Black History Month 2024
'massacre' - 26 results
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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Memphis, Tennessee - It was one of the worst race riots in Memphis history (began Tuesday and ended Thursday). Whites killed Black Americans for 3 days.
The massacre began after white police shot at Black Army veterans, from the Union Army. There were prior complaints of police brutality. Yet, none had been resolved.
After the shooting incident, white mobs raced into areas where Black Americans lived, in Memphis. Thus began a days long rampage of whites who murdered, burned, and raped in the Black American community.
More than 46 Black Americans were murdered. Two (2) whites died. No whites died because of Black Americans. Whites injured 75 Black Americans, robbed over 100, and raped five (5) women.
Whites destroyed 91 homes, four (4) churches and eight (8) schools. White mobs destroyed every Black American church and school in Memphis. By Thursday, May 3rd, Federal troops had restored order.
By 1870, the Black American population of Memphis had fallen by 25%, compared to 1865. No one was charged or held accountable. No Black American was compensated for their loss.
The Federal government refused prosecution. They claimed it was a state matter. The State of Tennessee and local officials refused to investigate or charge anyone for the mayhem.
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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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Opelousas, Louisiana - Whites rampaged through the area and killed 150 people because Black Americans voted. A white supremacist group, called Knights of the White Camelia began the violence.
Source:
Opelousas Massacre
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St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana - Whites went on a multi-day killing spree of Black Americans. It began due to white fear that Black American voters chose candidates that did not support white supremacy. Whites killed dozens of Black Americans. There were possibly more than 100 killed.
Source:
St. Parish Massacre
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Vicksburg, Mississippi - Whites killed dozens (possibly hundreds) of Black Americans to remove a Black American man as sheriff, Peter Crosby.
No white was prosecuted, investigated, nor punished.
Source:
Daily Alta California, Volume 26, Number 9029, 21 December 1874
1874 Vicksburg Massacre News Article
1874 Vicksburg Massacre
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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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Thibodaux, Louisiana - Whites murdered 60 Black American farm workers. They tried to unionize for better pay from whites. In response, whites shot to death the leaders, allies, and other Black Americans just for being there.
Source:
Thibodaux Massacre
Violence Against Black Workers
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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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Springfield, Illinois - Thousands of local and immigrant whites attacked and killed Black Americans. The violence lasted 2 days and was only stopped with the state militia.
Two (2) Black American men were accused of attempted rape of two white women. Word spread and a mob formed to lynch the Black American men. When the white mob learned the men had been transferred out of the city, the violence began. Whites killed random Black Americans, burned homes, destroyed businesses and private property. The white mob attacked any who sympathized with Black Americans.
This event helped start a movement for civil rights groups in the United States.
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Newberry, Florida - Whites killed six Black Americans. Four (4) men and two (2) women died, with one pregnant. They were all lynched. The men were Andrew McHenry, Bert Dennis, and John Haskins. The women were Mary Dennis (pregnant) and Stella Young.
It all began because white men accused a Black American man of stealing hogs. None of the lynched were the man accused.
None of the whites were punished for the killings.
Source:
Newberry Lynching Marker
Florida Lynchings
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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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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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Elaine, Arkansas - 500-1000 white males murdered dozens of Black Americans. It all started because Black American farmers wanted to work together for a better life.
On September 30, 1919, sharecroppers met to create a union. They met at a church to get better prices for their crops. To keep white plantation owners from the meeting, armed Black American guards waited outside. In Elaine, there were ten (10) Black Americans to every 1 white.
It is unclear what began the trouble at the church. There was gunfire and a white security guard was dead. The guard worked for the Missouri-Pacific Railroad. A white deputy sheriff was injured.
On October 1st, the Phillips County Sheriff formed a posse. He told Governor Brough there was an insurrection in Elaine. The Governor sent word to the Secretary of War. Soldiers were on their way to Elaine.
As troops made their way to Elaine, hundreds of whites came to the town. They were from other counties and the next State. Whites killed Black Americans with no restraint, and injured hundreds more.
On October 2nd, 500 soldiers arrived in the morning and the massacre ended.
