Black History Month 2025

1896 1897 1898

24 Grover Cleveland (2) | 25 William McKinley | 26 Theodore Roosevelt

Redemption Jim Crow Black Power

December 7, 1897
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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