Race Riots Matter
The lack of attention for the 1919 Red Summer race riots
by white newspapers, the NAACP and scholars
Ishany Sherany Gaffar
MA American Studies Thesis Dr. Eduard van de Bilt University of Amsterdam
1 “If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.”
- Henry David Thoreau
“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”
- James Baldwin
“Geduld en volharding zijn de sleutels der overwinning.”
2
Index
The Red Summer of 1919 ... 3
The Red Summer of 1919 ... 3
Media coverage during the Red Summer ... 5
NAACP actions during the 1919 riots ... 7
My thesis ... 9
Chapter one: “Did you read it in the newspapers?” ... 13
1.1 May 10, 1919: Race Riot in Charleston, South Carolina ... 13
1.2 June 13, 1919: Race Riot in Memphis, Tennessee & New London, Connecticut ... 17
1.3 July 3, 1919: Race Riot in Bisbee, Arizona ... 18
1.4 July 21, 1919: Race Riot in Norfolk, Virginia ... 21
1.5 July 23, 1919: Race Riot in New Orleans, Louisiana ... 22
1.6 August 21, 1919: Race Riot in New York, New York City ... 24
1.7 October 1, 1919: Race Riot in Elaine, Arkansas ... 25
Conclusion ... 28
Chapter two: All race riots are equal? ... 30
2.1 The NAACP before 1919 ... 30
2.2 The NAACP fight for eight race riots of the 1919 Red Summer ... 32
2.3 The NAACP during 1919 ... 38
Conclusion ... 40
Chapter Three: Race riots can’t stand alone ... 43
3.1 How many? What to call them? Who to blame? ... 43
3.2 The Red Summer as starting point for the Civil Rights Movement ... 46
3.3 White newspapers, black NAACP and interracial scholars? ... 48
Conclusion ... 51
Conclusion ... 53
Bibliography ... 55
Appendix 1 ... 59
3
The Red Summer of 1919
More than 20 race riots in six months’ time throughout America
‘Lynching is an important aspect of racial history and racial inequality in America, because it was visible, it was so public, it was so dramatic, and it was so violent.’1These words were spoken by social justice activist Bryan Stevenson during a 2014 interview about his fight for social justice for the African American community. Stevenson has never made a secret of his belief that the race riots African Americans had to endure during the past centuries play a vital role in the subsequent high rate of death sentences among African Americans in the South. Although Stevenson points out the openness and visibility in which these race riots occurred many stories about these cruelties are still unheard. The now well-known Tulsa Race Riot of 1921, which left more than 300 deaths and 10.000 homeless, was rarely mentioned in American history for over 70 years. The last decade of the twentieth century saw the 1921 Tulsa race riot further investigated and brought under wider attention. This same pattern could be noticed for the 1919 Red Summer in which more than 25 race riots occurred in only 6 months’ time. Over the past decade scholars have taken more interest in the 1919 Red Summer. However, their studies show the lack of documentation about the 1919 race riots. Whereas one could understand why 1919 white Americans would want to cover up these riots, it seems odd African Americans have not documented these riots properly. Moreover, scholarship about the 1919 Red Summer has been focused on a small part of these riots, leaving many riots undiscussed while claiming to discuss the 1919 Red Summer.
The Red Summer of 1919
When it comes to race riots and lynching the Tulsa Riot (1921), the Rodney King riot (1992), the Detroit riot (1943) and the riots evolving after the dead of Martin Luther King Jr. (1968) seem part of our common knowledge. Not many people know about the approximately 26 riots between June and October 1919, labeled as the Red Summer. Interracial clashes and African American resistance were not new at the beginning of the 20th century but the growing number
of these incidents throughout the South, their occurrence in northern cities and the effort of
1Alex Carp, “Bryan Stevenson: Walking with the Wind”, Guernica, accessed April 3, 2017,
4 black public figures to shape Americans’ understandings of them indeed were. The Red Summer was the result of black people not accepting the idea of white supremacy anymore and the white population saw this as the overthrowing of the existing racial order. In this climate, more than 25 race riots occurred during 1919.
