1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:04,040 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:14,120 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hello, and welcome 3 00:00:14,120 --> 00:00:17,080 Speaker 1: to the podcast. I'm Tracy B. Wilson and I'm Holly 4 00:00:17,120 --> 00:00:20,720 Speaker 1: Fry and Tracy. Before we get to the show today, 5 00:00:20,880 --> 00:00:22,920 Speaker 1: we have a little business to talk about an upcoming 6 00:00:23,120 --> 00:00:26,119 Speaker 1: live show. We were lucky enough to be invited to 7 00:00:26,120 --> 00:00:30,640 Speaker 1: participate in Great Conversations at Gettysburg, which is a series 8 00:00:30,680 --> 00:00:33,360 Speaker 1: of programs that they have there that draw on the 9 00:00:33,360 --> 00:00:35,479 Speaker 1: themes of Gettysburg. And that's going to take place on 10 00:00:35,600 --> 00:00:41,800 Speaker 1: June at the rough House History Center and it's free. 11 00:00:41,880 --> 00:00:44,080 Speaker 1: You can just go see us chat. There is cool 12 00:00:44,120 --> 00:00:46,320 Speaker 1: programming going on all day long. That day, we are 13 00:00:46,360 --> 00:00:49,599 Speaker 1: going to have our live podcast, which is called Fearless, 14 00:00:49,640 --> 00:00:53,280 Speaker 1: Feisty and Unflagging the Women of Gettysburg at four pm. 15 00:00:53,360 --> 00:00:56,680 Speaker 1: But if you're up for a day of interesting history, 16 00:00:56,840 --> 00:00:58,720 Speaker 1: there is a lot of other stuff to check out 17 00:00:58,760 --> 00:01:02,120 Speaker 1: that day, so coming see us. Uh So, now to 18 00:01:02,160 --> 00:01:05,959 Speaker 1: the topic at hand. This year is the hundredth anniversary 19 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:09,119 Speaker 1: of the wave of racist violence in the United States 20 00:01:09,120 --> 00:01:10,960 Speaker 1: that came to be known as Red Summer. And we 21 00:01:11,080 --> 00:01:14,920 Speaker 1: talked about this just a little bit in our episode 22 00:01:15,280 --> 00:01:17,800 Speaker 1: on the Harlem hell Fighters. But that was a long 23 00:01:17,840 --> 00:01:20,880 Speaker 1: time ago, and it was just like a little bit 24 00:01:20,959 --> 00:01:23,160 Speaker 1: in part three of the episode, not really enough to 25 00:01:23,200 --> 00:01:26,040 Speaker 1: do it justice. And honestly, it was a whole summer. 26 00:01:26,240 --> 00:01:29,880 Speaker 1: You could do an entire podcast just on this, but 27 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:32,120 Speaker 1: with the Hundreds anniversary, it seemed like a good time 28 00:01:32,160 --> 00:01:35,160 Speaker 1: to return to it. Uh. In a lot of ways, 29 00:01:35,560 --> 00:01:37,759 Speaker 1: the violence of Red Summer was a response to two 30 00:01:37,959 --> 00:01:41,080 Speaker 1: earlier and sometimes overlapping events, and those were the Great 31 00:01:41,120 --> 00:01:44,160 Speaker 1: Migration and the return of Black soldiers who had fought 32 00:01:44,200 --> 00:01:46,440 Speaker 1: in World War One to the United States. And to 33 00:01:46,480 --> 00:01:50,200 Speaker 1: be clear, neither of these things caused Red Summer. Red 34 00:01:50,240 --> 00:01:54,520 Speaker 1: Summer was a backlash to them. These returning veterans and 35 00:01:54,560 --> 00:01:57,560 Speaker 1: migrating families were not to blame for what happened. But 36 00:01:57,600 --> 00:02:00,280 Speaker 1: since this is part of the historical context today's episode, 37 00:02:00,360 --> 00:02:01,800 Speaker 1: is it going to start off with a little bit 38 00:02:01,840 --> 00:02:04,520 Speaker 1: about those two events before getting into the violence that 39 00:02:04,600 --> 00:02:06,960 Speaker 1: stretched the summer and fall. And in case it is 40 00:02:06,960 --> 00:02:10,639 Speaker 1: not clear, this episode includes a lot of violence, including 41 00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:15,200 Speaker 1: sexual violence. Some of it is just particularly horrifying in nature. 42 00:02:16,800 --> 00:02:20,440 Speaker 1: The Great Migration was a mass relocation of Black Americans 43 00:02:20,480 --> 00:02:22,600 Speaker 1: out of the South and into the cities in the 44 00:02:22,639 --> 00:02:25,799 Speaker 1: north and Midwest. It peaked in the mid to late 45 00:02:25,919 --> 00:02:29,680 Speaker 1: nineteen teens, but the same pattern of migration continued for 46 00:02:29,880 --> 00:02:33,640 Speaker 1: decades afterward. There was also a migration within the South 47 00:02:33,800 --> 00:02:37,760 Speaker 1: from rural areas into southern cities. Most of the people 48 00:02:37,760 --> 00:02:41,120 Speaker 1: who were moving had been sharecroppers, doing essentially the same 49 00:02:41,120 --> 00:02:44,280 Speaker 1: work as their enslaved ancestors had done, sometimes even on 50 00:02:44,320 --> 00:02:48,560 Speaker 1: the same land and for the same landowners. Sharecroppers rented 51 00:02:48,560 --> 00:02:50,480 Speaker 1: the land that they lived and worked on, and then 52 00:02:50,480 --> 00:02:52,640 Speaker 1: they paid their rent by giving a share of their 53 00:02:52,680 --> 00:02:56,200 Speaker 1: crop to the landowner. But it was almost impossible to 54 00:02:56,240 --> 00:03:00,000 Speaker 1: make a decent living as a sharecropper. Many sharecroppers were 55 00:03:00,040 --> 00:03:02,720 Speaker 1: in debt to their landlords, owing money for things like 56 00:03:02,760 --> 00:03:05,720 Speaker 1: the tools and supplies that they needed to do their jobs. 57 00:03:06,520 --> 00:03:11,040 Speaker 1: Unscrupulous landlords could make this situation much worse. But even 58 00:03:11,080 --> 00:03:14,480 Speaker 1: if a person's landlord was honest and fair, a sharecropper 59 00:03:14,560 --> 00:03:19,120 Speaker 1: often earned a subsistence level living at best. Sharecroppers faced 60 00:03:19,160 --> 00:03:22,000 Speaker 1: the same threats to their livelihoods as any other farmer did, 61 00:03:22,080 --> 00:03:26,800 Speaker 1: including pests and bad weather and fluctuating prices. The bowl weevil, 62 00:03:26,919 --> 00:03:28,919 Speaker 1: which had been introduced to the United States in the 63 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:32,880 Speaker 1: late eighteen hundreds, spread farther and farther into cotton territory 64 00:03:32,960 --> 00:03:35,680 Speaker 1: in the nineteen teens, destroying the crop as it went, 65 00:03:36,200 --> 00:03:39,600 Speaker 1: and then in nineteen fifteen, widespread flooding affected many of 66 00:03:39,640 --> 00:03:42,680 Speaker 1: the same areas that had just been ravaged by weevils. 67 00:03:43,440 --> 00:03:47,080 Speaker 1: As the Southern economy shifted after the Civil War, white 68 00:03:47,120 --> 00:03:49,600 Speaker 1: farmers had also been caught up in this same system 69 00:03:49,600 --> 00:03:53,320 Speaker 1: of sharecropping. It was exploited regardless of who was doing 70 00:03:53,360 --> 00:03:56,840 Speaker 1: the farming, but the system was stacked most heavily against 71 00:03:56,920 --> 00:04:01,440 Speaker 1: black sharecroppers, who faced the additional hardships of systemic discrimination 72 00:04:01,480 --> 00:04:07,640 Speaker 1: in racism, including segregation, political oppression, and racist violence. In 73 00:04:07,680 --> 00:04:11,400 Speaker 1: the nineteen teens, black Southerners started hearing about new opportunities 74 00:04:11,440 --> 00:04:14,280 Speaker 1: and a potentially better life in the North and the Midwest. 75 00:04:14,800 --> 00:04:18,560 Speaker 1: This included jobs with better wages and better educational opportunities 76 00:04:18,600 --> 00:04:22,000 Speaker 1: for their children. People heard about these opportunities through word 77 00:04:22,040 --> 00:04:24,599 Speaker 1: of mouth from friends or family who had already moved. 