East St. Louis, Illinois - Hundreds of whites killed dozens of Black Americans and burned down their homes. Many of those who survived left and never returned.
Source:
1917 East St. Louis Massacre
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Tuskegee, Alabama - Tuskegee University began as the Tuskegee Normal School for Colored Teachers. It came from an agreement between a former Confederate Colonel, W.F. Foster, and a local Black American leader, Lewis Adams.
Foster sought to keep his office, in the 1880 election. He promised Adams a school for Black Americans, if he helped him get votes.
Adams delivered. Foster kept his promise. The State of Alabama passed a law for what would become Tuskegee University.
George W. Campbell, a former slave owner, recruited Booker T. Washington as principal. Washington held that position from July 4, 1881 until he died, in 1915.
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Hamburg, South Carolina - Whites killed six Black American men over a dispute from an Independence Day (4th of July) parade.
Source:
Hamburg Massacre
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Baton Rouge, Louisiana - Alton Sterling was shot at point blank range, by two white Baton Rouge police workers. Sterling died as a result of the shooting. The shooting was videotaped.
At 12:35 a.m., Monday morning, police arrived at 2112 North Foster Drive. The police were in the parking lot of Triple S Food Mart. A police call reported someone waved a gun and had threatened another. The store owner said Sterling had not caused any problems.
The two police workers saw Sterling, a large Black American man. They moved to arrest him. It is unclear what crime the two white police workers claimed Alton Sterling had committed.
The two police workers tasered and dragged Sterling to the ground. Howie Lake II placed his knee on Sterling's back. At the same time, Blane Salamoni grabbed Sterling's arms.
Lake shouted that Sterling had a gun. Salamoni pulled his gun and fired 3 shots into the back and chest of Sterling. Salamoni paused and shot Sterling 3 more times (totaled 6 shots), which caused Sterling's death.
The two white killers were never charged and kept their jobs with the police.
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Falcon Heights, Minnesota - Philando Castile was murdered by Jeronimo Yanez, who worked for the St. Anthony, Minnesota police. Yanez fired 7 shots into a car with 3 people in it, including Castile.
Castile drove with Diamond Reynolds, and her 4 year-old daughter. He was licensed to carry a firearm and had no criminal record.
At 9:04 p.m., Tuesday evening, Jeronimo Yanez (pictured left) and Joseph Kauser, stopped Philando Castile (pictured right). Earlier, a police worker radioed that he wanted Castile stopped, 'just because of the wide-set nose.'
At 9:05 p.m., Castile told Yanez he was licensed to carry a firearm and that there was a firearm in the car. This was required by Minnesota law, for licensed gun owners.
The following exchange was said. Castile, 'I'm not pulling it out.'
Diamond Reynolds said, 'He's not pulling it out!'
Yanez, reached for his gun and yelled, 'Don't pull it out!'
Yanez pulled his gun and pointed it inside the car.
Reynolds was in the passenger seat, next to Philando Castile. Reynolds' daughter was in the back seat.
Reynolds yelled, 'No!'
Yanez fired (7) times at Castile, at almost point-blank range.
Five hit Philando Castile.
Reynolds live-streamed the aftermath of the shooting. She was arrested by the police and later released without charges.
Yanez was found not guilty of manslaughter. There were ten (10) whites and two (2) Black Americans on the jury. Initially, the jury voted 10-2 for not guilty. The two holdouts were pressured, and Yanez escaped punishment.
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Dallas, Texas - The Dallas Police Department claimed Micah Johnson killed several police workers. Johnson was killed by Dallas police. The police bombed Johnson to death, in downtown Dallas.
On Wednesday, July 7th, there was a protest against police violence, in Dallas. The previous two (2) days, white male police murdered Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. Sterling was killed in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Castile was killed, in Falcon Heights, Minnesota.
In both cases, the victim was Black American and the police worker was white. Both times, the victim was shot at point-blank range, multiple times. Both times, the victim was killed. This started protests in Dallas, Texas.
