Speaker 1: You're listening to American Shadows, a production of I Heart
Speaker 1: Radio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Mankey. All they
Speaker 1: wanted to do was finished work. On September fourteen year
Speaker 1: old Henry and his father, both white, had their dinner
Speaker 1: and then drove downtown to their small, family owned printing business,
Speaker 1: which overlooked the Omaha Courthouse. After finishing up, they shot
Speaker 1: off the lights and were ready to leave when a
Speaker 1: commotion outside caught their attention. Father and son stood by
Speaker 1: the window on the street below. A large mob had
Speaker 1: gathered on the courthouse steps. More kept coming until there
Speaker 1: was little room to stand. Some shouted, and some gathered
Speaker 1: bricks and stones. It didn't take being in the printing
Speaker 1: business to know why the crowd had gathered. Word had
Speaker 1: traveled like fire. Inside the courthouse, a jail cell held
Speaker 1: a black man named Will Brown. Due to the nature
Speaker 1: of the crime had been accused of. The angry mob
Speaker 1: had no intention of waiting for what the system called
Speaker 1: a fair trial. The crowd wanted their own justice. Three
Speaker 1: days earlier, Agnes low Back and her disabled boyfriend, Milton,
Speaker 1: both white, had been on their way home after a
Speaker 1: late movie. A man had stepped out of the Shadows
Speaker 1: and held them at gunpoint. They had robbed the couple,
Speaker 1: taking Milton's watch and money, as well as Agnes's ruby rang.
Speaker 1: Then the attacker dragged nineteen year old Agnes by the
Speaker 1: hair to an area inaccessible to Milton and dessaulted her.
Speaker 1: Both Milton and Actus told the police that this assailant
Speaker 1: was black. The morning after the attack, Henry's dad had
Speaker 1: read the derogatory an inciting headline in the Omaha be
Speaker 1: Fueled by the story, several members within the community began
Speaker 1: looking for the suspect. A resident told police about a
Speaker 1: suspicious black man living near the scene of the attack,
Speaker 1: although it isn't clear why the informant thought the man
Speaker 1: was suspicious. Police went to the house and found a
Speaker 1: man hiding under a bed. They brought him to Agnes
Speaker 1: and Milton's home, where both identified forty one year old
Speaker 1: William Brown as the man who had attacked them. Brown
Speaker 1: was arrested and taken to the jail at the county courthouse.
Speaker 1: In the days that followed, the already brewing race war
Speaker 1: between black and white stockyard workers had reached a fever
Speaker 1: pitch after a strike for higher wages and a safer environment.
Speaker 1: The company had filled the positions with black day workers
Speaker 1: who accepted lower pay and didn't ask for better conditions.
Speaker 1: The Omaha Bee continued to publish articles that inflamed the
Speaker 1: rising tensions. Headlines that fueled emotions sold more papers after all,
Speaker 1: and no emotion worked better than anger. From his family
Speaker 1: print shop, Henry watched the crowd grow larger by the minute.
Speaker 1: By seven p m. Over five thousand people had gathered
Speaker 1: on the courthouse steps demanding Brown. Police who tried to
Speaker 1: disband the group were assaulted greatly outnumbered, the officers eventually
Speaker 1: retreated back into the courthouse. The mayor stepped outside to
Speaker 1: try to calm the crowd down. It didn't work. They
Speaker 1: dragged him to the lampost that intended to use to
Speaker 1: lynch Brown and hung him up instead. A rescuer cut
Speaker 1: him down just in time, and he was rushed to
Speaker 1: the hospital, where he later fully recovered, nearly killing. The
Speaker 1: mayor did more to give the riders confidence than scare them.
Speaker 1: They used bricks and stones to break the windows. Several
Speaker 1: men climbed in through the shattered glass, saturated the floor
Speaker 1: with gasoline, and then set the building ablaze to flush
Speaker 1: out the officers and Brown. Firefighters called to the scene
Speaker 1: found the streets so thick with riders they had trouble
Speaker 1: getting to the building. Police exchanged gunfire with a sixteen
Speaker 1: year old, killing the team. Inside the building, Brown insisted
Speaker 1: he was innocent to anyone who would listen. By eleven PM,
Speaker 1: the crowd had broken into the jail, overwhelmed the deputies,
Speaker 1: and dragged Brown out into the street. Henry's father knew
Speaker 1: what was about to happen before he did, and the
Speaker 1: still in the dark second floor office, his father told
Speaker 1: him that what he was about to witness was the
Speaker 1: true horror of what people could do to one another,
Speaker 1: that taking justice into their own hands wasn't justice at all.
