Читать книгу Freedom Facts and Firsts - Jessie Carney Smith - Страница 52

This event was part of the larger context of violence directed toward blacks during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. In Georgia, the racial climate was such that white supremacy values dominated the rhetoric and platform of the Democratic gubernatorial contest between Hoke Smith and Clark Howell. The five local newspapers controlled by whites published sensationalized and unsubstantiated reports of white women being raped by black men, as well as allegations of other destructive behavior by blacks against whites in the 18 months preceding the outbreak of violence. Black sections of the city were characterized as breeding grounds for vice and became the focus of a “crusade” against the supposed negative influences on the rest of the city. On September 22, 1906, a mob of whites gathered on Decatur Street in Atlanta, then moved toward the center of the city, attacking blacks and destroying their businesses on Auburn Street in the heart of the African American community, as well as other property owned and used by blacks in the immediate and surrounding neighborhoods. The violence continued until September 27, as the reported size of the mob grew from several dozen whites to as many as 5,000 and spread to Brownsville, a black middle class suburban area of the city.

Local police and state militia on the scene did little to restrain the violence.

Local police and state militia on the scene did little to restrain the violence, offering virtually no protection to the blacks being victimized and in some cases actually joining the mob in the mayhem and destruction. Twenty-five people died as a result of the riot, with hundreds more injured, thousands fleeing the city in fear, and an untold amount of property damage and loss. Hundreds of homes were burned, leaving over a thousand people homeless, while businesses were also looted by the mob before being subjected to other destructive actions. No mass arrests of whites took place during or after the riot, despite the numerous instances of mob violence and criminal behavior, much of which was done in the presence of law enforcement authorities. Booker T. Washington and some other black leaders gathered afterwards in Washington, D.C., to address the rebuilding of areas affected by the riot. W.E.B. Du Bois, an Atlanta resident at the time, channeled his anger and frustration into the creation of the poem “The Litany of Atlanta.” Du Bois and many other African Americans saw the Atlanta riot and similar acts by whites as proof that racial intolerance would continue, that blacks did not receive “equal protection” under the laws of the land, and that the accommodation and self-help philosophy of Washington could not work in a climate of racial hatred.

Fletcher F. Moon