and transported to jail in school buses and paddy wagons but the children refused to relent.

On May 3, 1963, hundreds more children began to march. Commissioner of Public Safety Eugene “Bull” Connor directed local police and firemen to attack the children with high-pressure fire hoses, batons, and police dogs. Images of children being brutally assaulted by officers and dogs appeared on television and in newspapers throughout the nation and world, provoking global outrage. The United States Department of Justice soon intervened. The campaign to desegregate Birmingham ended on May 10, 1963, with an agreement that the SCLC would halt demonstrations in exchange for city officials releasing imprisoned protesters and desegregating the city’s downtown stores. The following evening, disgruntled proponents of segregation responded to the agreement with a series of local bombings.

In the wake of the Children’s Crusade, the Birmingham Board of Education announced that all children who participated in the march would be suspended or expelled from school. While the local federal district court upheld the ruling, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed the decision.

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 1, 1863 — Confederate Congress Authorizes Enslavement or Execution of Black Troops

Posted on May 1, 2018 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

On December 24, 1862, Confederate President Jefferson Davis issued orders to the Confederate Army “that all negro slaves captured in arms be at once delivered over to the executive authorities of the respective States to which they belong, to be dealt with according to the law of said States.” A joint resolution adopted by the Confederate Congress and signed by Mr. Davis on May 1, 1863, adjusted this policy to provide that all “negroes or mulattoes, slave or free, taken in arms should be turned over to the authorities in the state in which they were captured and that their officers would be tried by Confederate military tribunals for inciting insurrection and be subject, at the discretion of the court and the president, to the death penalty.”

The treatment of African Americans in Confederate custody varied, depending on location and the capturing commander but atrocities committed against black troops during the Civil War, such as the massacre of surrendering black troops at Fort Pillow, Tennessee, have been well documented.

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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This day in history — April 30, 1992 — Los Angeles Police Officers Acquitted in Rodney King Beating, Sparking Riots

Posted on April 30, 2018 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

In March 1991, Los Angeles, California, police officers stopped Rodney King for driving under the influence and evading arrest and severely beat him with batons, causing broken bones and other significant injuries. A bystander recorded the violent assault on video and public outcry in response to the graphic video led many to demand that the officers face criminal charges. Mr. King, a black man, soon became a polarizing symbol of racialized police brutality.

LAPD Sergeant Stacey Koon and officers Laurence Powell, Timothy Wind, and Theodore Briseno were charged with excessive force and, after a change of venue, were tried in Ventura County. On April 29, 1992, more than a year after the beating, a jury of ten whites, one Latino, and one Asian acquitted Sergeant Koon, Officer Wind, and Officer Briseno, but deadlocked on a charge against Officer Powell. Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley expressed disbelief at the verdict and forcefully declared the officers “did not deserve to wear the uniform of the LAPD.” Thirty minutes after the acquittals, a crowd of 300 began protesting at the Los Angeles County Courthouse. Additional protests at the police department and other locations escalated to looting, vandalism, and violent assaults, including mob beatings of passing motorists.

On April 30, 1992, widespread fires and heavy looting continued throughout Los Angeles. In the absence of police, armed Korean American storekeepers engaged in shootouts with looters. Police and the state national guard organized a response by the afternoon, and Mayor Bradley imposed a city-wide dusk-to-dawn curfew. Several more days of riots lay ahead.

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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