Speaker 1: Henry stood riveted in place, sweating fists tight, and watched
Speaker 1: the crowd hang will Brown, and then came the gunfire.
Speaker 1: If the news hadn't killed him, the bullets had before
Speaker 1: cutting his body down, The crowd spun him around, showing
Speaker 1: off what they'd done. Afterward, the mob cheered as they
Speaker 1: dragged Brown's body behind a car. Fortunately, young Henry, now sobbing,
Speaker 1: didn't see what happened next as the riders set Brown's
Speaker 1: body on fire and dragged him through the streets once more,
Speaker 1: sick to his stomach and still weeping. Young Henry would
Speaker 1: never forget that night and vowed he'd do something about it.
Speaker 1: He went on to serve in World War Two, and
Speaker 1: after that became an actor, winning awards for anti racism
Speaker 1: films such as Young Mr. Lincoln and Twelve Angry Men.
Speaker 1: He became active in the civil rights movement, and in
Speaker 1: his later years, an interviewer asked him about that night
Speaker 1: in Omaha. The memory of it brought him to tears
Speaker 1: on national television. All those years later, the lynching of
Speaker 1: Will Brown remained the most horrendous act against humanity that
Speaker 1: Henry Fonda had ever witnessed. I'm Lauren Vogelbaum. Welcome to
Speaker 1: American Shadows. Tulsa's population seemed to grow overnight. Formerly known
Speaker 1: as Indian Territory, settlers flocked to the area of the
Speaker 1: discovery of oil there in nineteen o one. Over the
Speaker 1: next nineteen years, the population swelled to a hundred and
Speaker 1: forty thousand by nineteen twenty, when the Native American communities
Speaker 1: were removed and relocated once more. Jobs brought both white
Speaker 1: and black citizens seeking a better life, while some of
Speaker 1: the black population found employment in the stockyards or other
Speaker 1: day labor jobs. An increasing number found successes lawyers, skilled
Speaker 1: labor in preachers. A wealthy Black landowner by the name
Speaker 1: of O. W. Gurley bought forty acres, which he sold
Speaker 1: only to other Black citizens. Another successful Black entrepreneur believed
Speaker 1: that poorer African Americans had the best chance of success
Speaker 1: if they pooled their resources. With an abundance of work,
Speaker 1: black citizens agreed and banded together to set up businesses
Speaker 1: and build homes in the Greenwood district. The area boasted
Speaker 1: culture and entertainment. It had its own schools, churches, and
Speaker 1: a library. Hotels, nightclubs, movie theaters, and newspapers began to
Speaker 1: crop up in Greenwood. Many compared the construction and refinement
Speaker 1: of Greenwood Avenue to those of Chicago State Street. With
Speaker 1: such a prominent and vital community, the citizens who called
Speaker 1: at home had hopes that their numbers, success and contribution
Speaker 1: of goods and services to the city of Tulsa offered
Speaker 1: some protection against Jim Crow laws. By nineteen ten, thousand
Speaker 1: black residents lived and thrived in Greenwood, with black owned banks,
Speaker 1: doctor's offices, and grocery stores. The prosperous area became known
Speaker 1: as Black Wall Street. All the good fortune intimidated some
Speaker 1: of the white population. Letters filled with hate often found
Speaker 1: their way to the most successful Greenwood businesses. Racial divide
Speaker 1: had been building in Tulsa and around the nation for years.
Speaker 1: In nineteen nineteen, an iron worker was shot in the
Speaker 1: back during a robbery. Before he died in the hospital
Speaker 1: twelve hours later, he told officers that the two men
Speaker 1: who shot him were black. The shoot made headlines in
Speaker 1: the local paper the following morning. That day, three suspects
Speaker 1: were taken into custody in Greenwood. Rumors spread that vigilantes
Speaker 1: wanted the men lynched. Fifteen black men drove to the
Speaker 1: jail to check on the suspect's safety. Convinced the men
Speaker 1: were well guarded, they left a few days later, on
Speaker 1: March twenty two, three black police officers were robbed and
Speaker 1: shot by two white men. The suspects were quickly captured.
Speaker 1: The arrests didn't ease tensions much. Brazen criminals shooting and
Speaker 1: robbing lawman didn't make the citizens feel any safer either.