78 00:04:25,080 --> 00:04:29,160 Speaker 1: Word also came through advertisements placed by businesses and organizations 79 00:04:29,160 --> 00:04:31,400 Speaker 1: that were hoping to attract new workers to their area. 80 00:04:31,920 --> 00:04:34,240 Speaker 1: After the United States interered World War One, Some of 81 00:04:34,240 --> 00:04:38,200 Speaker 1: these jobs were specifically connected to the war effort. Between 82 00:04:38,279 --> 00:04:42,400 Speaker 1: nineteen fourteen and nineteen twenty, roughly five hundred thousand Black 83 00:04:42,440 --> 00:04:46,120 Speaker 1: Americans left the South and moved to urban areas elsewhere. 84 00:04:46,839 --> 00:04:50,679 Speaker 1: In nineteen twenty, Emmett J. Scott described it this way, quote, 85 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:53,440 Speaker 1: they were in the frame of mind for leaving. They 86 00:04:53,560 --> 00:04:56,560 Speaker 1: left as though they were fleeing some curse. They were 87 00:04:56,560 --> 00:05:00,400 Speaker 1: willing to make almost any sacrifice to obtain a railroad ticket, 88 00:05:00,680 --> 00:05:04,120 Speaker 1: and they left with the intention of staying. This led 89 00:05:04,160 --> 00:05:07,440 Speaker 1: to labor shortages in the South, and sometimes entire communities 90 00:05:07,480 --> 00:05:11,719 Speaker 1: were abandoned. That also dramatically shifted the racial demographics of 91 00:05:11,760 --> 00:05:15,640 Speaker 1: cities like Detroit, Chicago, New York, and Philadelphia. Will be 92 00:05:15,720 --> 00:05:18,720 Speaker 1: returning to that shift in just a bit. The United 93 00:05:18,760 --> 00:05:21,400 Speaker 1: States became involved in World War One as the Great 94 00:05:21,440 --> 00:05:25,000 Speaker 1: Migration was happening, and the war directly affected the nation's 95 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:28,880 Speaker 1: black citizens as well. After the United States declared war 96 00:05:28,960 --> 00:05:32,560 Speaker 1: on Germany in nineteen seventeen, people were eager to enlist 97 00:05:32,600 --> 00:05:36,359 Speaker 1: in the military. This included at least twenty thousand black 98 00:05:36,400 --> 00:05:40,800 Speaker 1: men who volunteered in April and early May. This actually 99 00:05:40,800 --> 00:05:44,320 Speaker 1: presented a problem for the military, though the Marines didn't 100 00:05:44,360 --> 00:05:47,719 Speaker 1: accept black recruits at all. The Navy and the Coast 101 00:05:47,720 --> 00:05:51,880 Speaker 1: Guard technically did, but only in menial roles. So overwhelmingly 102 00:05:51,960 --> 00:05:54,119 Speaker 1: black men were serving in the Army, which at least 103 00:05:54,160 --> 00:05:57,039 Speaker 1: in theory, accepted black men in most areas of the 104 00:05:57,080 --> 00:06:01,000 Speaker 1: service and practice, though the Army was racially segregated, with 105 00:06:01,080 --> 00:06:03,600 Speaker 1: only a very few all black units in existence at 106 00:06:03,640 --> 00:06:06,760 Speaker 1: that time, so after the declaration of war on Germany, 107 00:06:06,800 --> 00:06:09,560 Speaker 1: the Army reached its quota for black recruits in just 108 00:06:09,640 --> 00:06:13,920 Speaker 1: about a week. In May of nineteen seventeen, Congress passed 109 00:06:13,920 --> 00:06:17,680 Speaker 1: the Selective Service Act, which required men regardless of race 110 00:06:17,760 --> 00:06:21,480 Speaker 1: to register for the draft. The Army began creating new 111 00:06:21,520 --> 00:06:24,440 Speaker 1: all black units and trained one class of black officers 112 00:06:24,480 --> 00:06:28,120 Speaker 1: at Fort des Moines in May of nineteen seventeen, sending 113 00:06:28,160 --> 00:06:31,440 Speaker 1: most black officer candidates after that point to train at 114 00:06:31,480 --> 00:06:36,839 Speaker 1: camps in Puerto Rico, the Philippines, Hawaii, or Panama. Ultimately, 115 00:06:36,880 --> 00:06:40,520 Speaker 1: about three hundred seventy thousand black men served in the U. S. 116 00:06:40,640 --> 00:06:44,960 Speaker 1: Army in World War One. These men faced persistent discrimination 117 00:06:45,040 --> 00:06:48,000 Speaker 1: during their service. All black units were often assigned to 118 00:06:48,080 --> 00:06:51,800 Speaker 1: menial work like digging trenches and unloading cargo and removing 119 00:06:51,880 --> 00:06:55,120 Speaker 1: unexploded ordinance. And while it's true that this was all 120 00:06:55,160 --> 00:06:57,520 Speaker 1: work that needed to be done and somebody had to 121 00:06:57,560 --> 00:07:01,800 Speaker 1: do it, disproportionately the people doing in the army's hardest, dirtiest, 122 00:07:01,839 --> 00:07:05,800 Speaker 1: and most degrading work, we're black. Black soldiers also experienced 123 00:07:05,880 --> 00:07:09,560 Speaker 1: day to day harassment and discrimination throughout the war. There's 124 00:07:09,600 --> 00:07:12,120 Speaker 1: more about all this in that past episode about the 125 00:07:12,120 --> 00:07:16,800 Speaker 1: Harlem Hellfighters. Support for participation in the war wasn't universal 126 00:07:16,880 --> 00:07:19,840 Speaker 1: within the black community. One line of thought was that 127 00:07:19,920 --> 00:07:22,080 Speaker 1: it made no sense for people to put their lives 128 00:07:22,160 --> 00:07:25,160 Speaker 1: on the line for a country that at best treated 129 00:07:25,200 --> 00:07:28,960 Speaker 1: them as second class citizens. This was especially true because 130 00:07:28,960 --> 00:07:31,880 Speaker 1: the United States had framed its involvement in the war 131 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:35,239 Speaker 1: as making the world safe for democracy, so it seemed 132 00:07:35,280 --> 00:07:37,920 Speaker 1: hypocritical to fight for a country that was refusing to 133 00:07:37,960 --> 00:07:41,440 Speaker 1: do the same within its own borders. But many civil 134 00:07:41,520 --> 00:07:45,040 Speaker 1: rights leaders and organizations really took the opposite stance, arguing 135 00:07:45,080 --> 00:07:47,680 Speaker 1: that this was a chance for black citizens to demonstrate 136 00:07:47,720 --> 00:07:49,800 Speaker 1: to the rest of the nation that they were human 137 00:07:49,840 --> 00:07:53,320 Speaker 1: beings and patriots worthy of respect who were actively making 138 00:07:53,360 --> 00:07:57,760 Speaker 1: a positive contribution to the nation. The experience of military 139 00:07:57,800 --> 00:08:00,520 Speaker 1: service during the war motivated many of these soldiers to 140 00:08:00,560 --> 00:08:04,880 Speaker 1: actively fight for equal rights after they returned home. W E. B. 141 00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:07,280 Speaker 1: Du Boys described it this way in the in double 142 00:08:07,320 --> 00:08:11,160 Speaker 1: a CPS magazine, The Crisis. Quote we are returning from 143 00:08:11,160 --> 00:08:14,400 Speaker 1: war the Crisis, and tens of thousands of Black men 144 00:08:14,440 --> 00:08:18,160 Speaker 1: were drafted into a great struggle for bleeding France and 145 00:08:18,200 --> 00:08:20,640 Speaker 1: what she means and has meant and will mean to 146 00:08:20,800 --> 00:08:24,400 Speaker 1: us and humanity, and against the threat of German race arrogance. 