William Tuttle, the nation’s leading scholar on racial violence in 1919, created awareness about the race riot in Chicago. The Chicago race riot is one of the seven biggest race riots of 1919 together with Longview, Washington D.C., Knoxville, Omaha, Phillip County and Charleston. These seven riots have gotten the most attention when it comes to the Red Summer. Yet, the Red Summer has been mostly used as part of a macrohistory instead of a microhistory. Scholars have used the 1919 Red Summer in their research of race riots in the 20th century. There has also
been much interest in the relation between the Red Summer and the Red Scare: scholars focused on the question whether Marx’s communist manifesto echoed loudly in African American actions and discussed the possible consequences of the South linking the New Negro Movement to a communist conspiracy.2 However, most research has been focused on the 1919 race riots as
a joint event, crucial to understand the New Negro Movement. Ann Collins, in All Hell Broke
Loose (2012), argues that “the race riots have been acts of political violence and reveal much about
American cultural attributes of freedom and repression”.3
According to Collins, the occurrence of race riots in 1919 is based on three factors: structural factors, cultural framing and precipitating events. The structural factors are events in the American landscape that led to great changes between black and white Americans. Collins names the Great Migration, Jim Crow Laws, reluctant authorities and the fight and return of black soldiers after World War I as the most important structural factors. Collins is not the only scholar who sees a significant role for these events in the outbreak of the Red Summer, especially the return of black soldiers in 1918.4 As President Woodrow Wilson encouraged American
soldiers to ‘fight for democracy’ oversees many black soldiers were ready to continue fighting for democracy back in America. The New Negro Movement was born and this scared white
2 Barbara Foley, Spectre of 1919. Class and Nation in the Making of the New Negro (University of Illinois Press: Illinois,
2003); Jeff Woods, Black Struggle, Red Scare. Segregation and Anti-communism in the South, 1948-1968 (LSA Press: Louisiana, 2003).
3 Ann Collins, All Hell Broke Loose. American Race Riots from the Progressive Era through World War II (ABC-CLIO:
California, 2012), introduction.
4 Cameron McWirther, Red Summer 1919. The Summer of 1919 and The Awakening of Black America (Henry Holt and
Company: New York, 2011); Jan Voogd, Race & Resistance. The Red Summer of 1919 (Peter Lang Publishing: New York, 2008); David F. Krugler, 1919, The Year of Racial Violence. How African Americans Fought Back (Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 2014); Kidada E. Williams, They Left Great Marks on Me. African Americans Testimonies
5 Americans to the point that racial violence intensified. The precipitating event has an individual character for every riot and can be seen as the catalyzer that started the riot. Yet, according to Collins, a riot always had to do with either actual/alleged murder, sexual acts or infractions. The cultural framing includes the (false) reports made by newspapers. Studies about the Red Summer have given the media coverage much attention as it has been viewed as one of the reasons for the long-duration of the 1919 Red Summer.
Media coverage during the Red Summer
Collins’s cultural framing refers to the influence of the American press, both black and white. White and black newspapers spread rumors about alleged or actual crimes and about lynchings, riots and their aftermath. Collins gives an overview of how both black and white newspapers used propaganda to get their messages across. White newspapers, like the New York Times, Washington
Times, Harold Times and Chicago Tribune, blamed black Americans for the riots and often falsely
accused a black person for a crime which instigated the riot. Furthermore, they spread word about white supremacy and how the white working class was being threatened by the black community. The Washington race riot saw the Washington Post and the Washington Times stirring up the fire surrounding the riot. Both newspapers reported in the heat of the moment about an alleged lynching taking place.5 This stimulated parties even more in continuing the race riot. Black
newspapers, like the Chicago Defender, Messenger, and Crisis, tried to correct the words of the white newspapers but also made themselves guilty of propaganda by encouraging black Americans to keep fighting for their rights and sometimes falsely reporting about violence used by whites to.