Speaker 1: With the growing population, violent crime increased across demographics. In
Speaker 1: August of nine, Homer Nita, a white taxi driver, stopped
Speaker 1: to collect money owed to him at a local gas station.
Speaker 1: His passengers, two men and a woman, all white, beat
Speaker 1: Nita with a pistol and robbed him. They drove to
Speaker 1: an isolated location, held Nita gunpoint and forced him to
Speaker 1: beg for his life. Then they shot him and left
Speaker 1: him for dead. A passerby heard the gunshot and rushed
Speaker 1: the taxi driver to the hospital, where he later died
Speaker 1: from his injuries. The robbery and murder made the headlines,
Speaker 1: and a witness stepped forward to identify one of the suspects.
Speaker 1: Police tracked down the woman, and before long all three
Speaker 1: passengers were arrested and pleaded not guilty. An angry mob
Speaker 1: of fifty people arrived at the jail demanding the suspects.
Speaker 1: When the sheriff refused, the group disarmed him, holding him
Speaker 1: hostage in exchange for Roy Belton, one of the accused perpetrators.
Speaker 1: The mob forced Belton into Anita's stolen taxi. They drove
Speaker 1: to the location of the shooting and waited for the
Speaker 1: rest of the mob to arrive. Belton continued to deny
Speaker 1: any involvement. By the time they strung him up over
Speaker 1: a thousand spectators had arrived. For eleven minutes, Belton fought
Speaker 1: for air. Finally, when he was still the mob cut
Speaker 1: him down. No charges were pressed, leaving the people of
Speaker 1: Tulsa to believe their actions were acceptable and justified. In May,
Speaker 1: of the growing crime rate, vigilanteism and racial divide were
Speaker 1: set to collide. Dick Rowland, black, nineteen year old, liked
Speaker 1: flashy clothing and fancy dance moves, often besting his friends
Speaker 1: around town. He was also a bit of a rebel
Speaker 1: and got into trouble now and then. He dropped out
Speaker 1: of high school in a senior year. By that year,
Speaker 1: Tulsa had become the oil capital of the world, and
Speaker 1: with more wealth than they often knew what to do
Speaker 1: with that money got around the way Roland probably saw it.
Speaker 1: He could take advantage of the latest oil boom while
Speaker 1: it lasted. He took up work shining shoes, and the
Speaker 1: wealthy men tipped him generously. On he took a break
Speaker 1: between clients. Bathrooms were segregated, and the nearest available black
Speaker 1: bathroom was on the top floor of the nearby Drexel building.
Speaker 1: He entered the elevator operated by White seventeen year old
Speaker 1: Sarah Page. That's when a clerk working at a clothing
Speaker 1: store heard a woman's scream. He hurried toward the elevator
Speaker 1: as Roland ran past him. The clerk said Page looked distressed,
Speaker 1: assuming that Roland had attempted to assault her, he summoned
Speaker 1: the police. The police never questioned Page. They filed a
Speaker 1: report based solely on the clerk's retelling of the events,
Speaker 1: and left Page's name out of it. Instead of Page
Speaker 1: a statement. They interviewed potential witnesses. It soon became clear
Speaker 1: that Roland and Page knew each other. It wasn't the
Speaker 1: first time Rowland had had to use the restroom after all.
Speaker 1: Some said the teens were friends and that Roland would
Speaker 1: never have attempted to assault her. Others suggested the two
Speaker 1: were potentially more intimate. In the end, the police determined
Speaker 1: that whatever had happened in the elevator had not been assault.
Speaker 1: They speculated that there might have been some horseplay, or
Speaker 1: that Roland had tripped and fallen into Page, but that's
Speaker 1: not how the press report of it, despite no evidence
Speaker 1: to back it up. The headline suggested he attacked her.
Speaker 1: The morning paper claimed Page had noticed him looking to
Speaker 1: see if anyone else was around before stepping onto the elevator.
Speaker 1: During the attack, he scratched her face, arms, and tore
Speaker 1: her clothing before she fought him off. She screamed, bringing
Speaker 1: the store clerk, who scared Roland away. Two officers, one
Speaker 1: white and the other black, arrested Roland at his mother's
Speaker 1: home the next day. While he admitted placing his hand
Speaker 1: on Page's arm, he insisted that he never harmed her
Speaker 1: in any way. Many white citizens became furious. Assaulting a
Speaker 1: white woman had been bad enough, but there had also
Speaker 1: been allegations of a relationship between the two. The Tribune,
Speaker 1: known for sensationalism, ran a headline one with a dangerous rumor.