147 00:08:24,640 --> 00:08:27,880 Speaker 1: We fought gladly into the last drop of blood for 148 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:31,320 Speaker 1: America and her highest ideals. We fought in far off 149 00:08:31,360 --> 00:08:35,680 Speaker 1: hope for the dominant Southern oligarchy entrenched in Washington. We 150 00:08:35,840 --> 00:08:40,000 Speaker 1: fought in bitter resignation. And the sedatorial Boys went on 151 00:08:40,120 --> 00:08:43,720 Speaker 1: to describe the United States as a shameful land, saying 152 00:08:43,760 --> 00:08:47,960 Speaker 1: that it lynches and disenfranchises at citizens, encourages ignorance, and 153 00:08:48,080 --> 00:08:52,320 Speaker 1: steals from and insults Black citizens. He concluded by saying, 154 00:08:52,400 --> 00:08:57,160 Speaker 1: quote we return, we return from fighting. We return fighting 155 00:08:57,600 --> 00:09:01,040 Speaker 1: make way for democracy. We saved in France, and by 156 00:09:01,080 --> 00:09:03,360 Speaker 1: the Great Jehovah, we will save it in the United 157 00:09:03,400 --> 00:09:08,160 Speaker 1: States of America. Or know the reason why. James Weldon Johnson, 158 00:09:08,240 --> 00:09:11,280 Speaker 1: who coined the term. Read Summer described it this way 159 00:09:11,320 --> 00:09:15,199 Speaker 1: in his nineteen thirty three autobiography quote, the colored people 160 00:09:15,240 --> 00:09:19,319 Speaker 1: throughout the country were disheartened and dismayed. The great majority 161 00:09:19,400 --> 00:09:22,520 Speaker 1: had trusting lye felt that because they had cheerfully done 162 00:09:22,520 --> 00:09:25,400 Speaker 1: their bit in the war, conditions for them would be better. 163 00:09:26,040 --> 00:09:29,959 Speaker 1: The reverse seemed to be true. Earlier civil rights advocacy 164 00:09:30,040 --> 00:09:33,680 Speaker 1: had tended toward a conciliatory approach, but after the war, 165 00:09:33,800 --> 00:09:36,920 Speaker 1: du Boys and other civil rights leaders were increasingly direct, 166 00:09:37,040 --> 00:09:40,480 Speaker 1: lobbying very aggressively for equal rights legislation and for anti 167 00:09:40,600 --> 00:09:44,280 Speaker 1: lynching laws. This advocacy became part of what came to 168 00:09:44,280 --> 00:09:46,640 Speaker 1: be known as the New Negro movement, which was rooted 169 00:09:46,640 --> 00:09:49,600 Speaker 1: in assertiveness and confidence and was also connected to the 170 00:09:49,600 --> 00:09:53,760 Speaker 1: Harlem Renaissance. Membership in the Double a CP really surged 171 00:09:53,800 --> 00:09:56,800 Speaker 1: from about nine thousand members before the war to a 172 00:09:56,920 --> 00:10:02,120 Speaker 1: hundred thousand afterward. Compounding, many of the people who moved 173 00:10:02,160 --> 00:10:04,320 Speaker 1: from the South did not find the North to be 174 00:10:04,400 --> 00:10:08,200 Speaker 1: what they imagined it to be. Many schools, neighborhoods, and 175 00:10:08,240 --> 00:10:12,480 Speaker 1: public accommodations were still segregated by custom, if not by law. 176 00:10:13,320 --> 00:10:16,000 Speaker 1: Many industries were closed to black workers, and many of 177 00:10:16,040 --> 00:10:19,280 Speaker 1: the ones that weren't involved manual labor or service work. 178 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:23,640 Speaker 1: Discrimination and harassment may have been less overt in some ways, 179 00:10:24,080 --> 00:10:27,440 Speaker 1: but they were still there. All of this folded back 180 00:10:27,480 --> 00:10:31,080 Speaker 1: into that growing advocacy for equal rights and equal treatment. 181 00:10:32,120 --> 00:10:35,880 Speaker 1: So it was a whole system in which people who 182 00:10:35,920 --> 00:10:38,400 Speaker 1: had moved, or people who had come back from war, 183 00:10:38,559 --> 00:10:40,600 Speaker 1: or people who had done both of those things were 184 00:10:40,640 --> 00:10:45,240 Speaker 1: finding themselves still facing all of this discrimination. And then simultaneously, 185 00:10:45,320 --> 00:10:47,720 Speaker 1: people of all races in the United States were competing 186 00:10:47,760 --> 00:10:51,400 Speaker 1: for scarce jobs and housing. Immediately after the war, the 187 00:10:51,480 --> 00:10:54,200 Speaker 1: first Red Scare was going on, and that created a 188 00:10:54,200 --> 00:10:58,640 Speaker 1: climate of fear of communism and Bolshevism. Also, immediately after 189 00:10:58,679 --> 00:11:01,960 Speaker 1: the war, the nation was very nationalistic and xenophobic, and 190 00:11:02,080 --> 00:11:05,280 Speaker 1: all of this together fed into this backlash that came 191 00:11:05,280 --> 00:11:07,880 Speaker 1: to be known as Red Summer. We'll start talking about 192 00:11:07,920 --> 00:11:16,840 Speaker 1: how it unfolded after a sponsor break. The two main 193 00:11:16,920 --> 00:11:21,040 Speaker 1: hallmarks of Red Summer were lynching and mass violence against 194 00:11:21,120 --> 00:11:23,880 Speaker 1: whole communities of black residents, which were often described as 195 00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:28,120 Speaker 1: race riots. These weren't unique to nineteen nineteen. The same 196 00:11:28,200 --> 00:11:31,480 Speaker 1: types of violence happened before and after Red Summer, but 197 00:11:31,640 --> 00:11:34,720 Speaker 1: during that summer and fall of nineteen nineteen both were 198 00:11:34,800 --> 00:11:37,679 Speaker 1: really at a peak, and although the great migration that 199 00:11:37,720 --> 00:11:40,319 Speaker 1: we just talked about was from the South into urban 200 00:11:40,360 --> 00:11:43,600 Speaker 1: parts of the North and Midwest, these incidents happened all 201 00:11:43,600 --> 00:11:47,880 Speaker 1: over the country. However, details are hard to track down 202 00:11:47,920 --> 00:11:51,160 Speaker 1: for some of these incidents today. At the time, they 203 00:11:51,160 --> 00:11:54,600 Speaker 1: were often reported in both black and white newspapers, although 204 00:11:54,640 --> 00:11:58,920 Speaker 1: with completely different interpretations of the events. The Double a 205 00:11:58,960 --> 00:12:03,040 Speaker 1: c P and other civil rights organizations also conducted investigations 206 00:12:03,080 --> 00:12:06,200 Speaker 1: into as many of them as they could, but often 207 00:12:06,240 --> 00:12:09,559 Speaker 1: there was no formal investigation by law enforcement and no 208 00:12:09,679 --> 00:12:14,040 Speaker 1: official record of what actually happened, especially when it came 209 00:12:14,080 --> 00:12:19,120 Speaker 1: to mob violence. Some communities conducted investigations later on or 210 00:12:19,160 --> 00:12:23,200 Speaker 1: convened truth and reconciliation commissions to document what happened and 211 00:12:23,240 --> 00:12:27,840 Speaker 1: make recommendations for restitution, but in cases where that didn't happen, 212 00:12:27,960 --> 00:12:30,680 Speaker 1: at this point, the people who remember the events have 213 00:12:30,760 --> 00:12:35,200 Speaker 1: since died, so many details are lost. So we're going 214 00:12:35,240 --> 00:12:38,719 Speaker 1: to start with this pattern of lynching. A lynching is 215 00:12:38,760 --> 00:12:41,640 Speaker 1: an extra judicial murder of someone who has been accused 216 00:12:41,640 --> 00:12:45,280 Speaker 1: of a crime or some of their perceived wrongdoing. Anyone 217 00:12:45,320 --> 00:12:47,840 Speaker 1: can be the victim of lynching, Although most often in 218 00:12:47,840 --> 00:12:51,360 Speaker 1: the United States, lynching victims have been members of a racial, ethnic, 219 00:12:51,400 --> 00:12:54,240 Speaker 1: or religious minority. In the United States, in the early 220 00:12:54,280 --> 00:12:57,800 Speaker 1: twentieth century, most victims of lynching were black Americans or 221 00:12:57,920 --> 00:13:01,160 Speaker 1: white Americans who had been working for civil rights. In 222 00:13:01,280 --> 00:13:05,160 Speaker 1: nineteen nineteen, there were eighty three recorded victims of lynching, 223 00:13:05,520 --> 00:13:08,920 Speaker 1: at least eleven of whom were veterans of World War One. 224 00:13:09,240 --> 00:13:14,360 Speaker 1: That was up from sixty four in nineteen eighteen. Victims 225 00:13:14,360 --> 00:13:17,160 Speaker 1: of lynching had often been accused of a crime against 226 00:13:17,200 --> 00:13:21,160 Speaker 1: a white person, especially a white woman. Sometimes a crime 227 00:13:21,200 --> 00:13:24,480 Speaker 1: really had taken place, but in other cases the allegations 228 00:13:24,679 --> 00:13:29,720 Speaker 1: were completely fabricated. Regardless of whether anyone had committed a crime, 229 00:13:29,800 --> 00:13:33,640 Speaker 1: the idea of a crime was used as justification for murder. 