Atlanta Race Riot

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The Atlanta Race Riot of 1906 was a mass civil disturbance in Atlanta, Georgia, USA which began the evening of September 22nd and lasted until September 26th. An estimated 25 to 40 African-Americans were killed along with 2 confirmed whites. The main cause was the rising tension between whites and blacks as a result of competition for jobs, increased black rights, Reconstruction, and the gubernatorial election of 1906.


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[edit] Causes

Atlanta was considered to be a prime example of how whites and blacks could live together in harmony; however, with the end of the Civil War an increased tension between black wage-workers and the white elite began. These tensions were further exacerbated by increasing rights for blacks, which included the right to vote. With these increased rights, African-Americans began to enter in the realm of politics, began establishing businesses, and gaining notoriety as a social class. These newly acquired African-American rights brought increased competition between blacks and whites for jobs and heightened class distinctions.

These tensions came to a boil with the gubernatorial election of 1906 in which Hoke Smith and Clark Howell competed for the Democratic nomination. Both candidates were looking to find ways to disenfranchise black voters because they felt that the black vote could throw the election to the other candidate. Hoke Smith was a former publisher of the Atlanta Journal and Clark Howell was the editor of the Atlanta Constitution. Both candidates used their influence to incite white voters and help spread the fear that whites may not be able to maintain the current social order. These papers and others attacked saloons and bars that were run and frequented by black citizens. These "dives", as whites called them, were said to have nude pictures of women, some of whom were white. Competing for circulation, the Atlanta Georgian and the Atlanta News began publishing stories about white women being molested and raped by black men. These allegations were reported multiple times and were largely false accusations.


[edit] The Atlanta Race Riot

On September 22nd, 1906, Atlanta newspapers reported four alleged assaults on local white women. Soon, some 10,000 white men and boys began gathering on Decatur Street in the Five Points area downtown. The newspapers with their incendiary headlines were circulated around and the mob soon turned violent, running down, beating, stabbing, and/or lynching black members of the community who were on the street. White rioters began pulling black people off the backs of trolley cars, looting black stores, and setting fire to other buildings. The riot lasted four days and caused the then current governor to call in the Militia. Even with the Militia the crowd did not disperse until a heavy rain came. The Militia was able to then take control of the town, even though separate groups of Klan members still tried to ransack black suburbs on the outskirts of town.


[edit] Outcomes

It is estimated that there were between twenty-five to forty African American deaths. It was confirmed that there were only two white deaths. Significant African American social changes were also an outcome of the riot. This included a disturbance of black housing and social pattens. In the years after the riot, African Americans were most likely to live in settled black communities. These communities were most likely found to the west of the city near Atlanta University or in eastern downtown. Black businesses were dispersed to the east, where a thriving black business district soon developed. Other outcomes included an increase in black suffrage in 1908.

Efforts to promote biracial understanding included the creation of the Commission on Interracial Cooperation in 1919. However, white supremacist organizations, such as the Ku Klux Klan, made their return in the city. Nathan Bedford Forrest Klan No. 1 had a membership of over 15,000 within the city, displaying a newfound white bitterness towards blacks.

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  • Bauerlein, Mark (2001). Negrophobia: A Race Riot in Atlanta, 1906. San Francisco: Encounter Books. ISBN 1-893554-54-6. 
  • Burns, Rebecca (2006). Rage in the Gate City: The Story of the 1906 Atlanta Race Riot. Emmis Books. ISBN 1-57860-268-8. 
  • Godshalk, David Fort (2006). Veiled Visions: The 1906 Atlanta Race Riot and the Reshaping of American Race Relations. The University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0-8078-5626-6. 
  • Mixon, Gregory (2005). The Atlanta Riot: Race, Class, And Violence In A New South City. University Press of Florida. ISBN 0-8130-2787-X. 
  • Allen, Josephine. "Atlanta, Georgia." Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History. 1st ed. 5 vols. New York: Simon & Schuster and the Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York, 1996.
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