Fear, terror and Lynchings

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Fear, terror and Lynchings
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The Tulsa Riot, May 1921

• blacks could not do business with the white
  communities
• They built their own shops, restaurants in their
  communities
• Tulsa, Oklahoma was a prosperous area
• Black Wall street

Greenwood Avenue, Tulsa
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What happened?

• Black man was accused of raping a white women
• KKK organised racist attacks
• Whites stormed into the Black communities
• Destroyed the business district of Tulsa
  including churches, schools and libraries

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Devastation

• over 800 people were admitted to local hospitals
  with injuries
• an estimated 10,000 were left homeless, 35 city
  blocks were destroyed by fire
• 1.8 million in property damage.
• 39 people were officially reported killed,
  although most experts agree that the actual
  number of black citizens killed during the riot
  to be around 150

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The Scottsboro Boys

• March 1931, 9 young men aged 13-21 rode a freight
  train from Chatanooga, Tennessee
• a fight between black and white broke out on a
  after a white man stepped on a black man, Haywood
  Patterson
• All the white men except Orville Gilley were
  forced off

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What happened?

• the train stopped in Paint Rock, Alabama
• The boys were accused of raping two white girls
  on the train
• This was the beginning of a long legal case which
  highlighted racism and injustice

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What happened?

• They were taken to Scottsboro, Alabama
• They all pleaded not guilty to a white jury
• They were sentenced to death
• Black people were automatically found guilty if
  they were accused of a crime against a white
  person

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Lynching party

• On the day of the trial white demonstrators
  turned up to demonstrate
• The band played Therell be a hot time in the
  old time tonight a fire up song
• http//www.peteyandpetunia.com/HotTime/HotTime3.ht
  m

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Support for the boys

• There was also support for the Scottsboro boys
• E.g. Harlem in NY, money was found to pay for
  legal defence
• Also demonstrations In Germany
• Support from Einstein and Ruby Bates

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A New Trial

• November 1932, the boys faced an all-white jury
  again
• The people of the town made it clear they wanted
  the boys dead
• The trial dragged on for years

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Outcome

• Charges were dropped against 5 of the 9
• 4 were convicted
• 3 later paroled
• 1 escaped (Patterson)
• Raised awareness of the bad treatment of Black
  Americans

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Activity

• Go to http//www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/scottsboro/time
  line/index.html
• Using the information draw a timeline
• Also read http//www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/scottsboro/
  sfeature/sf_trial.html
• http//www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/scottsboro/tguide/ind
  ex.html
• Choose one of the people involved in the case and
  write a diary extract