230 00:13:34,120 --> 00:13:36,559 Speaker 1: It was often the idea of a white woman having 231 00:13:36,600 --> 00:13:40,000 Speaker 1: been allegedly assaulted by a black man, something we talked 232 00:13:40,040 --> 00:13:42,559 Speaker 1: more about in our two parter on the eight ninety 233 00:13:42,600 --> 00:13:46,360 Speaker 1: eight Wilmington's Coup and one of Red Summer's first incidents, 234 00:13:46,720 --> 00:13:50,240 Speaker 1: a black man named Benny Richards allegedly shot his ex 235 00:13:50,240 --> 00:13:53,760 Speaker 1: wife and her sister on May second, nineteen nineteen. His 236 00:13:53,840 --> 00:13:57,240 Speaker 1: ex wife died and Richards also allegedly wounded the sheriff 237 00:13:57,240 --> 00:14:00,560 Speaker 1: and other white men who arrived on the scene. We 238 00:14:00,679 --> 00:14:05,120 Speaker 1: have to say allegedly because Richards was not brought to trial. Instead, 239 00:14:05,160 --> 00:14:07,960 Speaker 1: a mob of between one hundred and three hundred white 240 00:14:08,040 --> 00:14:11,880 Speaker 1: men apprehended him, in part by dumping gasoline into the 241 00:14:11,920 --> 00:14:15,320 Speaker 1: swampy area surrounding his home and setting fire to it 242 00:14:15,400 --> 00:14:18,720 Speaker 1: to try to drive him out. After they captured Richards, 243 00:14:18,720 --> 00:14:21,680 Speaker 1: the mob hanged him, shot his body, and set it 244 00:14:21,720 --> 00:14:25,920 Speaker 1: on fire. This was not a remotely isolated incident, and 245 00:14:25,960 --> 00:14:28,440 Speaker 1: it was part of a pattern in terms of what 246 00:14:28,560 --> 00:14:32,880 Speaker 1: happened and how it played out. On May fourteenth and Vicksburg, Mississippi, 247 00:14:32,960 --> 00:14:35,640 Speaker 1: a mob of between eight hundred and one thousand people 248 00:14:35,680 --> 00:14:38,520 Speaker 1: broke into the jail and took twenty two year old 249 00:14:38,560 --> 00:14:42,040 Speaker 1: Lloyd Clay out of his cell. Clay had been accused 250 00:14:42,080 --> 00:14:45,320 Speaker 1: of assaulting a white woman named Maddie Hudson. She had 251 00:14:45,360 --> 00:14:48,160 Speaker 1: been presented with a lineup earlier in the day, and 252 00:14:48,240 --> 00:14:50,520 Speaker 1: two different times she had said that Clay was not 253 00:14:50,640 --> 00:14:54,040 Speaker 1: the man who assaulted her, but after the mob removed 254 00:14:54,120 --> 00:14:56,600 Speaker 1: him from his cell, they asked her one more time 255 00:14:56,680 --> 00:15:00,800 Speaker 1: to identify him as her assailant, and she did. The 256 00:15:00,880 --> 00:15:04,200 Speaker 1: mob poured oil over Clay's head and hanged him over 257 00:15:04,240 --> 00:15:10,280 Speaker 1: a bonfire while also shooting him repeatedly. On May seventy, 258 00:15:10,320 --> 00:15:13,600 Speaker 1: two year old Berry Washington was in jail in Milan, Georgia. 259 00:15:14,440 --> 00:15:17,800 Speaker 1: Two white men had reportedly come into his neighborhood and 260 00:15:17,840 --> 00:15:22,040 Speaker 1: tried to assault two teenage girls. Washington had tried to 261 00:15:22,080 --> 00:15:24,200 Speaker 1: defend them and had killed one of the men in 262 00:15:24,240 --> 00:15:28,160 Speaker 1: the process. A local Baptist minister led a mob of 263 00:15:28,240 --> 00:15:31,960 Speaker 1: roughly one white men who abducted Washington from the jail, 264 00:15:32,400 --> 00:15:36,240 Speaker 1: hanged him, and shot him repeatedly. The mob then terrorized 265 00:15:36,280 --> 00:15:40,640 Speaker 1: the area's black residents and looted black owned businesses. On 266 00:15:40,800 --> 00:15:45,760 Speaker 1: June sevente a white mob in Longview, Texas, murdered Lemuel Walters. 267 00:15:46,280 --> 00:15:49,520 Speaker 1: According to reports in white newspapers, he had robbed the 268 00:15:49,560 --> 00:15:52,280 Speaker 1: home of a white woman and assaulted her, but according 269 00:15:52,320 --> 00:15:55,200 Speaker 1: to an article in The Chicago Defender, Walters and this 270 00:15:55,240 --> 00:15:58,680 Speaker 1: woman had been having a consensual relationship. There was a 271 00:15:58,880 --> 00:16:02,360 Speaker 1: riot in long View shortly thereafter, which started with a 272 00:16:02,400 --> 00:16:05,680 Speaker 1: white mob assaulting a black journalist that they believed had 273 00:16:05,720 --> 00:16:08,960 Speaker 1: written this article in the Chicago Defender, and then burning 274 00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:13,880 Speaker 1: down his home. On June, a mob lynched John Hartfield 275 00:16:13,880 --> 00:16:17,280 Speaker 1: of Ellisville, Mississippi, on the grounds that he had, according 276 00:16:17,320 --> 00:16:20,960 Speaker 1: to them, raped a white woman. His family members and 277 00:16:21,040 --> 00:16:24,800 Speaker 1: friends maintained that it was because he had a white girlfriend. 278 00:16:24,840 --> 00:16:27,760 Speaker 1: This lynching was announced ahead of time on the front 279 00:16:27,760 --> 00:16:31,080 Speaker 1: page of the Jackson Daily News under the headline John 280 00:16:31,080 --> 00:16:34,640 Speaker 1: Hartsfield will be lynched by Ellisville mob. At five o'clock 281 00:16:34,680 --> 00:16:39,800 Speaker 1: this afternoon. On August, a mob dragged Eli Cooper out 282 00:16:39,800 --> 00:16:43,360 Speaker 1: of his home in Caldwell, Georgia. This mob's rationale is 283 00:16:43,440 --> 00:16:45,920 Speaker 1: not clear. In some accounts, he had made a pass 284 00:16:45,960 --> 00:16:48,240 Speaker 1: at a white woman, and others she had made a 285 00:16:48,240 --> 00:16:51,600 Speaker 1: pass at him. A newspaper report from the time said quote, 286 00:16:51,600 --> 00:16:54,200 Speaker 1: he had been talking for some time in a manner 287 00:16:54,240 --> 00:16:56,440 Speaker 1: that was very offensive to the white people of the 288 00:16:56,480 --> 00:16:59,560 Speaker 1: community in which he resided. He was either hanged or 289 00:16:59,640 --> 00:17:01,800 Speaker 1: shot in a church, and then his body was set 290 00:17:01,840 --> 00:17:05,240 Speaker 1: on fire. A few days later, a mob in Bogaloosa, 291 00:17:05,280 --> 00:17:09,320 Speaker 1: Louisiana killed veteran Lucius McCarty, who had been accused of 292 00:17:09,320 --> 00:17:12,960 Speaker 1: trying to rape a white woman. His assailants shot him 293 00:17:13,040 --> 00:17:16,320 Speaker 1: hundreds of times before dragging him behind a car and 294 00:17:16,359 --> 00:17:20,680 Speaker 1: burning his body. On September twenty nine, and thirty three 295 00:17:20,680 --> 00:17:23,560 Speaker 1: black men were lynched in Montgomery, Alabama, over the span 296 00:17:23,560 --> 00:17:27,679 Speaker 1: of about twelve hours. A mob abducted Rayleius Phifer and 297 00:17:27,760 --> 00:17:30,760 Speaker 1: Robert Crosskey as they were being transported to jail after 298 00:17:30,800 --> 00:17:33,680 Speaker 1: being accused of assaulting a white woman. Phifer was a 299 00:17:33,760 --> 00:17:37,280 Speaker 1: veteran and was reportedly in uniform at the time. The 300 00:17:37,320 --> 00:17:39,720 Speaker 1: mob shot both Phifer and cross Key, and then, in 301 00:17:39,720 --> 00:17:43,600 Speaker 1: a separate incident, an officer tried to arrest Will Temple 302 00:17:43,640 --> 00:17:47,439 Speaker 1: and two other people for disorderly conduct. Temple resisted arrest, 303 00:17:47,560 --> 00:17:51,040 Speaker 1: fatally shooting the officer and being injured himself in the process. 