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.

Posted in crime, Justice Chronicles, race, Slavery | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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.

Posted in crime, Justice Chronicles, Lest We Forget, race, raising black boys, Revolution, Streets of Rage, urban decay, Urban Impact | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

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.

Posted in crime, Justice Chronicles, race, raising black boys, Streets of Rage, Urban Impact | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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.

Posted in crime, Justice Chronicles, Lest We Forget, Murder, Slavery | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | Leave a comment

This day in history — April 29, 1963 — United States Supreme Court Outlaws Segregated Courtroom Seating

Posted on April 29, 2018 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

In April 1962, Ford T. Johnson, Jr. appeared in a Richmond, Virginia, city traffic court and was convicted of contempt because he refused to sit in the segregated courtroom’s “Negro” section. Mr. Johnson was unaware of the segregated seating and first sat in a section reserved for whites. When ordered to move, Mr. Johnson refused the judge’s order to re-seat himself in the black section and said he would prefer to stand. He was immediately convicted of contempt and fined ten dollars.

When Mr. Johnson appealed, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled his conviction was “plainly right.” He then appealed to the United States Supreme Court, which agreed to hear the case. The State of Virginia admitted that the Richmond traffic court maintained a segregated seating policy but argued the policy was irrelevant and Mr. Johnson’s contempt conviction was justified because he disobeyed a judge’s order.

The Supreme Court disagreed. Reasoning that one could not be held in contempt for refusing to comply with unconstitutional segregation rules, the Court unanimously overturned Mr. Johnson’s conviction on April 29, 1963, in Johnson v. Virginia. The majority opinion declared that “such a conviction cannot stand, for it is no longer open to question that a State may not constitutionally require segregation of its public facilities.” The decision was lauded by civil rights activists nationwide. The Richmond Afro-American newspaper hailed it as a “ruling against this long injustice practiced in what are supposed to be chambers of impartial justice.”

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.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

This day in history — April 28, 1936 — Lint Shaw Lynched in Georgia Eight Hours Before Trial

Posted on April 28, 2018 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

On April 28, 1936, a 45-year-old black farmer named Lint Shaw was shot to death by a mob of forty men in Colbert, Georgia – just eight hours before he was scheduled to go on trial for an attempted criminal assault. Mr. Shaw was accused of molesting two white women after their car had broken down.

During this era, accusations of “attempted assault” lodged against black men were often based on merely looking at or accidentally bumping into a white woman, smiling, winking, getting too close, or being alone with a white woman in the wrong place. The deep racial hostility permeating Southern society meant that accusations lodged against black people – especially against black men by white women or girls – were rarely subject to serious scrutiny by the police, press, or lynch mobs.

Following his arrest, Mr. Shaw was at constant risk of lynching and was moved multiple times to avoid mob attack. During a transfer to the jail at Danielsville, Georgia, Mr. Shaw was shot twice and rushed to Atlanta for protection and medical attention.

Mr. Shaw survived those injuries and was then returned to Danielsville to await trial, but a threatening mob again led him to be transferred. According to news reports, Superior Judge Berry T. Moseley, a 74-year-old white man, left his sick bed to scold the lynch mob and commanded officers to return Mr. Shaw to jail to await the orderly process of law. Nevertheless, while Mr. Shaw was being transported back to the jail, a group of angry men seized him. The riddled his body with bullets, and tied his corpse to a pine tree near a creek in Colbert, Georgia.

Lint Shaw was one of at least six victims of racial terror lynching killed in Madison County, Georgia, between 1907 and 1936. No one was every prosecuted for his murder.

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.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

This day in History — April 1, 1875 — United States Supreme Court Hears Argument in United States v. Cruikshank and Later Invalidates Convictions for Participating in Colfax, Louisiana Massacre

Posted on April 27, 2018 by William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters

On April 13, 1873, in Colfax, Louisiana, hundreds of white men clashed with freedmen at the Grant Parish courthouse. While only three white men died, it is estimated that nearly 150 black people died in the ensuing struggle – many murdered in cold blood after surrendering.

The massacre was precipitated by the hotly contested 1872 Louisiana gubernatorial election. When a federal judge declared William Kellogg the winner, he began making appointments to fill local parish offices. Meanwhile, Kellogg’s white supremacist opponent John McEnery and his supporters declared McEnery the winner of the election. In the ensuing unrest, black supporters of Kellogg surrounded the Grant Parish courthouse and other municipal buildings in Colfax to protect them from being overtaken by McEnery supporters.

On Easter Sunday, more than 300 armed white men, including members of white supremacist groups, attacked the courthouse building to forcefully remove Kellogg’s black supporters. When the white posse aimed a cannon to fire on the courthouse, some of the sixty black defenders fled; others surrendered then, and more surrendered after the courthouse was set on fire. Many of the men were nevertheless killed as the mob began shooting unarmed members of the militia as they fled.

After the massacre, the federal government indicted over 100 members of the white mob under the Enforcement Act of 1870, a law enacted during Reconstruction to protect newly freed black voters from the terrorist threats of the Ku Klux Klan and other disgruntled white southerners. Only three members of the mob were convicted, and they appealed. In one of the final blows to the Reconstruction era protections, those men were freed when the United States Supreme Court declared that they had been convicted unconstitutionally.

The Supreme Court heard arguments in United States v. Cruikshank on March 31 and April 1, 1875. In its ruling, the Supreme Court dismissed the charges against the three white men, ruling that the Fourteenth Amendment protects only against intentionally discriminatory state acts, not the acts of one citizen towards another not clearly motivated by racial animus. This ruling severely limited the federal government’s role in protecting black citizens from racially-motivated violence, especially at the hands of white terrorist groups intent on restoring whites’ racial dominance in the post-civil war South.

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.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment