Black History Month 2023

'atlanta' - 10 results

First Black Professional Baseball League



Atlanta, Georgia - The name of the first Black American baseball league was the Southern League of Colored Base Ballists. The Georgia Champions’ won against the Memphis Eclipse. The score was 11-10.

The league only lasted one year. But, it was not the last. The next year, the National Colored Base Ball League began in 1887. The leagues were formed due to racial exclusion laws in the United States.


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Atlanta Vaccination War



Atlanta, Georgia - White doctors and white police forced Black Americans to take injections. The claim by whites was that it was to stop smallpox. An inoculation for smallpox was known more than 150 years before, by the Black American man Onesimus.

Under the pretense of vaccination, white police broke into a Black American home. Inside, there was a wedding, with guests. The white police held everyone inside the home. White doctors came and forcibly injected them.

A judge was over a city court, where many Black Americans were normally brought. When the judge gave the word, whites locked all inside. Black Americans were forced to take injections. The white police used violence to force injections.


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Atlanta Race Massacre



Atlanta, Georgia - White mobs with white police attacked Black Americans for three (3) days. Whites feared competition from Black Americans, who came to the city to work. White fears were inflamed by the recent print of the Clansman, the previous year.

Black people were pulled from streetcars. They were beaten, stabbed, and punched. Whites rode through Black Americans areas and randomly shot into buildings. At least 24 Black Americans died. Only two whites died and one was from a heart attack. The other was from another white.

The news of the violence spread across the ocean. In France, it was reported that whites lynched Black Americans. The London Telegraph read that whites started anti-Black Americans riots.

No whites were punished for their violence against Black Americans. It took years to recover from the damage to Black American businesses, homes, and lost property, caused by the white mobs.

Source:

Opinion 1906 Atlanta Race Massacre

Opinion 1906 Atlanta Race Massacre

Why did the 1906 Atlanta Massacre happen?

Police violence and the 1906 Atlanta Race Massacre


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The Only Supreme Court Trial in United States History



Washington, D. C. - The only trial in United States Supreme Court history ended. The verdict was guilty for all tried. Sheriff Shipp, Luther Williams, and Nick Nolan were sentenced to ninety days in jail for the lynching (death) of Ed Johnson, a Black American man. They were jailed in Washington, D. C.

After they served their sentence, the three (3) white males were greeted with a mob of 10-15,000 fans, in Tennessee.

Source:

Only Supreme Court Trial


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Martin Luther King, Jr. Born



Atlanta, Georgia - Michael King Jr. was born. He would later become Martin Luther King Jr.


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Gone With The Wind Premiered



Atlanta, Georgia - The movie, Gone With The Wind, was shown for the first time, in public. The Black American actress, Hattie McDaniel, had a major role in the movie.

It was the story of a family of Georgia slave owners. It covered the time just before and after the Slavery War (or Civil War). The movie showed the enslavers as decent and hard-working. Many were made to be sympathetic, despite their use of forced labor.

Black Americans were only in the movie as slaves, in the pre-War period. After the war, Black Americans were shown as lazy or corrupt. The house slaves were shown as submissive, docile, childish, and obedient.

The story made slavery seem the same as a regular job. There were no whips, violence, hunger, or beatings against Black Americans, shown in the movie. McDaniel's role, as a house slave, was used against Black American women to show them as obese, bossy, loyal to her abusers, and hostile to Black American men.

McDaniel was given an Oscar Award for her role. She was not allowed to attend the ceremony because of her skin color. Instead, it was given to her in private.


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Song of the South Movie Premiered



Atlanta, Georgia - Walt Disney, with RKO Pictures, showed Song of the South at the Fox Theater. It was a fictional story that combined live action with animation, in a musical format. All of the Black American actors (live and animated) spoke in broken English. All the white actors spoke clearly and with confidence.

The setting was a slave plantation. The main character, was Uncle Remus, a slave. He told stories to the child of the white slaveowners family. All the Black American actors played slave roles in the movie. They played as happy, docile, obedient, and submissive. And, they were ready with a smile for their white enslavers.

On its release, many Black Americans denounced the movie as an insult to the true history of chattel slavery. Walt Disney ignored the advice of many Black Americans who tried to present a better image of Black Americans. Disney chose to embrace base racial stereotypes that were common, for the time.

Racist stereotypes included the Mammy, the Magic Negro, the 'happy slave' among many others. These are parts of the Lost Cause Myth.

The movie was a commercial success, in its first release. It was released again in 1972, and was the most profitable animation re-release, up to that time.

Source:

Song of the South Background

Song Of The South Full Movie 1972 Re-release


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SCLC Formed



Atlanta, Georgia - The birth of what became the Southern Christian Leadership Conference was organized. It was first called Southern Leadership Conference on Transportation and Nonviolent Integration.


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Nation of Islam Meets KKK



Atlanta, Georgia - The Nation of Islam sent two (2) of its members to meet the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). The two men were Malcolm X and Jeremiah X.

Elijah Muhammad wanted his mosques safe, in the South. A meeting was arranged with the KKK. It was held at the home of Jeremiah X. As national spokesman, Malcolm X spoke for the Nation of Islam.

The KKK speaker was W.S. Fellows. It was estimated 10% of the KKK were Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) snitches. The FBI may have used the meeting to learn more about the Nation of Islam.

The Nation of Islam got the safety it wanted. Malcolm X, it was believed, began to doubt Elijah Muhammad.


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Birmingham May Bombings of 1963



Birmingham, Alabama - Bombs exploded at the home of A. D. King (Martin Luther King's brother), and under the room where Martin Luther King had stayed the previous nights.

The first bomb was placed by a uniformed police worker. He drove a marked police car to the home of A. D. King. There he placed a bomb near the porch. The second was thrown at Room 30, of the Gaston Motel.

There was a month-long protest in Birmingham, for racial justice. Finally, local white Birmingham politicians and bureaucrats agreed to concessions. On Friday, May 10th, they agreed to limit racial discrimination and lessen segregation.

In response, on Saturday, May 11th, a white supremacist rally was called outside Birmingham, in Bessemer, Alabama. That evening, at 10:45 p.m., a bomb exploded at A. D. King's home, planted by the Birmingham police.

Just before midnight, at 11:58 p.m., the bomb exploded at the Gaston Hotel. The explosion could be heard across town.

Later, President John F. Kennedy remarked, 'the people who've gotten out of hand are not the white people, but the Negroes by and large.' On this basis, Kennedy called on the military to enter Birmingham.

No deaths or injuries were caused by the explosive devices (bombs). Martin Luther King had left earlier, to go to Atlanta.

The guest, in the room below King's, slept elsewhere. He had planned to sleep there, to get a break from the meetings at his house. But, fatigue forced him to sleep at home.

The bomb at the home of A. D. King did not do enough damage to cause injury. No one was prosecuted for the bombings.


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