The occurrence of the Duluth Lynchings in 1920 had a big impact, not only on the Duluthians, but people in the surrounding cities. Blacks and Whites were both impacted in different ways based on their position in society. Strong racial hatred and prejudice were already very apparent in society in the early 1900’s making the rape of a White woman by Black men a catalyst to the lynchings. By the reaction of the white Duluthians of the alleged rape of a White woman, the outcome for the Black men was highly anticipated.
In the early 1900’s, “racism was as pervasive as the air we breathed” (Fedo xiii) and played a big role in the everyday lives of a Black person. Racism began predominantly in Southern states, until racial tensions exploded in the
…show more content…
Segregation, racial discrimination, anti-black violence, race riots, lynchings, and the predominance of Whites increased greatly at this time (“Racial Prejudice”). When rumor of an alleged rape of a nineteen year old White woman, Sandra, by six Black men hit the streets in Duluth, Minnesota, the attitudes of the White people in the community quickly turned from tranquil to enraged. As tension between Blacks and Whites at this time were high, the alleged rape caused the Whites to act violently towards the black men accused of raping Sandra. The mob of Whites were so angry with the situation, they believed the best punishment for the Black men was to lynch them. Out of anger, the mob, consisting of thousands of angry Whites, began their push to get into the station and get ahold of the Black suspects the evening of June 15, 1920. The Duluth Police were ordered by William Murnian, the commissioner of …show more content…
Many Blacks were horrified and furious due to the outcome, and decided to leave Duluth. With the departure of those Black citizens, the population of Blacks in Duluth dropped by sixteen percent (MNHS). The Minneapolis journal itself, accused the lynch mob of “putting a stain on the name of Minnesota” because of what they had done (Wikipedia). In the city “there was little talk of the lynchings. Duluth was a city ashamed. It wanted to forget” (Fedo 169). In response to the charges placed on both the Blacks, alleged rapists, and White men, mob leaders, the city believed justice was for Whites only, therefore no one was punished for the killings. Indictments were handed down against nineteen of the mob men on charges ranging from rioting to first- degree murder, but all entered pleas of not guilty and earned release by posting bond. In concluding the trials, three White men, Louis Dondino, Carl Hammerberg, and Gilbert Henry Stephenson were convicted of rioting and sentenced to serve up to five years in jail, and one Black man, Max Mason, was convicted of rape and sentenced to serve thirty years at the state prison in Stillwater. Being that one of the Black men was convicted of the rape, “the infamy was ended, and many were trying to forget it ever happened” (Fedo
Interestingly, the book does not focus solely on the Georgia lynching, but delves into the actual study of the word lynching which was coined by legendary judge Charles B Lynch of Virginia to indicate extra-legal justice meted out to those in the frontier where the rule of law was largely absent. In fact, Wexler continues to analyse how the term lynching began to be used to describe mob violence in the 19th century, when the victim was deemed to have been guilty before being tried by due process in a court of law.
On August 28, 1955, fourteen year old Emmett Till was beaten, tortured and shot. Then with barbed wire wrapped around his neck and tied to a large fan, his body was discarded into the Tallahatchi River. What was young Emmett’s offense that brought on this heinous reaction of two grown white men? When he went into a store to buy some bubblegum he allegedly whistled at a white female store clerk, who happened to be the store owner’s wife. That is the story of the end of Emmett Till’s life. Lynchings, beatings and cross-burning had been happening in the United States for years. But it was not until this young boy suffered an appalling murder in Mississippi that the eyes of a nation were irrevocably opened to the ongoing horrors of racism in the South. It sparked the beginning of a flourish of both national and international media coverage of the Civil Rights violations in America.