Jan Voogd argues that the race riots are the result of caste rupture and challenges to a caste system. She includes twenty-five Red Summer race riots to defend her claim. Through her research of these race riots Voogd sees four categories from which the riots erupted:
1. They occur because of a threatened, perceived or actual rupture of the local racial caste system
2. Riots involved military personnel as rioters or targets;
3. They were related to local politics and a ‘boss’ or political machine; or 4. Occurred in relation to a labor dispute
Voogd sees a crucial role for the press in relation to the origin and continuation of race riots. For both the Chicago and the Omaha riot she distills how the press reported the riot and how both
6 reports aroused both black and white parties even more, which led to continuation of the violence. Together with the race riot in Washington DC., these two riots and specifically the role of the press in them have had full attention among scholars.6
Voogd applies Stanley Cohen’s ‘politics of denial’ to the behavior of the American white press during these race riots and argues that the white newspapers went through several stages during the 1919 Red Summer. The first stage covers outright denial, meaning that the press did not report about the riots as an outburst or part of a larger problem but reduced it to a minor issue. Stage two sees the press discrediting both the sources and information, which is followed (in stage three) by not using the word ‘riot’ but renaming it with the help of words like incident, altercation and conflict. Stage four sees the press not denying the occurrence of the riots any longer but at the same time seeking justification for them, which not included racism. The economic situation and aggression of blacks are most commonly used here. Stage five and six see
the press acknowledging the fact that racism plays a role in the race riots but also sees the press struggling in its coverage with the disturbing emotions this acknowledgment generates. In this stage racism is mentioned but without explicitly pointing the finger at white Americans or the
6 William Tuttle, Race Riot: Chicago in the Red Summer of 1919 (University of Illinois Press, 1970); Orville D.
Menard has covered the Omaha race riot of 1919 in different editions of the Nebraska History; The Washington race riot of 1919 has had a lot of coverage in works by Cameron McWhirter, Jan Voogd, Ann Collins and Kidada Williams. Outright denial Discrediting (sources and information) Renaming (using euphemisms to describe incidents) Justification (for the riots) Acknowledging the facts Feeling the disturbing emotions these acknowledgement would generate Recognizing wrong Accepting responsibility Taking action in response to this knowledge
7 biased coverage of white newspapers. The latter does happen in the stage hereafter, ‘recognizing wrong,’ while stage eight sees the press accepting the responsibility that it is also in its own power to change racial tension and violence. The final stage sees the press explicitly naming white racism as reason for the race riots, depicting black people as the victims of this racism and trying to inform its readers how this idea of white supremacy must change to stop the race riots. Voogd’s use of Cohen’s model shows the process of awareness among the white press in America about racism and the race riots. Yet, Voogd uses the methodology on a rather grand scale, depicting how the press went through these stages throughout the Red Summer. She does not apply it to individual riots or individual newspapers for a closer look at the development of the stages or to see whether different race riots see different stages being covered or skipped.
NAACP actions during the 1919 riots
David Krugler in his 1919, the Year of Racial Violence (2015) argues that the NAACP not only created awareness among black Americans to fight for their rights but also took the fight to court to get justice for the many black victims of the 1919 race riots. The NAACP used these court cases as propaganda to make the world know about the atrocities of the race riots. Interesting, however, is the fact that the NAACP was very selective in cases to ‘make the world know’. The NAACP judged the lynching of Marie Scott in 1914 as insufficiently convincing to use in its campaign to create awareness about the mistreatment of black people.7 As the NAACP was
already rather conscious in its selection of campaign events in 1914 it is likely it made similar decisions during 1919. This is a loophole in the work of Krugler: he does not mention the possible selectiveness of the NAACP and the ways this selection procedure influenced the African American three-front fight which he argues was fought in the street, press and court.
The NAACP and the 1919 race riots are intertwined as it was NAACP member James Weldon Johnson who defined the race riots of 1919 collectively as the ‘Red Summer’. Furthermore, scholars like McWhirter have depicted the Red Summer as the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement by arguing that 'the Red Summer is a story of destruction but it is also a story of the beginning of a freedom movement'.8 Scholars claim that the NAACP used its
influence and money to create awareness for the race riots, pay for lawyers and court cases, make sure the black community was well informed about its rights and most prominently to have the
7 Kidada Williams, They Left Great Marks on Me, 197. 8 McWhirter, Red Summr 1919, 271.
8 local, state and federal politicians take actions against racial inequality. However, these overall conclusions are mostly based on a few 1919 riots. After the race riot in Washington the NAACP urged the police to investigate the riot itself and the role of the Washington Post in provoking the riot. Although the police declined to do this, this is an example of how the NAACP used its influence to the advancement of the colored people during the Red Summer.9 Most documented
has been the involvement of the NAACP in the Elaine race riot. This riot saw 12 black men, ‘the Elaine Twelve’, being convicted for murder and sentenced to death while another 110 blacks were charged with various crimes related to the riot. Over the course of four years the NAACP not only had members going undercover to investigate the case, the organization also hired and payed for lawyers and court cases. This resulted in the NAACP winning the release of the ‘Elaine Twelve’. The release of ‘The Elaine Twelve’ is often referred to by scholars when arguing about the significant role of the NAACP during the Red Summer. However, the involvement of the NAACP in the Elaine race riot is not representative of the actions of the NAACP during the 1919 Red Summer.
