Omaha Race Riot of 1919
The Red Summer of 1919 was a bloody race riot in the Autumn of 1919, the bloodiest cities were Chicago Illinois, Washington D.C. and Elaine, Arkansas. James Weldon Johnson created the term "Red Summer" he also organized protests against the racial violence in 1919. When the immigration was cut off from Europe the north suffered labor shortages and the north recruited nearly, 500,000 African Americans from the south to come work in the north. It ended up being almost to much.
Many African Americans were taking white jobs, this can be compared to Mexicans nowadays immigrating up to the United States and taking the jobs we don't want. With increasing competitions for work whites grew more and more furious. With rapid demobilization and price controls being lifted it led to major inflation.
The Omaha Race Riot's worst damages occurred on September 28-29 of 1919. The Federal Government had predicted a race riot in the Omaha area on the count of strong tension in the meat packing plants of Omaha. The number of black people in Omaha doubled from 1910-1920.
White people were especially angry at a black man by the name of Will Brown for allegedly raping a white woman. He was arrested on September 25th and kept at the Douglas County Courthouse.
It began at about 2:00p.m. Sunday, September 28, 1919. A group large group of white youths gathered near the Bancroft School in South Omaha, from there they proceeded to march to the Douglas County Courthouse. Soon after the march to the Courthouse began Investigator for the Omaha Police Department John T Dunn spotted the group of whites and tried to break up the mob but failed.
By 4:00 p.m. the mob had reached the South Side of the Douglas County Courthouse 5,000 whites strong. There was only about 30 police officers guarding the court house.
Crowd outside the court house
5:00 p.m. The mob began assaulting the police officers.
5:15 p.m. The Police turned the hoses on the crowd, it was returned with a shower of bricks and objects in the polices direction, nearly every window of the south side of the court house was broken. The mob had started to break in through a broken door that leads to the basement of the Courthouse, Officers on higher floors began firing warning shots down the elevator shafts to scare the mob. The Chief of police whom was on scene tried to intervene with his words but failed miserly.
By 6:00 p.m the crowd was wrestling revolvers from the police and every colored person who ventured upon the area was severely beaten, along with the white people whom tried to help the blacks get away.
By 7:00 p.m. the riot raged on, most of the police had fleed to the interior of the Courthouse. The Sheriffs and City police mounted there last stand in the fourth floor of the court house in hopes of preventing the capture of Will Brown.
Shortly before 8:00 p.m. the mob had tapped into a nearby fuel station and drenched the bottom floor of the building in fuel it was set on fire with everyone still inside, slow burning though.
Around 11 o clock the Mayor of Omaha at the time Edward Smith ran from the burning building, he'd been in there for hours, the mob took a hold of him and tied a noose around his neck, he was saved by spectators and put in a police car. The police car was overturned by the angry mob and he was retrieved once again, the noose was put around his arm once more, the mayor was put up on a metal arm of a traffic light where he was hung for a few seconds but then a car loaded full of Agents parked underneath him and quickly untied him and drove off.
The mayor was nearly dead for a few days but then recovered.
Then three slips of paper were thrown from the fourth floor on the west side of the building. On one piece was scrawled: "The judge says he will give up Negro Brown. He is in dungeon. There are 100 white prisoners on the roof. Save them."
Another note read: "Come to the fourth floor of the building and we will hand the negro over to you."
Will Brown had been captured. A few minutes more and his lifeless body was hanging from a telephone post at Eighteenth and Harney Streets. The dead hanging body was fired at by many guns, then cut down, tied to a car and dragged through 17th and dodge streets 4 blocks later the body was covered in oil then set on fire. Members of the mob hauled the charred body through the business district for several hours.
The violence lasted until 3:00 a.m. on sept 29th, at that hour federal troops came and returned peace with 1,600 soldiers.
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