Speaker 1: According to the paper, a lynching had been planned. The
Speaker 1: officers ushered Dick Roland to his cell. If any of
Speaker 1: the deputies had been superstitious, they might not have put
Speaker 1: him in the same cell Roy Belton had occupied a
Speaker 1: year before. But none of the men were aware that
Speaker 1: the afternoon edition of the Tribune had started firestorm until
Speaker 1: an hour later, when the first phone call came in
Speaker 1: informing them that the paper had spurred talk on the
Speaker 1: street about a hanging. The talk was more than rumor,
Speaker 1: both the police and fire commissioner had heard that a
Speaker 1: lynch mob was forming. By six pm that night, they
Speaker 1: were proven right. A crowd had gathered outside the court house.
Speaker 1: An hour and a half later, the small crowd grew
Speaker 1: to over three hundred. Three men entered the court house
Speaker 1: demanding to see Roland. The newly elected sheriff, Willard McCullough,
Speaker 1: told them that there would not be a lynching and
Speaker 1: promptly ordered the men to leave. They went back outside,
Speaker 1: and he all of them to strongly encourage the rest
Speaker 1: of the crowd to go home. No one left. Outnumbered
Speaker 1: three hundred to one, the sheriff stepped back inside and
Speaker 1: locked the doors. Determined to prevent what had happened to
Speaker 1: Belton from happening to Roland, he sent the elevator to
Speaker 1: the top floor, making it unable to return to the
Speaker 1: first floor. Then he ordered his men to take up
Speaker 1: defensive positions around Roland. By now several hundred people had
Speaker 1: joined the mob outside, all demanding the sheriff turned Roland
Speaker 1: over to them for justice. The growing lynch mob hadn't
Speaker 1: gone unnoticed. In Greenwood, fifty armed black men drove to
Speaker 1: the courthouse to offer assistance to the sheriff. Some reports
Speaker 1: state that the sheriff had asked for their help. McCullough,
Speaker 1: though denied requesting assistance from the black community, thinking it
Speaker 1: would probably do more harm than good. A witness said
Speaker 1: he warned the sheriff that car loads of armed black
Speaker 1: men would cause more trouble and to do something about it,
Speaker 1: and McCullough did. Instead of force, he met with the men,
Speaker 1: telling them to go home. Then he turned back to
Speaker 1: the white mob, telling them the same. One angry white
Speaker 1: man shouted that the sheriff had asked for help from
Speaker 1: the Greenwood residence. After watching the sheriff talked with the
Speaker 1: black men, hundreds of angry but yet unarmed white men
Speaker 1: headed to the nearby armory to them. If the sheriff
Speaker 1: was talking to the black residents, then the conspiracy had
Speaker 1: to be real. Those who were already armed stayed at
Speaker 1: the courthouse. Major James Bell of the hundred and eighth
Speaker 1: Infantry heard about the crowd intent on stealing weapons. He
Speaker 1: called commanders in the National Guard, who in turn ordered
Speaker 1: every available member to report at the armory. They arrived
Speaker 1: moments after the riders converged. Some of them already tugging
Speaker 1: at the bars over the windows, Bell stepped outside and
Speaker 1: calmly informed the riders that anyone attempting to enter the
Speaker 1: bill holding would be shot. Seeing the major in the
Speaker 1: National Guard with their weapons drawn encouraged the men to leave.
Speaker 1: The riders returned to the court house, where the crowd
Speaker 1: exceeded two thousand people. Reverends and the chief of police
Speaker 1: all tried to talk the crowd down. Instead of seeing
Speaker 1: the men's gestures as an attempt at peace, the enraged
Speaker 1: crowd believed the reverends and the chief were taking every
Speaker 1: effort to defend and support Roland. From there, some of
Speaker 1: the white men shouted that their leaders were showing allegiance
Speaker 1: to the black community over the welfare and concern of
Speaker 1: white citizens. Shouts of an uprising rang out along with
Speaker 1: gunfire in Greenwood. Rumors spread that white people had already
Speaker 1: stormed the courthouse. Another larger group of armed black men
Speaker 1: arrived once again, offering to help the sheriff. Their presence
Speaker 1: and continued discussions with the authorities only fueled the already
Speaker 1: out of control white mobs conspiracies. The sheriff declined the
Speaker 1: men's help once more. Around ten thirty that night, the
Speaker 1: Tulsa Chief of Police notified the governor but the situation
Speaker 1: was under control. But he was wrong. A rioter demanded
Speaker 1: that a black man standing near him drop his weapon,
Speaker 1: and when the man refused, a shot rang out. Although
Speaker 1: it's speculated that the shot was fired as a warning
Speaker 1: from one or the other of the two men, it
Speaker 1: incited white rioters to open fire on the black crowd.