304 00:17:51,480 --> 00:17:55,720 Speaker 1: A mob murdered him in his hospital ward. And these 305 00:17:55,720 --> 00:17:58,960 Speaker 1: are of course just samples from the eight three recorded 306 00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:01,520 Speaker 1: lynchings in the sum Are in fall of nineteen nineteen, 307 00:18:02,040 --> 00:18:05,359 Speaker 1: and there were certainly others that were not recorded. And 308 00:18:05,400 --> 00:18:07,919 Speaker 1: the reason none of the perpetrators are named is that 309 00:18:08,040 --> 00:18:11,679 Speaker 1: overwhelmingly we do not know who they were. It was 310 00:18:11,720 --> 00:18:14,640 Speaker 1: incredibly rare for the perpetrators of lynching to face any 311 00:18:14,720 --> 00:18:18,880 Speaker 1: kind of criminal charges. Sometimes members of law enforcement were 312 00:18:18,920 --> 00:18:23,040 Speaker 1: even part of the lynch mob. Occasionally law enforcement offered 313 00:18:23,040 --> 00:18:26,800 Speaker 1: a reward for information, or tried to arrest perpetrators, but 314 00:18:26,880 --> 00:18:31,919 Speaker 1: when that happened, the white community often reacted with outrage. Afterward, 315 00:18:32,040 --> 00:18:34,760 Speaker 1: members of the mob frequently took souvenirs with them from 316 00:18:34,760 --> 00:18:37,760 Speaker 1: the scene, as well as taking photos which were later 317 00:18:37,800 --> 00:18:41,920 Speaker 1: distributed as postcards. These were also not just some random, 318 00:18:42,000 --> 00:18:45,240 Speaker 1: haphazard actions. They were part of a pattern of really 319 00:18:45,280 --> 00:18:48,720 Speaker 1: gruesome racist violence committed by the white community in order 320 00:18:48,760 --> 00:18:52,760 Speaker 1: to terrorize, punish, and humiliate the black community and in 321 00:18:52,800 --> 00:18:55,639 Speaker 1: the minds of the perpetrators quote, keep them in their place. 322 00:18:56,320 --> 00:18:58,760 Speaker 1: The same was true of nine nineteen riots, which we 323 00:18:58,800 --> 00:19:09,359 Speaker 1: will talk about after break. The other major hallmark of 324 00:19:09,400 --> 00:19:13,480 Speaker 1: Red Summer was mass violence perpetrated by white mobs against 325 00:19:13,480 --> 00:19:16,320 Speaker 1: black people and the neighborhoods where they lived and worked. 326 00:19:16,880 --> 00:19:19,960 Speaker 1: These incidents are often described as race riots, and that's 327 00:19:19,960 --> 00:19:23,360 Speaker 1: a term whose meaning has shifted in various ways over 328 00:19:23,400 --> 00:19:26,040 Speaker 1: the decades. But to many people, that suggests that people 329 00:19:26,080 --> 00:19:29,000 Speaker 1: of two or more races were fighting against each other 330 00:19:29,160 --> 00:19:32,520 Speaker 1: as equal aggressors, and that's really not what was happening 331 00:19:32,600 --> 00:19:36,360 Speaker 1: during Red Summer. Often black communities did try to defend 332 00:19:36,440 --> 00:19:40,280 Speaker 1: themselves or fight back, and occasionally black residents went on 333 00:19:40,480 --> 00:19:44,520 Speaker 1: the attack themselves, but overwhelmingly, even when this happened, the 334 00:19:44,640 --> 00:19:49,080 Speaker 1: primary instigators were the white mob. As was the case 335 00:19:49,119 --> 00:19:52,479 Speaker 1: with lynchings, these riots often followed some kind of crime 336 00:19:52,680 --> 00:19:56,480 Speaker 1: or wrongdoing allegedly committed by a black person, usually a 337 00:19:56,480 --> 00:20:00,600 Speaker 1: black man, But often these criminal allegations were complete, lee false, 338 00:20:00,840 --> 00:20:03,360 Speaker 1: or the response from the white community was way out 339 00:20:03,400 --> 00:20:06,720 Speaker 1: of proportion to what it really happened, and in some 340 00:20:06,800 --> 00:20:10,240 Speaker 1: cases the perceived wrongdoing wasn't a criminal act at all. 341 00:20:10,840 --> 00:20:13,960 Speaker 1: In Port Arthur, Texas, a riot followed objections to a 342 00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:16,840 Speaker 1: black man smoking in a street car in front of 343 00:20:16,840 --> 00:20:21,320 Speaker 1: a white woman. In multiple instances, the purported transgression was 344 00:20:21,359 --> 00:20:25,320 Speaker 1: black veterans appearing in public in their uniforms. In one 345 00:20:25,320 --> 00:20:27,000 Speaker 1: of the incidents that we're going to talk about in 346 00:20:27,000 --> 00:20:30,119 Speaker 1: a moment, it was a response to sharecroppers trying to 347 00:20:30,240 --> 00:20:34,680 Speaker 1: organize for fairer treatment. There were at least twenty six 348 00:20:34,840 --> 00:20:40,200 Speaker 1: documented examples of these riots between April and November. You'll 349 00:20:40,200 --> 00:20:43,320 Speaker 1: see numbers that ranged from like twenty four to thirty. 350 00:20:43,359 --> 00:20:46,440 Speaker 1: It kind of depends on how people are defining the 351 00:20:46,480 --> 00:20:50,840 Speaker 1: window of time and exactly what constitutes a riot. They 352 00:20:50,880 --> 00:20:59,840 Speaker 1: definitely occurred in Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Nebraska, 353 00:21:00,040 --> 00:21:05,920 Speaker 1: New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Washington, 354 00:21:06,040 --> 00:21:09,119 Speaker 1: d C. And we're going to talk about three of 355 00:21:09,160 --> 00:21:12,800 Speaker 1: the most notorious. They have a lot of similarities, but 356 00:21:12,880 --> 00:21:17,920 Speaker 1: they also illustrate the range of purported causes. Riots in Washington, 357 00:21:18,040 --> 00:21:20,840 Speaker 1: d C. Followed rumors of an attack on a white woman, 358 00:21:20,920 --> 00:21:25,440 Speaker 1: and we're largely carried out by soldiers and veterans. In Chicago, Illinois, 359 00:21:25,680 --> 00:21:29,520 Speaker 1: riots followed a breach of the city's unofficial rules about segregation. 360 00:21:30,240 --> 00:21:34,800 Speaker 1: And in Elane, Arkansas, they followed black sharecroppers attempts to organize. 361 00:21:35,320 --> 00:21:38,800 Speaker 1: We will go chronologically, starting with the Washington d C Riot, 362 00:21:38,840 --> 00:21:42,840 Speaker 1: which started on July nineteenth, nineteen nineteen. A black man 363 00:21:42,920 --> 00:21:45,520 Speaker 1: had been detained and then released by Washington d C 364 00:21:45,680 --> 00:21:48,440 Speaker 1: Police under suspicion that he hit assaulted a white woman. 365 00:21:49,280 --> 00:21:52,600 Speaker 1: The woman was a sailor's wife, which led servicemen, sailors, 366 00:21:52,600 --> 00:21:56,520 Speaker 1: and veterans to try to seek revenge. Rumors about this 367 00:21:56,600 --> 00:22:00,200 Speaker 1: incident spread through the city saloons and pool halls, which 368 00:22:00,200 --> 00:22:04,359 Speaker 1: were a popular hangout for returning veterans. Unemployment was a 369 00:22:04,440 --> 00:22:07,760 Speaker 1: real issue, so as the rumors swirled, the people who 370 00:22:07,800 --> 00:22:13,439 Speaker 1: heard them were mostly unemployed, intoxicated, and frustrated. Ultimately, a 371 00:22:13,560 --> 00:22:16,640 Speaker 1: mob of about four hundred men, many of them drunk, 372 00:22:16,920 --> 00:22:21,640 Speaker 1: made their way southwest into Washington's majority black neighborhoods, gathering 373 00:22:21,760 --> 00:22:24,600 Speaker 1: up improvised weapons as they went, and some of them 374 00:22:24,600 --> 00:22:29,240 Speaker 1: were still in uniform. This mob attacked black residents indiscriminately, 375 00:22:29,359 --> 00:22:32,639 Speaker 1: and police really did very little to respond. When local 376 00:22:32,720 --> 00:22:36,399 Speaker 1: law enforcement did arrive, they mostly arrested the mob's black 377 00:22:36,520 --> 00:22:40,679 Speaker 1: victims rather than the white perpetrators. This first day of 378 00:22:40,760 --> 00:22:43,920 Speaker 1: street fighting bled into more than four days of rioting, 379 00:22:44,320 --> 00:22:47,280 Speaker 1: with mobs of soldiers and sailors attacking people on the 380 00:22:47,359 --> 00:22:51,760 Speaker 1: street and black residents fighting back. More than one fifty 381 00:22:51,760 --> 00:22:54,639 Speaker 1: people were physically attacked and at least nine people died 382 00:22:54,760 --> 00:22:58,360 Speaker 1: during the initial wave of fighting, but the situation quickly 383 00:22:58,400 --> 00:23:01,639 Speaker 1: got worse. More than five hundred firearms were sold in 384 00:23:01,680 --> 00:23:05,160 Speaker 1: the city on July twenty one, as black residents took 385 00:23:05,240 --> 00:23:08,560 Speaker 1: up arms to defend themselves because the police were not 386 00:23:09,080 --> 00:23:12,120 Speaker 1: or in some cases to seek restitution for the earlier violence. 387 00:23:12,640 --> 00:23:15,679 Speaker 1: At least fifteen people were killed or mortally wounded just 388 00:23:15,920 --> 00:23:18,520 Speaker 1: on the night of the twenty one ten white and 389 00:23:18,680 --> 00:23:23,320 Speaker 1: five black President Woodrow Wilson finally deployed about two thousand 390 00:23:23,320 --> 00:23:27,080 Speaker 1: troops to try to restore order. By that point, though, 391 00:23:27,080 --> 00:23:29,960 Speaker 1: the city had become so violent that people really thought 392 00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:32,800 Speaker 1: that might not be enough, But the troops got help 393 00:23:32,840 --> 00:23:34,960 Speaker 1: from a heavy rain storm that drove many of the 394 00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:38,879 Speaker 1: people who had been fighting back indoors. The riot ended 395 00:23:38,920 --> 00:23:41,600 Speaker 1: on May twenty four, by which point close to forty 396 00:23:41,640 --> 00:23:45,760 Speaker 1: people had been killed and hundreds injured. The riot ended 397 00:23:45,880 --> 00:23:49,240 Speaker 1: on July twenty four, by which point close to forty 398 00:23:49,240 --> 00:23:52,000 Speaker 1: people had been killed and hundreds injured. And then the 399 00:23:52,080 --> 00:23:57,840 Speaker 1: Chicago riots started just days later on July nineteen, after 400 00:23:57,880 --> 00:24:01,960 Speaker 1: an altercation at a swimming area, and the swimming area 401 00:24:02,080 --> 00:24:05,439 Speaker 1: was not officially segregated, but local white residents thought of 402 00:24:05,440 --> 00:24:08,919 Speaker 1: it as for their use only. First, there was an 403 00:24:08,960 --> 00:24:12,119 Speaker 1: altercation on shore between black residents who wanted to use 404 00:24:12,160 --> 00:24:15,840 Speaker 1: the swimming area and white residents who demanded that they leave. 405 00:24:16,560 --> 00:24:19,280 Speaker 1: As this was happening, a group of boys was swimming 406 00:24:19,320 --> 00:24:22,480 Speaker 1: from a raft and accidentally crossed into the whites only 407 00:24:22,560 --> 00:24:25,600 Speaker 1: part of the lake. Someone through a rock at them 408 00:24:25,640 --> 00:24:28,399 Speaker 1: and hit seventeen year old Eugene Williams in the head. 409 00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:32,679 Speaker 1: He lost consciousness and drowned. The coroner's jury has a 410 00:24:32,720 --> 00:24:35,359 Speaker 1: slightly different account that he was not struck, but that 411 00:24:35,480 --> 00:24:38,280 Speaker 1: because of the stones being thrown, he was forced to 412 00:24:38,320 --> 00:24:41,400 Speaker 1: stay underwater until he was just too exhausted to keep swimming. 413 00:24:42,359 --> 00:24:45,880 Speaker 1: When police arrived on the scene, white officers refused to 414 00:24:46,000 --> 00:24:50,840 Speaker 1: arrest the man that black witnesses identified as the stone thrower. Increasingly, 415 00:24:50,960 --> 00:24:54,000 Speaker 1: angry crowds gathered at the lake, and then rumors started 416 00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:57,280 Speaker 1: to spread through the city about exactly what had happened, 417 00:24:57,840 --> 00:25:01,960 Speaker 1: and as rumors tend to do, they spiraled as they went. Eventually, 418 00:25:01,960 --> 00:25:05,240 Speaker 1: a black man named James Crawford fired into a group 419 00:25:05,240 --> 00:25:08,520 Speaker 1: of policemen and injured one of them. They returned fire 420 00:25:08,640 --> 00:25:12,760 Speaker 1: and killed Crawford. This led to widespread violence throughout the 421 00:25:12,760 --> 00:25:17,159 Speaker 1: city that lasted until August. Three thirty eight people were killed, 422 00:25:17,440 --> 00:25:21,800 Speaker 1: fifteen white and twenty three black. Five hundred thirty seven 423 00:25:21,800 --> 00:25:25,280 Speaker 1: were injured. Of those, one ninety five were white and 424 00:25:25,440 --> 00:25:29,160 Speaker 1: three hundred forty two were black. White mobs also burned 425 00:25:29,160 --> 00:25:33,520 Speaker 1: down about one thousand homes in Chicago's black neighborhoods. The 426 00:25:33,640 --> 00:25:36,840 Speaker 1: Chicago police force was not at all effective at stopping 427 00:25:36,920 --> 00:25:39,919 Speaker 1: this violence, in part because it was understaffed and in 428 00:25:39,960 --> 00:25:44,399 Speaker 1: part because white officers were biased toward the white rioters. Eventually, 429 00:25:44,520 --> 00:25:47,439 Speaker 1: six thousand troops from the state militia were deployed to 430 00:25:47,480 --> 00:25:50,680 Speaker 1: try to restore order, and then, as had happened in Washington, 431 00:25:50,760 --> 00:25:54,359 Speaker 1: they were helped by a sudden heavy rain. This wasn't 432 00:25:54,400 --> 00:25:57,320 Speaker 1: quite as one sided as many of Red Summer's riots. 433 00:25:57,600 --> 00:25:59,960 Speaker 1: Many of the white residents who were injured or killed 434 00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:03,640 Speaker 1: were in predominantly black neighborhoods when it happened. Some were 435 00:26:03,680 --> 00:26:07,680 Speaker 1: injured or killed when black residents defended themselves, but others 436 00:26:07,720 --> 00:26:10,320 Speaker 1: were white merchants or other business people who worked in 437 00:26:10,359 --> 00:26:13,639 Speaker 1: black neighborhoods and were attacked as people sought restitution for 438 00:26:13,720 --> 00:26:17,080 Speaker 1: earlier violence. As it happened in the later days of 439 00:26:17,080 --> 00:26:19,440 Speaker 1: the Washington d c Riot and I for an Eye, 440 00:26:19,480 --> 00:26:23,840 Speaker 1: mentality developed on both sides the Third Riot were discussing 441 00:26:23,840 --> 00:26:26,080 Speaker 1: it took place in a lane, Arkansas, and it was 442 00:26:26,119 --> 00:26:29,560 Speaker 1: more of a massacre than a riot. It started after 443 00:26:29,600 --> 00:26:34,240 Speaker 1: black sharecroppers started trying to organize for better pay. On September, 444 00:26:34,960 --> 00:26:37,320 Speaker 1: about a hundred of them met with representatives of the 445 00:26:37,359 --> 00:26:41,280 Speaker 1: Progressive Farmers and Household Union of America. They met in 446 00:26:41,320 --> 00:26:44,399 Speaker 1: a church in Hoopspur, which was kept under armed guard 447 00:26:44,520 --> 00:26:47,240 Speaker 1: during the meeting in the hope of preventing the kind 448 00:26:47,280 --> 00:26:50,760 Speaker 1: of violence that had been so common over the previous months. 449 00:26:51,520 --> 00:26:55,240 Speaker 1: In this part of Arkansas. Black residents outnumbered white about 450 00:26:55,240 --> 00:26:59,040 Speaker 1: ten to one, and the white community found this inherently threatening. 