Duluth lynchings
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The Duluth Lynchings of 1920 occurred when three black circus workers, weakly suspected of raping a local teenager, were killed by a mob in Duluth, Minnesota.
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[edit] Background
During and immediately following World War I, a large population of African Americans emigrated from the South to the North and Midwest in search of job opportunities. The mostly white inhabitants of the Midwest saw the arriving blacks as a potential threat to their own employment. This fear heightened racial tensions, which erupted into race riots across the North and Midwest in 1919. Even after the riots subsided, racial relations between blacks and whites remained strained and volatile.
[edit] The Lynching
On June 14, 1920, the James Robinson Circus arrived in Duluth for a performance. Two local teenagers, Irene Tusken and James Sullivan, attended the circus and later walked over the rear of the main circus tent to watch the black workers. What actual events that transpired between Tusken, Sullivan and the black workers are unknown; however, the next day Sullivan claimed that he and Tusken were assaulted, and Tusken was raped, by six black circus workers. Sullivan's father reported the story to the Duluth Police whom immediately arrested six black men in connection with the rape.
The authenticity of James Sullivan's rape claim is subject to skepticism. When Irene Tusken was examined by physician Dr. David Graham, on the morning of June 15, he found no physical evidence of rape or assault.[1]
Newspapers printed articles on the alleged rape, while rumors spread throughout the town that Tusken had died as a result of the assault. Quickly, a mob estimated between 1,000 and 10,000 people [1] formed outside the Duluth city jail. The Duluth Police tried to prevent the mob from entering the jail, but were overpowered by the numerically superior mob. The mob seized Elias Clayton, Elmer Jackson, and Isaac McGhie and found them guilty of Irene Tusken's rape in a mock trial. The three men were taken to 1st Street and 2nd Avenue East[1], where they were lynched by the mob.
The next day the Minnesota National Guard arrived at Duluth to secure the area and to guard the surviving prisoners, as well as 10 other men who were suspected. They were moved to the St. Louis county jail under heavy guard. [1]
[edit] Aftermath
The next day Duluth made headlines throughout the country. Many were shocked such an atrocity happened in Minnesota, a northern state. The Chicago Evening Post opined, “This is a crime of a Northern state, as black and ugly as any that has brought the South in disrepute. The Duluth authorities stand condemned in the eyes of the nation.” An article in the Minneapolis Journal accused the lynch mob of putting “an effaceable stain on the name of Minnesota,” stating, “The sudden flaming up of racial passion, which is the reproach of the South, may also occur, as we now learn in the bitterness of humiliation in Minnesota.” [1]
"From the Ely Miner, June 15, 1920. In Superior, Wisconsin, just across the bay, the Acting Chief of Police declared, “We are going to run all idle negroes out of Superior and they’re going to stay out.” How many were forced out is not certain, but all of the blacks employed by a carnival in Superior were fired and told to leave the city.” [1]
“Two days latter on June 17, 1920 Judge William Cant and the grand jury had a difficult time convicting the lead mob members. In the end the grand jury issued thirty-seven indictments for the lynching mob and twenty-five were given out for rioting and twelve for the crime of murder in the first degree some of the people were indictment for both. But only 3 people would end up being convicted for rioting. Seven men where indicted for rape. For five of the indicted men, charges were dismissed. The remaining two, Max Mason and William Miller, were tried for rape. William Miller was acquitted, while Max Mason was convicted and sentenced to serve seven to thirty years in prison.”[1] He was to end up serving a prison sentence in Stillwater State Prison of only 4 years from 1921 to 1925 on the condition that he would leave the state.
[edit] The Duluth Lynchings Memorial
On October 13, 2003 the event was commemorated in Duluth, by dedicating three 7-foot-tall bronze statues to three men who were killed. The statues are part of a memorial across the street from where the lynchings happened. The Duluth Lynchings Memorial is the largest lynching monument in the United States [citation needed].
[edit] Duluth Lynchings on Google Video
North Star - Duluth Lynchings: Presence of the Past Twin Cities Public Television
Google Video: Presence of the Past
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e f g Duluth Lynchings On line Resource. Minnesota Historical Society. Retrieved on 2006-03-09.
- Clayton Jackson Mcghie Memorial. Retrieved on 2006-03-09.
- Fedo, Michael (2000). The Lynchings in Duluth. St. Paul, MN: Minnesota Historical Society Press. ISBN 0-87351-386-X.
- Olsen, Ken. Duluth Remembers 1920 Lynching. Fight Hate and Promote Tolerance. Tolerance.org. Retrieved on 2006-03-09.