Speaker 1: The two groups exchanged gunfire, and in under two minutes,
Speaker 1: ten white and two black men lay dead. Some reports
Speaker 1: speculate that some white men were deputized to hunt and
Speaker 1: kill black people. It remains unclear what official would have
Speaker 1: authorized such an order. Sheriff McCullough and his deputies were
Speaker 1: still barricaded inside the building. The reports show county police
Speaker 1: were also present. The black men retreated to their cars
Speaker 1: and sped off toward Greenwood. Members of the white mob
Speaker 1: chased after them, each side shooting at the other. By
Speaker 1: eleven that night, the National Guard organized a plan to
Speaker 1: end the rioting. Guardsmen were stationed at the courthouse and
Speaker 1: police station. Since the riders now numbered in the thousands,
Speaker 1: The local chapter of the American Legion joined the rest
Speaker 1: of the Guard in patrolling the streets. Though they stayed
Speaker 1: in the white neighborhoods, they didn't have any orders to
Speaker 1: go into Greenwood. Black men found in or near the
Speaker 1: white neighborhoods were taken to the Convention Hall, which acted
Speaker 1: as a temporary detention center, while several white men remained
Speaker 1: on the courthouse steps and called for Roland's lynching. No
Speaker 1: one stormed the courthouse and no other violence occurred there.
Speaker 1: That can't be said of Greenwood, though just after one
Speaker 1: in the morning, riders set the first building on fire.
Speaker 1: Everything was on fire on the southern edge of Greenwood.
Speaker 1: White mobs broke windows and tossed lit, oil soaked rags
Speaker 1: into the businesses on Archer Street, intent on burning the
Speaker 1: buildings to the ground. Riders with shotguns met fire trucks
Speaker 1: arriving at the scene and forced the engines to turn around.
Speaker 1: Firefighters who attempted to turn on a hose were shot at,
Speaker 1: but none were injured. Other riders and cars randomly fired
Speaker 1: into businesses and homes as they sped along the streets.
Speaker 1: At one point, train passengers arriving in a nearby station
Speaker 1: had to take cover on the floor. The train cars
Speaker 1: were riddled with bullets on both sides. More riders took
Speaker 1: to the wealthy white neighborhoods, going door to door and demanding,
Speaker 1: often at gunpoint, that any black servants be handed over immediately.
Speaker 1: Those who refused were beaten and their property vandalized. At
Speaker 1: five in the morning, riders mistook a train whistle as
Speaker 1: a signal to go deeper into Greenwood. They converged on
Speaker 1: Greenwood by any means possible, on foot or car. A
Speaker 1: sniper took out one of the riders in the end,
Speaker 1: though the number of white rioters overwhelmed the black community,
Speaker 1: they swarmed the streets, taking aim at every man, woman
Speaker 1: and child. As the black community fled, riders looted homes
Speaker 1: and ordered any remaining residents out into the streets. Many
Speaker 1: were shot or made to walk to Pulsa and the
Speaker 1: detention center. Rumors spread among the riders that the black
Speaker 1: residents had used a church to store weapons in caskets.
Speaker 1: They converged on the church and ransacked it, but no
Speaker 1: weapons were found. Eldris Ector's mother knew the men would
Speaker 1: come for them next. She shouted for her daughter to
Speaker 1: wake up. Doing as her panicked mother asked, Eldoras dressed quickly.
Speaker 1: Then hand in hand, they raced out the door. People
Speaker 1: were running and shouting. Smoke from the fire stained the
Speaker 1: pink dawn sky. Then the planes arrived. Eldris stopped to
Speaker 1: stare at them. Should never seen planes fly over Greenwood.
Speaker 1: Before the sound of gunfire got her and her mother
Speaker 1: moving again. The men in the planes, what looked like
Speaker 1: a dozen or more, were shooting at them. Young and
Speaker 1: old fell dead in the street. His families ran for
Speaker 1: their lives. Eldor saw a young girl, apparently now an orphan,
Speaker 1: run past her. Tears streamed down the small child's face.