Source:
Elaine Arkansas Massacre
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Tulsa, Oklahoma - Two days of murder, riots, and chaos began in Tulsa. At the time, only 49 were counted as dead. 36 were Black Americans and 13 were white. Actual deaths range from 75-300. It all began because of a rumor.
Monday, May 30, 1921, two teenagers worked at a store in the Drexel building. Dick Rowland was a 19 year-old, Black American male. He worked on boots. Sarah Page was a 17 year-old, white female. She was an elevator operator.
The two were touching each other in the elevator. A white man saw the two. Page screamed.
On May 31, 1921, Rowland was arrested at his home. He was charged with attempted rape. By 7:34 p.m., rumors had spread through the white community. It was started by white lawyers and newspapers. This included the Tulsa Tribune.
As rumors spread, hundreds of whites came to the courthouse. They were there to lynch (murder) Rowland. The white sheriff Willard M. McCullough was in charge of the case.
McCullough blocked the courthouse doors. He was inside with twenty-five (25) other police. They were on the top floor of the courthouse.
By 9:00 p.m., about 100 Black Americans came to the courthouse. They were armed. Many were former World War 1 veterans. Some were dressed in military uniform. McCullough told them all was under control.
By 10:00 p.m., the armed Black American men returned. By this time, there were thousands of whites at the courthouse. Unarmed whites looted nearby gun stores, pawn shops, and sporting goods stores. The whites stole guns and ammunition.
The white mob shouted 'bring the rope.' Racial slurs were hurled at the Black American men. The whites wanted to murder all the Black American men at the courthouse. The race riot was under way.
After many deaths, Rowland was never tried for a crime. He was not harmed in the riot.
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Tulsa, Oklahoma - Whites made airstrikes against Black Americans. This was the second day of The Tulsa Race Riots.
Early Wednesday morning, whites flew airplanes over the Greenwood District of Tulsa. From the air, whites shot rifles and made aerial bombing runs against Black Americans.
The bombs landed on buildings and homes. The bombers aimed at fleeing families. The aircraft was privately owned. Police participated. The police claimed it was to prevent a 'Negro uprising' in the town.
One witness made this report. There were 'a dozen or more' planes. They circled the neighborhood. The planes dropped 'burning turpentine balls' on an office building, a hotel, a filling station and other buildings. Shots were fired at Black Americans. They were gunned down in the street.
This was the first aerial bombing in the United States.
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Rosewood, Florida - The Black Community of Rosewood was destroyed in one (1) week. A large white mob, from nearby towns, descended on Rosewood. Whites massacred the Black Americans of the town and razed it.
The massacre started from a rumor. Word spread that a white woman was attacked by a Black drifter, in nearby Sumner, Florida. As more white towns heard the rumor, a white mob formed.
On January 1st, the mayhem began. It ended January 7th. That is when the white mob burnt the last of Rosewood to the ground.
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- 1969
- December
- death
- Black Panthers
- massacre
- killed by police
- killed
- COINTELPRO
- Chicago
- Illinois
- Lyndon B. Johnson
Chicago, Illinois - Fred Hampton was killed, in bed, in his apartment. Chicago police workers killed him. Hampton was unarmed and asleep, and in bed.
On Wednesday, December 3rd, Fred Hampton taught a political education course. It was at a local church. Members of the Black Panther Party attended. This was the night before his death.
After the class, several Black Panthers went to his Monroe Street apartment to spend the night. This was routine after a course.
Besides Hampton, the group included Deborah Johnson, Blair Anderson, James Grady, Ronald 'Doc' Satchell, Harold Bell, Verlina Brewer, Louis Truelock, Brenda Harris, and Mark Clark.
William O'Neal waited for them, when they arrived. O'Neal was chief of security. There, the group ate a late meal, prepared by O'Neal. The time was around midnight.
O'Neal slipped drugs into Hampton's drink. It was the barbiturate sleep agent secobarbitol. Hampton consumed the drink during the dinner.
The drug sedated Hampton. It kept him asleep, during the police raid. O'Neal left at this point.
At about 1:30 a.m., December 4th, Hampton was on the phone with his mother. He fell asleep, mid-sentence.
At 4:00 a.m., a heavily armed tactical unit, of white males, went to Hampton's apartment. They were sent by the Cook County State's Attorney's Office. They were joined by the Chicago Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
At 4:45 a.m., the tactical unit and Chicago Police shot first. They shot 90 times into Hampton's apartment. Only Mark Clark fired a shot, after being shot first.
Hampton survived the barrage. He was still breathing. The Chicago Police executed him. A point-blank shot was fired, that killed Hampton.
This was part of the FBI's Counter-Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO).
William O'Neal committed suicide on January 15th, 1990 (Martin Luther King Day). O'Neal ran into oncoming traffic on a Chicago expressway. An automobile hit and killed O'Neal.
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Barima-Waini (Jonestown), Guyana - (909 dead) Jonestown was a camp for the religious cult-leader, Jim Jones. His cult was known as the Peoples Temple. It began in 1956, in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Jones preyed on Black Americans. He focused on Black American women. He was a known womanizer. Jones regularly slept with female members. While the Temple was mostly Black American, the leadership was almost all white. Local whites were upset that the Temple had Black American members. Jones made plans to move the Temple.
In 1966, Jones left Indiana for California. First he went to Redwood Valley. Later, he went to San Francisco. There, Jones became well-known in politics. Yet, there were those who felt he abused his followers. It convinced Jones to leave the country.
In 1974, Jones decided on Guyana. He leased land (3,800 acres) from the Guyana government. The land was in the middle of the jungle. Over time, Jones moved hundreds of his followers to the area. He had a compound built, and called it Jonestown.
On Tuesday, November 14th, Congressman Leo Ryan, Jr. came to Jonestown. He heard reports of abuse and that members were forced to stay. Ryan went with a group that included journalists and aides. They toured the camp and talked to people in Jonestown.
On Saturday, November 18th, at 4:45 p.m. Ryan's group were to leave, from the Kaituma airstrip. It was the first part of their trip back to the United States. As they waited for their flight, Jones followers opened fire.
Ryan, three (3) journalists, and one (1) former Jones member were killed. Ryan was shot twenty (20) times. He was on the runway, to board the plane, to leave. He was the only person, in Congress, to die in the line-of-duty.
Later, that same day, Jones told his followers to drink poisoned (cyanide) Kool-AId. This is where 'drinking the Kool-Aid' started.
Most did not drink the poison, as told by survivors. Many were shot to death by Jones' bodyguards. Others, were intentionally injected with poison. Others were forced at gunpoint. Hundreds of men, women, and children were mass-murdered, on the word of Jim Jones.
The Jonestown massacre was the largest peacetime loss of American non-military life in United States history, until 9/11. Jim Jones did not escape Jonestown. He was killed, the same night. It was a single gunshot to his head. It was never proved if it was suicide, or murder.
Some suspect Jones was a CIA asset. His death was on orders from the CIA. The reason was the end of the Jonestown project.
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Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - The Philadelphia Police Department used a bomb, in an airstrike, that killed 11 people. It was dropped on the roof of a home. The neighborhood was densely packed. The Philadelphia Fire Department let the fire burn out of control.
MOVE was the Christian Movement For Life. It was a back-to-nature group of Black Americans, led by John Africa. From 1981, MOVE members lived in a row home, at 6221 Osage Avenue, in Philadelphia.
For years, neighbors complained about MOVE members. The complaints were about trash around the house and confrontations with neighbors. MOVE used a bullhorn to make announcements, of political messages, in the neighborhood.
Mayor Wilson Goode and police commissioner Gregore J. Sambor evacuated the neighborhood before their planned attack on the MOVE house. They promised that everyone could return after twenty-four (24) hours.
Monday, May 13, 1985, five hundred (500) police workers arrived at the MOVE house. The police were there to arrest MOVE members and clear the house.
There were thirteen (13) people inside the MOVE house. They were eight (8) adults and five (5) children. The police ordered everyone to leave. MOVE members did not respond.
The police fired tear gas bombs into the house. The MOVE members fired at the bomb throwers. Police fired ten thousand (10,000) rounds at the house.