451 00:26:59,640 --> 00:27:03,439 Speaker 1: This kind of organizing effort was even more so, especially 452 00:27:03,480 --> 00:27:08,160 Speaker 1: with the presence of armed guards. At about eleven PM, 453 00:27:08,440 --> 00:27:12,119 Speaker 1: some people fired into the church from outside, kind of 454 00:27:12,119 --> 00:27:14,960 Speaker 1: in the shadows where the guards couldn't see them. The 455 00:27:15,040 --> 00:27:18,159 Speaker 1: guards returned fire, and in the process a white man 456 00:27:18,280 --> 00:27:21,760 Speaker 1: named W. A. Atkins was killed. At some point during 457 00:27:21,760 --> 00:27:25,560 Speaker 1: all this, Phillips County Deputy Sheriff Charles Pratt was also wounded. 458 00:27:26,440 --> 00:27:29,800 Speaker 1: In the minds of the Lane's white residence, this transformed 459 00:27:29,800 --> 00:27:33,240 Speaker 1: the meeting from an implicit threat to an armed insurrection 460 00:27:33,440 --> 00:27:37,080 Speaker 1: actively being planned, and it wasn't just rumor. The white 461 00:27:37,080 --> 00:27:41,399 Speaker 1: press reported this supposed insurrection as a fact. Hundreds of 462 00:27:41,400 --> 00:27:44,399 Speaker 1: white residents from around Phillips county traveled to a Lane 463 00:27:44,440 --> 00:27:47,880 Speaker 1: to deal with the supposed threat, and local authorities asked 464 00:27:47,920 --> 00:27:52,000 Speaker 1: the governor to deploy the National Guard. A mob burned 465 00:27:52,080 --> 00:27:55,200 Speaker 1: down the church where the meeting had happened, and together 466 00:27:55,440 --> 00:27:58,960 Speaker 1: these vigilantes and the National Guard troops took hundreds of 467 00:27:59,000 --> 00:28:01,600 Speaker 1: black residents of a Lane into custody and held them 468 00:28:01,600 --> 00:28:06,480 Speaker 1: in temporary stockades. This mob, over the next couple of days, 469 00:28:06,560 --> 00:28:10,159 Speaker 1: killed at least two hundred people. The official toll may 470 00:28:10,200 --> 00:28:12,479 Speaker 1: have been much higher, but there wasn't a formal tally. 471 00:28:13,359 --> 00:28:16,480 Speaker 1: Walter White, assistant secretary of the n w a c P, 472 00:28:16,960 --> 00:28:20,280 Speaker 1: and past podcast subject it to b Wells Barnett each 473 00:28:20,359 --> 00:28:24,280 Speaker 1: investigated what had happened in the lane. Both found that 474 00:28:24,359 --> 00:28:27,439 Speaker 1: the quote armed insurrection being hyped in the white press 475 00:28:27,560 --> 00:28:30,960 Speaker 1: just simply did not exist, and if Elane's black community 476 00:28:31,040 --> 00:28:34,000 Speaker 1: had been planning an armed insurrection, it seemed as though 477 00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:37,960 Speaker 1: the death toll logically would have been much different. None 478 00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:40,440 Speaker 1: of the white participants in this were ever tried for 479 00:28:40,480 --> 00:28:44,640 Speaker 1: their roles in this massacre. Instead, twelve black men were 480 00:28:44,680 --> 00:28:47,480 Speaker 1: put on trial, and the deaths of the five white 481 00:28:47,480 --> 00:28:51,200 Speaker 1: people who were killed during the trials, A white mob 482 00:28:51,280 --> 00:28:54,520 Speaker 1: surrounded the courthouse and threatened to lynch the men if 483 00:28:54,560 --> 00:28:57,400 Speaker 1: they were not given the death penalty, and all white 484 00:28:57,480 --> 00:29:00,280 Speaker 1: jury found them all guilty, and the judge handed down 485 00:29:00,320 --> 00:29:03,520 Speaker 1: sentences of death for all of them. These twelve were 486 00:29:03,560 --> 00:29:05,680 Speaker 1: not the only people who were set to stand trial. 487 00:29:06,000 --> 00:29:09,600 Speaker 1: Another sixty five accepted plea bargains. After that first wave 488 00:29:09,640 --> 00:29:13,960 Speaker 1: of convictions and sentencing, the Double A CP backed a 489 00:29:14,040 --> 00:29:17,160 Speaker 1: series of appeals that finally made their way to the U. S. 490 00:29:17,160 --> 00:29:22,520 Speaker 1: Supreme Court as More versus Dempsey in nine. Justice Oliver 491 00:29:22,600 --> 00:29:26,560 Speaker 1: Wendell Holmes authored the majority opinion that the defendants constitutional 492 00:29:26,640 --> 00:29:29,600 Speaker 1: rights had been violated. This was a major victory for 493 00:29:29,640 --> 00:29:31,800 Speaker 1: the Double A c P and for the civil rights 494 00:29:31,840 --> 00:29:35,880 Speaker 1: of Black Americans in general. After being granted new trials, 495 00:29:35,920 --> 00:29:39,960 Speaker 1: the twelve men were ultimately freed. Red Summer was not 496 00:29:40,200 --> 00:29:43,200 Speaker 1: at all the end of racist violence in the United States. 497 00:29:43,360 --> 00:29:46,280 Speaker 1: We have talked about similar riots and massacres that happened 498 00:29:46,320 --> 00:29:50,440 Speaker 1: afterward on the show before, including the destruction of Greenwood, Oklahoma, 499 00:29:50,520 --> 00:29:55,320 Speaker 1: in and the massacre in Rosewood, Florida in n three, 500 00:29:55,920 --> 00:29:58,360 Speaker 1: but they didn't happen with the same frequency as they 501 00:29:58,360 --> 00:30:01,560 Speaker 1: had during the Red Summer. We talked at the start 502 00:30:01,600 --> 00:30:04,200 Speaker 1: of the show about all the factors that had primed 503 00:30:04,240 --> 00:30:07,240 Speaker 1: the United States for all this violence, So that leads 504 00:30:07,280 --> 00:30:10,480 Speaker 1: to the question of why did Red Summer end. The 505 00:30:10,560 --> 00:30:14,120 Speaker 1: economy did start to improve, and especially when it came 506 00:30:14,160 --> 00:30:18,000 Speaker 1: to mob violence, the onset of colder winter weather probably 507 00:30:18,040 --> 00:30:20,720 Speaker 1: tempered things a little bit, but a lot of those 508 00:30:20,760 --> 00:30:24,560 Speaker 1: other factors were still present or even growing. The Great 509 00:30:24,600 --> 00:30:27,000 Speaker 1: Migration was still going on, and by the end of 510 00:30:27,000 --> 00:30:30,280 Speaker 1: it millions of people would have moved to cities. This 511 00:30:30,440 --> 00:30:35,520 Speaker 1: general atmosphere of nationalism and xenophobia was still very present. 512 00:30:36,960 --> 00:30:38,760 Speaker 1: A big part of it is that by the fall 513 00:30:38,800 --> 00:30:42,480 Speaker 1: of nineteen nine, the white majority had increasingly started to 514 00:30:42,560 --> 00:30:46,800 Speaker 1: see these incidents as part of an unacceptable pattern. There 515 00:30:46,800 --> 00:30:49,440 Speaker 1: had been elected officials and other civic leaders who had 516 00:30:49,440 --> 00:30:52,520 Speaker 1: denounced the events from the very beginning, but these calls 517 00:30:52,560 --> 00:30:56,920 Speaker 1: became louder and more frequent. Law enforcement officials started taking 518 00:30:56,920 --> 00:30:59,920 Speaker 1: more steps to make sure that mobs can't just abduct 519 00:31:00,120 --> 00:31:03,680 Speaker 1: people from the jail to lynch them. The white press 520 00:31:03,720 --> 00:31:06,600 Speaker 1: also started toning down some of its rhetoric in terms 521 00:31:06,600 --> 00:31:10,600 Speaker 1: of criminal allegations against black residents, and then across the board, 522 00:31:10,760 --> 00:31:15,240 Speaker 1: newspapers started taking a less sensationalistic and incendiary approach to 523 00:31:15,280 --> 00:31:20,320 Speaker 1: discussing race related violence. Civil rights organizations also started working 524 00:31:20,560 --> 00:31:24,160 Speaker 1: towards building more positive relations between black and white communities. 525 00:31:24,720 --> 00:31:28,120 Speaker 1: For example, after the Chicago riyot, the city established the 526 00:31:28,200 --> 00:31:32,239 Speaker 1: Chicago Commission on Race Relations, which investigated the riot and 527 00:31:32,400 --> 00:31:36,960 Speaker 1: made recommendations to prevent something similar from happening again. It 528 00:31:37,000 --> 00:31:40,000 Speaker 1: published its report The Negro in Chicago, A Study of 529 00:31:40,080 --> 00:31:43,680 Speaker 1: Race Relations and a Race Riot in ninety two, which 530 00:31:43,680 --> 00:31:46,680 Speaker 1: included not just a thorough investigation of the riot, but 531 00:31:46,760 --> 00:31:50,280 Speaker 1: also of relationships between white and black communities in Chicago. 