It was alleged Johnson was angered over these murders of Black American men. Johnson responded and killed 5 police workers. He injured 11 others.
In the early morning hours, on Thursday, July 8th, it was claimed Johnson was in El Centro College. At 2:30 a.m., the Dallas police used a robot bomb, with C4, and killed Johnson. It was the first time a robot bomb was used, by police, for this purpose.
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Manhattan, New York - Whites began the riot because of the draft, for the American Slavery War. It ended as a full-blown race riot, when whites murdered dozens of Black Americans. 119 was the official death toll. Some claim the count was almost one thousand (1,000) dead.
New York had many pro-slavery supporters in the city, at the time. Most white workers in New York sided with Southern slave traders, owners, and politics. Many were Irish immigrants. Much of the violence was due to white hatred of competition from Black American workers.
Of the many deaths, whites lynched ten (10) Black Americans. Among them was a 7 year-old, Black American boy. The whites went after inter-racial couples and abolitionists. The white mob burned a Black American orphanage. The most violent were the longshoremen (dock workers).
It was the worst riot, of any kind, in American history. No one was charged or prosecuted for any violence committed against the Black American victims.
Source:
New York Race Riot of 1863
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New York, New York - A series of television programs showed Malcolm X, Elijah Muhammad, Louis Farrakhan, and the Nation of Islam to America. The series was produced by Mike Wallace and Louis Lomax. Wallace narrated.
Lomax was a Black American man and worked with Wallace, a white man. They worked for News Beat, on WNTA-TV (now WNET), in New York. Lomax did the interviews while Wallace narrated.
This was the first time whites had heard of the Nation of Islam. It was the first time Malcolm X appeared on television.
The series was called 'The Hate That Hate Produced.'
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- 1949
- July
- jail
- trial
- Supreme Court
- police
- killed by police
- police brutality
- death
- killed
- Groveland
- Florida
- Harry S Truman
Groveland, Florida - Norma and William Padgett, a white couple, falsely accused four (4) Black American youths of rape and kidnapping. They were Walter Irvin, Samuel Shepherd, Charles Greenlee, and Ernest Thomas.
William Padgett said his car had broken down, while with his 17 year-old wife, Norma. He said they had just left a dance. Padgett claimed the four (4) stopped and offered help. Instead, Padgett said they attacked him and kidnapped his wife.
There was a manhunt for the four (4). All were quickly arrested, except Thomas. The rest were taken to Lake County jail. In jail, the three (3) were tortured. Thomas was found a week later. All were charged with rape. Lake County Sheriff Willis McCall killed Thomas, before he was arrested.
As word spread, a mob of 100 whites demanded that McCall deliver the three (3) survivors to them. The mob was told the three (3) had been sent to state prison. In response, the mob attacked the small Black Americans community in Groveland. Black Americans were shot and their property was destroyed by the white mob.
At trial, medical exams found no proof of rape. Despite this, all three (3) were convicted of rape, by an all-white jury. Shepherd and Irvin were sentenced to death. Greenlee got life in prison.
The United States Supreme Court threw out the two (2) death sentences. Those cases were retried. As Shepherd and Irvin were headed back to trial, Sheriff McCall shot them both. Shepherd died. Irvin was injured. Sheriff McCall claimed self-defense. Greenlee never appealed his sentence, since it was not for death. He was 16 years of age.
A new all-white jury convicted Irvin. He was again sentenced to death. In 1955, it was reduced to life in prison. In 1962, Greenlee was paroled. In 1968, Irvin was paroled. He died a year later, of heart disease. Greenlee died in 2012, at 78 years of age.
Lake County Sheriff Willis McCall is pictured, on the far left.
Source:
Groveland Four
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Washington, D. C. - At a press conference, President Richard Nixon spoke on what became the 'War on Drugs.' The phrase was not used during the speech. It was created in news media reports later. Nixon said drug use was 'public enemy number one.'
A member of the Nixon White House said who the 'War' was really to defeat. John Ehrlichman was the White House Domestic Affairs Advisor. He came after Daniel P. Moynihan, of the Moynihan Report. In his role, Ehrlichman helped Nixon deal with the Black American problem, as they saw it.
Ehrlichman made these statements. 'The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.'
Source:
July 17, 1971 Nixon Press Conference
Ehrlichman Statement about the 'War on Drugs'
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Staten Island, New York - Eric Garner was killed by New York police. Daniel Pantaleo, a New York police worker, had Garner in a headlock and suffocated him. As Garner suffocated, he cried out, 'I can't breathe.' Garner died for lack of oxygen.
At about 3:30 p.m., Justin D'Amico, worked as a plain-clothes police worker. D'Amico approached Garner. Moments earlier, Garner had just stopped a fight between two other people.
Possibly, because of the fight, Pantaleo approached Garner. Pantaleo accused Garner that he sold cigarettes. Pantaleo reached for Garner. Garner said, 'Please, don't touch me.'
Pantaleo grabbed Garner around the neck and restricted Garner's air. As Garner pled for his life, Pantaleo slowly choked Garner to death.
Garner's death led to national outrage. Video of the murder was seen across the country. The New York medical examiner ruled Garner's death a homicide. Despite this, no one was ever tried for Garner's murder.
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Baton Rouge, Louisiana - Gavin Long allegedly killed 3 police workers in Louisiana. Long was killed by the police. It was claimed Long was motivated by recent murders of Black American men, by police.
Sunday, 8:48 a.m., Long was shot and killed, from 100 yards away. He was killed by a Special Weapons Assault Team (SWAT) worker of the Louisiana State Police. It was near Benny's Car Wash, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
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Milwaukee, Wisconsin - Jeffrey Dahmer was arrested by the Milwaukee police. Dahmer killed 17 people, from 1978 to 1991. Only three (3) of his victims were white. Nine (9) were Black Americans. The rest were other races.
Dahmer was known as the Milwaukee Cannibal. Dahmer chose his victims due to his homosexual (i.e. gay) desire for them. He ate some of his victims. He cut off their heads and put them in his refrigerator. He had sex with some of the dead bodies.
Tracy Edwards, a Black American man, escaped Dahmer. Edwards told the police and got Dahmer arrested. The police found seven (7) heads in Dahmer's apartment.
On November 28, 1994, Dahmer died in prison. He was killed by Christopher Scarver, a Black American man.
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Detroit, Michigan - 43 people died in the worst civil unrest of 1967. The Detroit police killed 14. Michigan National Guardsman killed nine (9).
Sunday, July 23rd, 3:45 a.m., Detroit Police workers raided an after-hours club (or blind pig). The raid was at 9125 12th Street, in the office of the the United Community League for Civic Action. It was above the Economy Printing Company.
Inside, 82 people celebrated the return of two (2) from the Vietnam War. The police expected a few people inside, before the raid.
Once the police left, scavenging began. Later, the police returned. At 7 a.m., some were arrested. The crowds grew. It was mixed, Black American and white.
By mid-afternoon, the fires started. The unrest spread across the city. Mayor Jerome Cavanagh said it was 'critical' but not 'out of control.'
At 7:45 p.m., Cavanagh began a curfew. Alcohol and firearms sales were stopped. 80% of the arrests were Black Americans.
July 24th, President Lyndon B. Johnson sent the Army, to Detroit. Johnson used the Insurrection Act of 1807. The Act was meant for enslaved Black Americans.
July 25th, 8,000 Michigan National Guardsmen entered Detroit. They were almost all white. 4,700 paratroopers joined them. They came from the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions.
July 26th, the Guardsmen killed nine (9) people. None were killed by the Army.
July 27th, ammunition was taken from the Guardsmen. The unrest declined. By July 28th, the chaos ended.
