The Wilmington Race Riot of 1898 (some call it the
Wilmington Massacre), occurred on November 10, 1898, when a white "mob forcibly expelled from the city black and white leaders opposed to Conservative Democratic rule and white supremacy. It used the threat of paramilitary forces --
in the only recorded coup d'etat to occur on American soil -- to remove from office at gunpoint a duly elected city government, which included three black aldermen." North Carolina just released
an extensively researched and documented report on the riot and its effects. The riot helped ensure years of Jim Crow laws and a white supremacist government. [MI]
posted by marxchivist
on Dec 19, 2005 -
17 comments
Otis Granville Clark is a wonder. At 102, the former butler of Joan Crawford - who served Clark Gable and Charlie Chaplin - still drives, lives on his own and twice a week attends church in his home city of Tulsa, Oklahoma... Today his blue eyes have gone milky but they still sparkle, his wiry frame remains agile, and his most painful memories are still fresh - even after 83 years. Coiled on the edge of an understuffed sofa, Clark leans back and screws his eyes tight to summon up "that day". It remains the most vivid of his life... Historians call the firestorm that convulsed Tulsa from the evening of May 31 into the afternoon of June 1 the single worst event in the history of American race relations. To most Tulsans it is simply "the riot". But the carnage had nothing in common with the mass protests of Chicago, Detroit and Newark in the 1960s or the urban violence that laid siege to Los Angeles in 1992 after the white police officers who assaulted Rodney King were acquitted. The 1921 Tulsa race riot owes its name to an older American tradition, to the days when white mobs, with the consent of local authorities, dared to rid themselves of their black neighbours. The endeavour was an opportunity "to run the Negro out of Tulsa". Burnt Offerings .See also The Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 or the tale of the lost city or another The Tulsa Race Riot of 1921. See also Frequently Asked Questions from the Tulsa Reparations Coalition. Previous post by
allaboutgeorge re: Tulsa Race Riot Reparations on March 1, 2001 .
posted by y2karl
on Feb 22, 2005 -
172 comments
"Mr. President, pardon Papa Jack" In 1908 a former Texas
dockworker and
inventor named
Jack Johnson became the first African American boxer to ever win the world heavyweight title. His victory
sparked race riots and prompted
a search for a "great white hope" (writer
Jack London asked white fighters to "wipe that smirk off Johnson's face"). But then Johnson defeated two "white hopes", one of whom was the legendary Jim Jeffries. In 1912, authorities went after
Johnson in court. His crime? Messin' with the white woman. Charges were brought against him
for violating the Mann Act, a
federal law that made it a crime to transport a woman across state lines for "immoral purposes." He married the woman, but he was sentenced to a year in prison anyway. Johnson fled the country, living in Europe as a fugitive for seven years,
losing his title Havana in 1915 to a much younger white opponent
after a 26-round fight in 100-degree-plus heat (Johnson possibly threw the fight in exchange for leniency that he never received). He returned to the U.S. in 1920, surrendered and served a year.
He never again was given a chance to reclaim the title. When
he died in poverty aged 68 in a car crash, not one boxer attended his funeral. Now
a group of US Senators (among them Hatch and McCain), prominent African Americans (Samuel L. Jackson, Jesse Jackson, many others) and boxing writers
seek a posthumous Presidential pardon for "Papa Jack".
(more inside)
posted by matteo
on Jul 22, 2004 -
26 comments
After the recent race riot troubles we have had here in England (
bradford and
oldham), was this really a good idea to allow
Louis Farrakhan into the country. A sentance taken from one of the realated articles sum's it up pretty well "freedom of speech does not allow the right to shout "Fire" in a crowded theatre"
posted by monkeyJuice
on Aug 1, 2001 -
6 comments