532 00:31:51,160 --> 00:31:54,400 Speaker 1: Although not every riot led to this sort of investigation, 533 00:31:54,600 --> 00:31:58,120 Speaker 1: there were other commissions and organizations that did the same 534 00:31:58,160 --> 00:32:01,479 Speaker 1: types of work elsewhere in the United States. In other words, 535 00:32:01,760 --> 00:32:05,200 Speaker 1: the violence didn't just play itself out. People actively work 536 00:32:05,320 --> 00:32:08,840 Speaker 1: to stop it. So that's sort of the highlights of 537 00:32:09,320 --> 00:32:12,520 Speaker 1: highlights is not even a good words like low lights. Yes, 538 00:32:12,640 --> 00:32:15,600 Speaker 1: that's sort of a a quick look at Red Summer. 539 00:32:15,640 --> 00:32:17,640 Speaker 1: Like I said, this could be there could be a 540 00:32:17,640 --> 00:32:20,240 Speaker 1: whole podcast that would just be about Red Summer that 541 00:32:20,480 --> 00:32:23,560 Speaker 1: would go on for many, many, many episodes, because there 542 00:32:23,600 --> 00:32:26,800 Speaker 1: were so many things that happened, but so many of 543 00:32:26,800 --> 00:32:30,800 Speaker 1: them follow this exact same pattern in terms of like 544 00:32:30,880 --> 00:32:36,880 Speaker 1: the precipitating event and then what transpired, the actions that 545 00:32:36,960 --> 00:32:40,480 Speaker 1: this like white mob took, and then how things usually 546 00:32:40,600 --> 00:32:46,360 Speaker 1: ended without any kind of formal acknowledgement or investigation. Do 547 00:32:46,400 --> 00:32:48,800 Speaker 1: you have a little bit of listener, may you? Yeah? 548 00:32:48,880 --> 00:32:53,280 Speaker 1: I do, and it's a little happier we've talked about today. 549 00:32:53,520 --> 00:32:56,920 Speaker 1: This is from Kathleen. Kathleen says, hi too. I'm a 550 00:32:57,000 --> 00:32:59,240 Speaker 1: huge fan of the podcast. Y'all have been such a 551 00:32:59,240 --> 00:33:02,600 Speaker 1: source of joy, and I've learned so much over the years. 552 00:33:02,640 --> 00:33:05,440 Speaker 1: I had to write in after the Julian of Norwich episode. 553 00:33:05,480 --> 00:33:07,880 Speaker 1: I have a master's degree in theology and she was 554 00:33:07,960 --> 00:33:10,760 Speaker 1: such a source of comfort during graduate school. It was 555 00:33:10,800 --> 00:33:12,960 Speaker 1: kind of funny listening to the episode because I could 556 00:33:12,960 --> 00:33:15,120 Speaker 1: look around my living room and see quite a bit 557 00:33:15,160 --> 00:33:18,040 Speaker 1: of Dame Julian's swag. I have a statue, a framed 558 00:33:18,080 --> 00:33:20,840 Speaker 1: quote of all Shelby Well and an icon. I've attached 559 00:33:20,840 --> 00:33:23,960 Speaker 1: a photo of the icon. Y'all covered so much great 560 00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:27,320 Speaker 1: stuff about her. I was rooting Mother Christ, Mother Christ, 561 00:33:27,320 --> 00:33:29,760 Speaker 1: and then you went there. I don't know about the 562 00:33:29,800 --> 00:33:32,400 Speaker 1: historic veracity of it. I'm guessing it's just a legend, 563 00:33:32,480 --> 00:33:35,960 Speaker 1: but there's some speculation that Julian's companion was a kitty, 564 00:33:36,040 --> 00:33:38,000 Speaker 1: and so in the weird circles I move in, she 565 00:33:38,040 --> 00:33:41,440 Speaker 1: has become the unofficial patron saint of cats. When my 566 00:33:41,520 --> 00:33:43,960 Speaker 1: beloved cat died suddenly, the first thing I did was 567 00:33:44,000 --> 00:33:46,280 Speaker 1: head to the bookstore at the Cathedral of St. Philip 568 00:33:46,320 --> 00:33:49,600 Speaker 1: in Atlanta and purchase a statue of Julian cradling a 569 00:33:49,640 --> 00:33:51,760 Speaker 1: cat in her arms. I have to say, there are 570 00:33:51,840 --> 00:33:54,320 Speaker 1: times when hanging out with a cat and only dealing 571 00:33:54,320 --> 00:33:56,480 Speaker 1: with people through a window sounds like a life I 572 00:33:56,520 --> 00:33:59,200 Speaker 1: can get on board with. When I saw the icon, 573 00:33:59,240 --> 00:34:01,320 Speaker 1: I had to get it. It's Julian hanging out with 574 00:34:01,360 --> 00:34:04,760 Speaker 1: a kitty who bears a striking resemblance to my cat Francis, 575 00:34:04,800 --> 00:34:08,480 Speaker 1: who's named after Saint Francis, despite being the least saintly 576 00:34:08,600 --> 00:34:11,800 Speaker 1: feline ever. I thought you might appreciate the kitty connection 577 00:34:11,840 --> 00:34:13,680 Speaker 1: to my favorite mistic Thank you so much for all 578 00:34:13,719 --> 00:34:17,160 Speaker 1: your hard work on the podcast, Kathleen. Thank you so much, Kathleen. 579 00:34:18,080 --> 00:34:20,120 Speaker 1: I had meant to get into cats a little bit 580 00:34:20,160 --> 00:34:23,359 Speaker 1: in the podcast and then forgot it. Slash also had 581 00:34:23,400 --> 00:34:25,040 Speaker 1: a lot of other stuff I wanted to make sure 582 00:34:25,080 --> 00:34:27,600 Speaker 1: to get in there. Um, there are a lot of 583 00:34:27,640 --> 00:34:30,399 Speaker 1: like stained glass windows that have Julian with a cat 584 00:34:30,560 --> 00:34:33,040 Speaker 1: or depictions of Julian with a cat. She's associated with 585 00:34:33,080 --> 00:34:35,319 Speaker 1: cats a lot, and that's one of those things that 586 00:34:35,400 --> 00:34:40,440 Speaker 1: seems to be an association that developed later. Um, Like, 587 00:34:40,480 --> 00:34:42,880 Speaker 1: there's nothing in her writing or other people's accounts of 588 00:34:42,880 --> 00:34:45,440 Speaker 1: her that mentions a cat. And that doesn't mean that 589 00:34:45,480 --> 00:34:47,640 Speaker 1: she didn't have a cat. It's just one of the 590 00:34:47,680 --> 00:34:51,480 Speaker 1: many things about her that's been sort of like associated 591 00:34:51,520 --> 00:34:54,239 Speaker 1: with her, even though we know very very little about 592 00:34:54,280 --> 00:34:58,200 Speaker 1: her personal life and how she lives. So thank you again, Kathleen. 593 00:34:58,440 --> 00:35:01,440 Speaker 1: I also can tell totally see the appeal of just 594 00:35:01,560 --> 00:35:05,040 Speaker 1: hanging out with a cat and not having people around. 595 00:35:06,680 --> 00:35:08,359 Speaker 1: If you would like to write to us about this 596 00:35:08,480 --> 00:35:11,080 Speaker 1: or any other podcast or at history podcast at how 597 00:35:11,120 --> 00:35:13,600 Speaker 1: stuff Works dot com. And then we're also all over 598 00:35:13,719 --> 00:35:16,319 Speaker 1: social media at missed in History. That's where you'll find 599 00:35:16,320 --> 00:35:19,880 Speaker 1: our Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter. You can come to 600 00:35:19,920 --> 00:35:22,360 Speaker 1: our website which is missed in History dot com and 601 00:35:22,400 --> 00:35:24,200 Speaker 1: you will find show notes for all the episodes that 602 00:35:24,239 --> 00:35:27,840 Speaker 1: Holly and I have ever worked on together. UH searchable 603 00:35:28,080 --> 00:35:31,279 Speaker 1: archive of every episode we have ever done, And you 604 00:35:31,320 --> 00:35:34,200 Speaker 1: can also subscribe to our show on Apple podcast, the 605 00:35:34,280 --> 00:35:37,160 Speaker 1: I Heart Radio app, and wherever else you get a podcast. 606 00:35:42,520 --> 00:35:44,759 Speaker 1: Stuff You Missed in History Classes a production of I 607 00:35:44,840 --> 00:35:47,880 Speaker 1: heart Radios How Stuff Works. For more podcasts from my 608 00:35:47,960 --> 00:35:51,000 Speaker 1: heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 609 00:35:51,120 --> 00:35:53,080 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows