Episodes tagged "Race-Relations": 21 through 30 of 667
- Two African Americans Hung in St. James Parish, Louisiana
September 21, 1871
ST JAMES, Louisiana
African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Health/Death, Law, Race-RelationsLed up the stars to the wooden platform, shackled and eerily subdued, two unnamed African American men marched solemnly to their deaths. The guards shoved them into place while the executioner waited with anticipation for his cue to drop the platforms supporting the prisoners' feet. The sheriff and jailer looked on with authoritative indifference; death for these two men was drawing ever closer....
- All men are created equal
December 11, 1893
BALTIMORE CITY, Maryland
African-Americans, Church/Religious-Activity, Law, Race-RelationsReligious faith and rhetoric dominated nearly every aspect of life for both blacks and whites following Reconstruction in the South. For them, God was an integral factor that offered life guidance in religious terms. Thus, if one failed to adhere to the principles upheld by their religion, they were condemned in religious and social regards. In 1893, Reverend W. Walker Jubb gave a sermon describing...
- Mistaken Identity
February 14, 1893
HAMILTON, Tennessee
African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Health/Death, Law, Race-Relations, WomenMrs. M.A. Moore, widowed mother of seven grown children, was alone in her home one morning. As she went about her household business, a black man forced himself into her house and assaulted her. He then escaped, leaving Mrs. Moore in her house. The white population of Chattanooga was outraged that such an offense could be committed in broad daylight upon a well-respected white woman. So, they cast...
- The Implications of Racist Railroad Policies
1851
MACON, Georgia
African-Americans, Migration/Transportation, Race-Relations, SlaveryThe Macon and Western Railroad adopted a new policy in 1851 which prohibited all black people, regardless of their freed or enslaved status, from boarding any train unless they could prove the legitimacy of their travel. All African Americans had to have a written pass issued by the individual's owner or trustee. The office and the conductor both required a copy of it, and if the office was not familiar...
- The Hanging of Walter Cotton
1898 to 1900
GREENSVILLE, Virginia
African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Race-RelationsIn the summer of 1900 Brandt O'Grady, an Irish immigrant was hanged along side Walter Cotton, a ginger colored negro, by a mob of angry Virginians at the Greensville County courthouse. The hanging was in retaliation for the brutal murder of several white individuals around Greensville County, including the 1898 murder of Charles Wyatt, a storeowner from Portsmouth, Virginia. After escaping from jail...
- Mr. Vermillion got between me and my freedom, so I killed him.
October 7, 1845
FAIRFAX, Virginia
African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Law, Race-Relations, SlaveryThe inhumane murder of James T. Vermillion by a runaway slave sparked a manhunt in Fairfax County. The slave, owned by Mr. William Brawner of Prince William County, had not gotten very far when Mr. Vermillion caught him near his house, Pleasant Valley, in Fairfax County. Upon apprehending the runaway, Mr. Vermillion was going to take him to the magistrate for a proper conviction and return to his...
- Silencing Lynching
August 17, 1895
BALTIMORE CITY, Maryland
Government, Race-RelationsIn the turbulent South of the late 19th century, the act of lynching was a well-established institution. This degrading act of vigilante violence was initiated to control; mainly African-Americans in a predominantly white society. A response article was written to the African-American Ledger, a black operated newspaper in Baltimore, rebuking these despicable acts towards a fellow human being. A spark...
- Stolen Bacon
April 30, 1866
FLUVANNA, Virginia
African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Government, Race-RelationsIn 1866 Virginia, grand larceny included stealing someone's bacon. In Fluvanna County, a black man named William Holly stole the bacon and other property belonging to a white woman named Beverly Haden. Haden pressed charges for the offense, and the accused stood trial for his crimes, and was found guilty. After emancipation, trials involving free blacks in the South were often conducted carefully to...
- Convict Standoff
July 13, 1886 to July 14, 1886
DADE, Georgia
African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Economy, Government, Law, Race-RelationsIt was already hot. As the Superintendent lined the convicts up to march back to the Dade County coal mines for another day of exhausting labor, one group refused to move. At the head of a long line of men chained together, the leader of the rebellion spoke up to Colonel Tower. He said that he and all the rest of the men from his stockade refused to work another day in the heat at their awful work....
- Stole a Pocketbook
January 5, 1899 to 1899
NORFOLK CITY, Virginia
African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Race-RelationsOn January 5, 1899 the Virginian-Pilot reported that a young black male in the town of Portsmouth, Virginia had stolen the pocketbook of a lady whose services he was filling. While this petty incident of crime was relatively unnoticed, buried in the middle of the paper, the style in which the brief story was written illustrates the social opinions in this southern city. The story goes on to describe...
rss feed