Speaker 1: In her arms, she clutched what was probably all she
Speaker 1: had left in the world. A small dog. Riders had
Speaker 1: taken privately owned planes to fly over Greenwood. Law enforcement
Speaker 1: would later claim they had been sent out a reconnaissance
Speaker 1: mission to prevent a black uprising. El Doris heard the
Speaker 1: planes turn. They swooped around again, firing another round into
Speaker 1: the fleeing people below. Cries of grief filled the air
Speaker 1: as loved ones were gunned down. Survivors, still wearing their
Speaker 1: pajamas and robes, dropped to the ground over the bodies.
Speaker 1: Others kept running for fear of being gunned down as well.
Speaker 1: Now separated from her parents in the chaos, Eldorus ran
Speaker 1: for shelter in a chicken coop. She told herself this
Speaker 1: was Judgment Day, just like she had learned in Sunday School.
Speaker 1: She also told herself that Jesus would appear at any
Speaker 1: moment and save them. Certainly, Jesus would be there any minute.
Speaker 1: Her father's arm pulled at her, dragging her from the coop.
Speaker 1: The family resumed running, joining a sea of other residents
Speaker 1: fleeing Greenwood. Her family was one of the lucky ones.
Speaker 1: They would survive, but the scars would remain all their lives.
Speaker 1: A black doctor was shot and killed after surrendering to
Speaker 1: a white mob who told him they were simply taking
Speaker 1: him to the detention center. A white residence standing on
Speaker 1: her porch was gunned down riders mistook a dark skinned
Speaker 1: white man for black inn shot him. During the confusion,
Speaker 1: Sheriff mc cull and his deputies managed to get out
Speaker 1: of the court house, taking Roland with them. They safely
Speaker 1: left town by eight a m. General Barrett finally got
Speaker 1: official approval to send the National Guard into Greenwood. At
Speaker 1: nine am, they exchanged gunfire with black snipers who shot
Speaker 1: at them from the church rooftop. White rioters also shot
Speaker 1: at them. By noon, though the guardsmen had managed to
Speaker 1: stop most of the unrest and provoked any special deputy privileges.
Speaker 1: Rioters claimed to have over four thousand Greenwood residents were
Speaker 1: taken into custody. The convention hall, theater, and baseball stadium
Speaker 1: had been converted into detention centers to hold them. Martial
Speaker 1: law remained in effect through June three. At first, sixty
Speaker 1: eight black people and nine white people were reported to
Speaker 1: have died during the massacre, though newspapers across the country
Speaker 1: printed different totals ranging from sixty five. Later, a police
Speaker 1: officer stated that a hundred and seventy five people had died,
Speaker 1: but only five from fire. Modern estimates now put the
Speaker 1: death toll as high as three hundred. Another hundred and
Speaker 1: eighty three people had been seriously injured. The only black
Speaker 1: hospital had been burned down, so black patients were sent
Speaker 1: to Morningside Hospital, a white facility, and treated in the basement.
Speaker 1: After the massacre, Pulsa established a public safety committee made
Speaker 1: up of two hundred and fifty men white men. Their
Speaker 1: role was to protect the city from further violence. That
Speaker 1: same day, the National guards shot and killed a white
Speaker 1: man who tried to start trouble. All told, over a
Speaker 1: hundred and ninety businesses were destroyed, as well as a
Speaker 1: school and several churches. Riders had looted and estimated two
Speaker 1: hundred and fifteen homes and destroyed one thousand, two hundred
Speaker 1: more ten thousand people were left on house losses exceeded
Speaker 1: one point five million dollars over thirty two million today.
Speaker 1: The governor ordered an inquiry into the events, and a
Speaker 1: grand jury convened on June nine. The court heard testimony
Speaker 1: from black and white witnesses for the next twelve days.
