*On this date in 1906, The Atlanta Race Riot occurred. This tragedy was the result of bitter white hostility toward Blacks after vague reports of Blacks harassing white women.
Over five days at least ten Black people were killed while Atlanta's police did nothing to protect Black citizens, going so far as to confiscate guns from Atlanta’s Blacks while allowing whites to remain armed. It was this and other events of hatred-based incidents during what was called the “Red Summers” in the early twentieth century.
They were part of a pattern of anti-Black violence that included several hundred lynchings each year for over two decades. France covered the story (image above) in this October 7, 1906 issue.
Black First:
2,000 years of extraordinary achievement
by Jessie Carney Smith
Copyright 1994 Visible Ink Press, Detroit, MI
ISBN 0-8103-9490-1