The police barrage stopped. The MOVE members stayed inside. Next, Commissioner Sambor ordered the house be bombed, from the air.
At 5:27 p.m., Frank Powell was head of the Philadelphia police bomb disposal squad. Powell lit a 45 second fuse to C-4 (an explosive used in the Vietnam War). From a helicopter, Powell dropped the bomb, on the still occupied MOVE house.
The bomb exploded on the roof and started a fire. Mayor Goode ordered that the fire should not be put out until the bunker burned. That was one and a half (1 1/2) hours after the fire started.
As a result, eleven (11) people died. Six (6) adults and five (5) children were killed. The children ranged from seven (7) to fourteen (14) years of age. Ramona Africa was one of the survivors. She said the police shot at them as they tried to escape the fire.
Ramona Africa was charged and convicted of riot and conspiracy, as a survivor of MOVE. No city employees, politicians, or officials were criminally charged for the attack.
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Oklahoma City, Oklahoma - Timothy McVeigh committed the greatest domestic terrorism act until the 9/11 event of 2001. McVeigh was responsble for the destruction of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. It resulted in the deaths of dozens of Black Americans and a total of 168 dead and 680 injured.
Among the dead were more than a dozen children. Some were infants. It was suspected that McVeigh targeted the building specifically to murder Black American women and children. This event exposed the Michigan Militia as a domestic terrorist, white supremacist organization.
McVeigh enlisted in the military at age 20, in 1988. He served in Iraq. McVeigh bragged about decapitating an Iraqi soldier with cannon fire.
On June 11th, 2001, McVeigh was executed by lethal injection.
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Columbine, Colorado - The greatest high school mass murder was committed by Eric Harris, and Dylan Klebold.
Harris and Klebold sought to kill all the Black American students at the school. They only found and killed one, Isaiah Shoels, aged 18. The two (2) murdered eleven (11) others.
At 12:08 p.m., the two killed themselves. This was the birthday of Adolf Hitler.
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Charleston, South Carolina - Just before 9:00 p.m., a 21 year-old Dylann Roof murdered nine (9) Black Americans. The massacre took place at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. 5 survived.
Wednesday, June 17, 2015, at about 8:00 p.m., Roof came to the church. Inside, there were fourteen (14) people. They started a bible study. Senior pastor, state senator Clementa C. Pinckney ran the bible study.
Once Roof entered the church, he asked for Pinckney. Roof sat next to Pinckney. Once the bible study ended, prayer began. As people prayed, Roof stood, and began shooting people to death. Roof said, 'Y'all want something to pray about? I'll give you something to pray about.'
Roof reloaded his gun 5 times. Each victim was shot at least 5 times. He fired 70 shots. Roof shouted racial slurs at his victims, as he shot them.
All of the survivors were female. 2 survived playing dead. 2 survived, in another room, that Roof never saw. 1 survived because Roof wanted her to tell others.
On December 15, 2016, Roof was convicted on all charges. This included 9 counts of murder.
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Buffalo, New York - Payton Gendron killed 10 Black Americans at a grocery store. Gendron was taken alive by the police workers of the City of Buffalo.
Gendron prepared for the attack for weeks in advance. The day before, he spoke with a Black immigrant for more than an hour. The immigrant noticed that Gendron looked 'twitchy' but called him a 'genius.'
The next day, Gendron returned. He was armed with an AR-15 (assault rifle) and body armor. His murdering began in the parking lot, of the Tops grocery store. There, he shot four people. Gendron then shot into the store.
A Black American security guard shot numerous rounds at Gendron. The body armor protected Gendron, who shot and killed the security guard.
Once inside the store, Gendron continued to target Black Americans. He passed a white man and told him 'Sorry.' Gendron then killed Black Americans he had wounded earlier.
Once the rampage was over, 13 were shot and only 3 survived. Gendron wrote a manifesto that claimed the reason for the attack was due to The Great Replacement Theory.
This theory states that immigrants will be used to win elections. Gendron's victims were not immigrants.
Source:
Peyton Gendron Manifesto
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