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Washington, D. C. - A 40 year-long syphilis experiment on Black American men was exposed. The Washington Star reported the story. The United States government used Black American men as test subjects, without their consent.
600 Black American men were used. They were rural farmers. They were never told they had the disease. A cure was known, but the Federal government never treated the men.
The experiment ended only because it was exposed. No one was punished.
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Chicago, Illinois - A white male stoned a Black American child, who was on a raft. The boy drowned at 13 years of age. It started a week of racial violence that left many Black Americans dead.
Source:
The 1919 Chicago Race Riots
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New York, New York - New York Magazine published a cover with dozens of women who accused Bill Cosby. The women had no evidence, no one to back up their stories, but had bad things to say about Bill Cosby.
This cover story was an attempt to attack the most prominent and successful Black American entertainer in the country. Movements such as TimesUp, and MeToo sought to present Cosby as the Black American rapist. This was similiar to Jack Johnson, 100 years earlier. It drew parallels to Michael Jackson, 10 years earlier.
The constant media pressure got Cosby convicted of a crime, against a white woman. The crime never existed. Cosby was in prison for almost three (3) years. Finally, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court cleared him of all charges.
When the hysteria over Bill Cosby began, he was near 80, almost blind, and had not been in the public spotlight for years. Some speculate this was all a distraction from white killers of unarmed Black Americans.
Source:
Vanity Fair New York Magazine Cosby Accusers
ABC News Cosby Target Timeline
NBC News New York Magazine Cosby Accusers
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Washington, D. C. - The Kerner Commission was formed. President Lyndon Baines Johnson issued Executive Order 11365. Johnson wanted to know what made Black Americans riot and how to prevent it.
The commission was created during the Detroit uprising. Johnson chose 11 whites and two (2) Black Americans. Three (3) questions were to be answered.
'What happened? Why did it happen? What can be done to prevent it from happening again and again?'
On February 29, 1968, the Kerner Report was completed. The Report stated, 'Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white—separate and unequal.'
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Washington, D. C. - The Buffalo Soldiers came from the 'Act to increase and fix the Military Peace Establishment on the United States.' It was drawn from Black American soldiers who served in the Slavery War.
Source:
Buffalo Soldiers Act p.332 (364)
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New Orleans, Louisiana - On Monday, local police and other whites killed 34-50 Black Americans and injured another 150. The race riot happened in one day.
By 1864, the American Slavery War ended for Louisiana. On May 27th, 1864, Louisiana created a new constitution. It promised Black Americans, such as soldiers, land owners, and those who were literate, the right to vote.
On April 11th, 1865, Lincoln promised all Black Americans the right to vote. Lincoln's killer, John Wilkes Booth, was at the speech. Booth killed Lincoln 4 days later.
Black codes followed Lincoln's death. These limited the rights of Black Americans in Louisiana and other Southern states. This increased hostility toward Black Americans in Louisiana.
May 1st to 3rd, whites massacred Black Americans in Memphis, sparked by white police violence. This was fresh in the mind in New Orleans, as a constitutional convention was held July 27th.
Ex-Confederate soldiers, led by New Orleans Sheriff Harry T. Hays, disrupted the convention. It was moved to July 30th.
At 12:00 p.m. (noon), July 30th, the convention was held. A crowd of white opponents waited outside. 200 freedmen (mostly veterans) paraded to the convention in support.
The freedmen neared the convention. The opposition bothered the freedmen more the closer they got to the convention. Sheriff Hays arrived and began to fire blindly into the crowd. Many Black Americans died. Others ran into the Mechanics Institute.
General Absalom Baird wired the Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton.
Baird said the following 'It was no riot. It was an absolute massacre by the police, which was not excelled in murderous cruelty by that of Fort Pillow. It was a murder which the Mayor and police of the city perpetrated without the shadow of a necessity.'
This massacre and the one in Memphis, May 1st-3rd, led to Reconstruction policies of the former Confederate South.
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