Speaker 1: In the end, the all white jury determined that the
Speaker 1: black mobs had started the incident at that the sheriff's
Speaker 1: department was negligent in preventing it. Though eighty five people
Speaker 1: were indicted, none were ever convicted. Pulse's former mayor gave
Speaker 1: a speech claiming the real citizens wept over such an
Speaker 1: unspeakable crime and that the city would make good on
Speaker 1: the damage. That winter, many of the black families still
Speaker 1: unhoused slept in tents while they rebuilt their homes. Wealthy
Speaker 1: white developers persuaded political powers to prohibit black residents from
Speaker 1: rebuilding in Greenwood. Their intentions were clear to force the
Speaker 1: black community further away from white neighborhoods and take over
Speaker 1: the land for their own development. Fortunately, the Supreme Court
Speaker 1: found the ordinance unconstitutional, but although the city had promised
Speaker 1: to help them rebuild, most residents of Greenwood were left
Speaker 1: with a bitter reality. The money never came. It never
Speaker 1: seemed to end. Carlos Heard, a reporter for the Post Dispatch,
Speaker 1: watched one horrific scene after another for an hour and
Speaker 1: a half. In July nineteen chaos ruled the town of
Speaker 1: East St. Louis, Illinois. White rioters chased after black residence,
Speaker 1: beating and killing them. A group of men ganged up
Speaker 1: on a lone black man. After rendering him unconscious, they've
Speaker 1: left for their next target. A few moments later, the
Speaker 1: badly injured man came too, and, still dazed and confused,
Speaker 1: he didn't see the well dressed white man standing behind
Speaker 1: him holding a large stone. As the black man sat upright,
Speaker 1: the white man hurled the rock at him. Shocked by
Speaker 1: the indifferent cruelty, Heard felt helpless. Unable to stop the violence,
Speaker 1: he used his skills to document how casually the white
Speaker 1: men assaulted their victims. The man in the street hadn't
Speaker 1: been the only one stoned to death. Others injured and
Speaker 1: beaten begged for their lives, but there please went unheard.
Speaker 1: The white women laughed and scorned the black women who
Speaker 1: begged for some sense of compassion as they too were
Speaker 1: stoned and beaten. I can't imagine how Heard got through
Speaker 1: watching such atrocity, such barbaric and gut wrenching violence against
Speaker 1: other human beings. The complete breakdown of empathy and decency
Speaker 1: had to be a nightmare he carried for the rest
Speaker 1: of his life, and it's hard to understand why so
Speaker 1: many people could be so devoid of even the tiniest
Speaker 1: scrap of humanity. Yet, from nineteen seventeen to ninety three,
Speaker 1: horrific scenes like this played out across the nation. Anti
Speaker 1: black riots and massacres occurred in Houston, Chicago, Pulsa, Charleston, Washington,
Speaker 1: d C. At least twenty six different cities. In Florida,
Speaker 1: the entire town of Rosewood was destroyed over racial divide
Speaker 1: during a period called the Red Summer. Nearly a hundred
Speaker 1: lynchings were recorded Black homes and businesses were reduced to ash.
Speaker 1: Thousands were killed, tens of thousands more left un housed.
Speaker 1: Some scholars say that the riots served as nothing more
Speaker 1: than a cover to maim, steel and kill with impunity,
Speaker 1: A terrible thought on its own, though. The Red Summer
Speaker 1: also had the unfortunate timing of taking place during the
Speaker 1: KKK resurgence and the Great Migration, when African Americans were
Speaker 1: moving from poor economic locations to cities that they felt
Speaker 1: might be safer than where they had left. It also
Speaker 1: coincided with white servicemen who had had to leave their
Speaker 1: jobs to serve in the military, returning to find those
Speaker 1: jobs filled by Black Americans. Drunken servicemen in d C
Speaker 1: assaulted and lynched black citizens without provocation. Armed with rifles,
Speaker 1: Black servicemen took to community rooftops to thwart lynch bobs
Speaker 1: from descending onto their communities. With black presidents challenging Jim
Speaker 1: Crow laws, some white servicemen returned home, believing it was
Speaker 1: their duty to fight a new war, but with the
Speaker 1: industrial boom, striking union workers were often replaced with cheaper
Speaker 1: Black American laborers. Fear over job and housing competition caused
Speaker 1: many white employees to blame the black day laborers instead
Speaker 1: of the corporations looking to profit over everyone. Politicians didn't help.
Speaker 1: The government sent clear messages on equality as well. When
Speaker 1: black enlisted men returned from war, they didn't get the
Speaker 1: same compensation or acknowledgement as their white military counterparts. The
Speaker 1: nation became a powder keg. In each city. It took
Speaker 1: just one death or crime committed or allegation among people
Speaker 1: of different skin colors to set off a spate of violence.
Speaker 1: Over time, citizens felt that repeated violent crimes against them
Speaker 1: went unnoticed and happened with impunity. White instigators believed that
Speaker 1: the more violently they acted against the black community, the
Speaker 1: more fear they had instilled, the fear that would keep
Speaker 1: the black community submissive, they thought. But the opposite proved true,
Speaker 1: and history repeated itself. The suppressed and the oppressed valued
Speaker 1: themselves even when others did not. The atrocities of the
Speaker 1: Red Summer went on to fuel the Civil rights movement.