Four black sharecroppers (Roger Malcom, Dorothy Malcom, George Dorsey and Mae Murray Dorsey) are brutally murdered by a group of white people. The murders attracted national attention, but the community was not willing to get involved. The community was not fazed by these brutal murders but, by the fact that this incident got national attention. They were even more astounded that the rest of the nation even cared. In this book Laura Wexler shows just how deep racism goes. After reading the book I discovered that Fire in a Canebrake has three major themes involving racism. The first is that racism obstructs progression. The second is history repeats itself. The last theme is that racism can obscure the truth. This lynching, in particular, marks a turning point in the history of race relations and the governments’ involvement in civil rights. In the end this case still remains unsolved. No concept of the
Wexler, Laura. 2003. Fire in a Canebrake: The Last Mass Lynching in America. Scribner; 2004. Print
Southern Horror s: Lynch Law in All Its Phases by Ida B. Wells took me on a journey through our nations violent past. This book voices how strong the practice of lynching is sewn into the fabric of America and expresses the elevated severity of this issue; she also includes pages of graphic stories detailing lynching in the South. Wells examined the many cases of lynching based on “rape of white women” and concluded that rape was just an excuse to shadow white’s real reasons for this type of execution. It was black’s economic progress that threatened white’s ideas about black inferiority. In the South Reconstruction laws often conflicted with real Southern racism. Before I give it to you straight, let me take you on a journey through Ida’s
Franklin Zimring (2003) examines the relationship between the history of lynching and current capital punishment in the United States argueing that the link between them is a vigilante tradition. He adequately shows an association between historical lynchings and modern executions, though this paper will show additional evidence that would help strengthen this argument, but other areas of Zimring’s argument are not as well supported. His attitudinal and behavioral measures of modern vigilantism are insufficient and could easily be interpreted as measuring other concepts. Also missing from Zimring’s analysis is an explanation for the transition of executions from representing government control in the past to executions as representing community control in the present. Finally, I argue that Zimring leaves out any meaningful discussion of the role of race in both past lynchings and modern executions. To support my argument, using recent research, I will show how race has played an important role in both past lynchings and modern executions and how the changing form of racial relations may explain the transition from lynchings to legal executions.
On July 25, 1946, two young black couples- Roger and Dorothy Malcom, George and Mae Murray Dorsey-were killed by a lynch mob at the Moore's Ford Bridge over the Appalachee River connecting Walton and Oconee Counties (Brooks, 1). The four victims were tied up and shot hundreds of times in broad daylight by a mob of unmasked men; murder weapons included rifles, shotguns, pistols, and a machine gun. "Shooting a black person was like shooting a deer," George Dorsey's nephew, George Washington Dorsey said (Suggs C1). It has been over fifty years and this case is still unsolved by police investigators. It is known that there were atleast a dozen men involved in these killings. Included in the four that were known by name was Loy Harrison. Loy Harrison may not have been an obvious suspect to the investigators, but Harrison was the sole perpetrator in the unsolved Moore's Ford Lynching case. The motive appeared to be hatred and the crime hurt the image of the state leaving the town in an outrage due to the injustice that left the victims in unmarked graves (Jordon,31).
Shelby, T. (2002) “Is Racism in the Heart?” In G. L. Bowie, M. W. Michaels, and R. C. Solomon (Eds.), Twenty Questions: An Introduction to Philosophy (479-483). Boston, MA: Wadsworth.
killing of seventeen whites. These blacks were sought out as wrong to many whites, and
The second event, which showed that white Tulsan’s were hostile before the Tulsa Race Riot, was when Roy Belton killed Homer Nida a taxi car drive. On August 21, 1920, Nida was driving two white men and one white woman to a dance in Red Fork. While driving Nida notice something unusual about his passenger. Just before Red Fork, as Scott Ellsworth writes that Nida was clubbed on the head by on of the men with a revolver (30). They got outside of Red Fork were Nida was then shot in the stomach by one of the men in the car. Roy Belton a white former telephone company worker took a rid...
Between 1882 and 1952 Mississippi was the home to 534 reported lynchings’ more than any other state in the nation (Mills, 1992, p. 18). Jim Crow Laws or ‘Black Codes’ allowed for the legalization of racism and enforced a ‘black way’ of life. Throughout the deep-south, especially in rural communities segr...
Lynching was supported by Federal Government through non-sanctions of lynch mobs. Such atrocities kept Black people in check for generations. These brutal acts of terrorism reaffirmed white authority, white identity, and solidified the white community.
Twelve days after the arrest of the men, trial began. Six of the black men denied ever raping the women or to have even seen them, but due to the beatings and assaults taken place in jail three of the men falsely admitted to sexually abusing the two women, Ruby Bates and Victoria Price. The NAACP did not rush to defend the men because they were concerned about what might happen if the boys did indeed turn out to the guilty. The communist rushed to the black men’s side because they saw it as a way to bring in Southern bl...
In the earlier days of the 20th century, racism was largely black and white; today racism has become multicultural and multicolored. The period from 1890 to 1940 is known as the Jim Crow era in the history of prejudice against the African-Americans. Millions were brutalized, killed and frightened to death for voting and taking formal education, during these years. The concept of 'lynching', where the whites openly 'punished' the black population, was a rampant practice. White people would publicly hang black people for petty reasons, all over the country. Up through the middle of the twentieth century, for example, African Americans were denied access to certain public places, including hospitals, universities, and parks and were “granted admi...
Although racism seemed to be lower in Harlem and the Northern states, for many Blacks racism was at an all time high. The Ku Klux Klan reached membership of astronomical proportions. They marched in Washington DC and handed out membership cards bashing minorities. Less educated Blacks, or those who couldn’t make it to Harlem, were often deemed ignorant. There was a barrier built between those Blacks with an education, and those without.