Speaker 1: Change was coming. There's more to this story. Stick around
Speaker 1: after this brief sponsor break to hear all about it.
Speaker 1: The iconic Central Park nestled between the Upper East and
Speaker 1: Upper West sides of Manhattan, The famous urban park spans
Speaker 1: over a hundred and forty acres. It's the most filmed
Speaker 1: and visited park in the United States. But in the
Speaker 1: early eighteen hundreds, the area was called something else. Seneca Village,
Speaker 1: White farmer's John and Elizabeth Whitehead sold three lots to
Speaker 1: a twenty five year old shoeshiner in eighteen twenty five.
Speaker 1: A store clerk soon purchased twelve lots. Once the African
Speaker 1: Methodist Episcopal Zion Church was built, more African Americans bought
Speaker 1: land from the farming couple. Soon ten homes dotted the
Speaker 1: rolling landscape, and a community was born. The area housed
Speaker 1: the most looked down upon groups at the time, Irish
Speaker 1: and African Americans, when two thirds were Black, one third
Speaker 1: was Irish, and a smattering were of German scent. By
Speaker 1: eighteen fifty, Seneca Village was a thriving community where most
Speaker 1: of the residents owned their own homes. The nearby Hudson
Speaker 1: Rivers supplied fresh water and fishing, and many residents kept
Speaker 1: gardens and livestock. The majority of homes were small, roughly
Speaker 1: built the shanties. Still, it was a haven of sorts,
Speaker 1: a place to call their own. The area was safer
Speaker 1: than others for the residents who were told their kind
Speaker 1: weren't welcome in other parts of Manhattan, and while other
Speaker 1: communities were divided by race, the three groups lived in harmony.
Speaker 1: Though multiple generations often shared a home and living conditions
Speaker 1: were tight, they were better than those in the poorer
Speaker 1: sections of the already overcrowded city. As New York's population grew,
Speaker 1: so did the need for more land. In the early
Speaker 1: eighteen fifties, the city decided that a municipal park would
Speaker 1: provide a designated area for recreation among the ever increasing buildings.
Speaker 1: People in cramped living conditions could enjoy green grass, trees,
Speaker 1: open space, and fresh air. By eighteen fifty three, purchasing
Speaker 1: the land from the current owners had come to be difficult,
Speaker 1: so the city used a special power, eminent domain. It
Speaker 1: had been a tactic New York had used many times before.
Speaker 1: It allowed the city to set what they considered a
Speaker 1: fair price, often below market value, and then force the sale.
Speaker 1: Though residents complained bitterly, the city refused to budge. By
Speaker 1: the end of eighteen fifty seven, every resident had to leave.
Speaker 1: Those who refused were evicted. The city provided no support
Speaker 1: or assistance in relocating. Of the one thousand, six hundred
Speaker 1: people evicted, two hundred and seventy were black. By eighteen sixty,
Speaker 1: burial grounds were relocated, homes and businesses leveled. No trace
Speaker 1: of Seneca Village remained except for one, the All Angels Church.
Speaker 1: The congregation had once been multicultural, with Black, German and
Speaker 1: Irish believers all worshiping side by side with its walls, Baptisms, weddings,
Speaker 1: and funerals were held. Now a new congregation gathered. It's
Speaker 1: not clear where the residents relocated or what became of them.
Speaker 1: All that's left as an information board in Central Park
Speaker 1: with a short description of what happened to the village,
Speaker 1: but little is known or written about those who lived there.
Speaker 1: The residents had lived in the sort of community where
Speaker 1: race and background brought people together rather than pushing them apart.
Speaker 1: Today it's all but forgotten. It's often said that those
Speaker 1: who forget the past are doomed to repeat it, which
Speaker 1: means that each of us can keep it alive by
Speaker 1: doing something very important by remembering. American Shadows is hosted
Speaker 1: by Lauren Vogelbaum. This episode was written by Michelle Muto,
Speaker 1: researched by Ali Steed and produced by Miranda hawk Ggins
Speaker 1: and Trevor Young, with executive producers Aaron Mankey, Alex Williams,
Speaker 1: and Matt Frederick. To learn more about the show, visit
Speaker 1: Grim and mild dot com. From more podcasts from iHeart Radio,
Speaker 1: visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
Speaker 1: get your podcasts.