Apparently, scholars take a higher interest in race riots which include lynching. Their scholarship implies that the NAACP had the same attitude. When the political and legal influence of the NAACP is discussed, scholars include the Elaine and Omaha race riots but shift mostly to cases of lynching.10 At the beginning of 1919 the NAACP published Thirty Years of
Lynching, in which it listed the black Americans who had been lynched during 1889-1918. The
organization worked together with artists to create awareness among African Americans about the atrocities of lynching. Moreover, the organization urged local and state government to act against lynching. Its approach worked, although many local governors argued they needed help on the federal level.11 Next to a yearly conference on the subject of lynching the NAACP invested
in networking with federal politicians, stimulating them to discuss the subject of lynching in Congress. Finally, the NAACP saw a rise in letters from its subscribers about lynching in 1919.12
What sparked this rise is not clear but it shows how black people bonded with the NAACP on the topic of lynching. This does not apply to the issue of race riots as the rise in race riots saw no rise in messages for the NAACP. Yet, it is difficult to draw bold conclusions here as the distinction between a race riot and lynching is not always clear. Jan Voogd argues that scholars
9 Collins, All Hell Broke Loose, 93.
10 Collins, All Hell Broke Loose; McWirther, Red Summer 1919; Krugler, 1919, the Year of Racial Violence. 11 Collins, All Hell Broke Loose, 210.
9 have used both words interchangeably despite the clear differences. Riot participation crossed lines of age and gender while lynching did not. Furthermore, a riot targeted the entire community directly while a lynching did this indirectly. Third, a lynching was highly ritualized while a riot was less organized, more chaotic and random. Moreover, Voogd argues that despite its popularity during the Red Summer race riots never attained the social “approval” that lynching did. Lastly, when it comes to the question of guilt a riot suggests both parties are to blame while a lynching does not. Therefore, David Krugler claims ‘riot’ is not the right word to use as he sees only white Americans as guilty. Voogd differs from Krugler as she does not focus on the question of guilt but on the presence and use of violence of both blacks and whites. As a result, she argues ‘riot’ is the correct word to use for the 1919 Red Summer. Here, the words ‘riot’ and ‘lynching’ are used to characterize separate events along the lines suggested by Voogd: a ‘riot’ represents an unorganized and chaotic act of racial violence in which lines of age and gender are crossed, the communities are targeted directly and the question of guilt is not crystal clear.
My thesis
Although during the last decade scholars came up with important claims and insightful information about the 1919 Red Summer, they did not cover all race riots and did not discuss them fully. In this sense they resemble the NAACP at the time. Voogd mentions as many as twenty-five race riots but she does not discuss the role of the press and the NAACP for most of them. Krugler does a magnificent job showing how the NAACP fought for justice in court after many riots but focusses mainly on the seven major riots and includes cases of lynching. Scholars like Williams, Collins and Whitaker focus on individual 1919 race riots while McWhirter tries to place the Red Summer in the history of the Civil Rights Movement. As a result there are still many stories whose histories remain untold. As a result, I agree with Jan Voogd, who argues: “The unfortunate tendency of scholars to subscribe to a hierarchy of suffering has allowed the smaller riots to remain hidden, but all of the Red Summer riots deserve examination. Each of the Red Summer race riots exists as part of a pattern, and the differences and similarities among them have something to tell us, regardless of how many people were killed, or homes destroyed, or lives disrupted by injury or fear.”13 Therefore, I want to focus on the smaller race riots of 1919.
My aim is to bring the lesser known race riots to life. Furthermore, the question rises why many Red Summer race riots are unknown. There has been far more attention for the 1919 cases of
10 lynching than race riots. This pattern cannot only be seen in 1919 but also in the scholarship about the Red Summer this last decade. Research has shown how white newspapers denied the role racism played in the race riots and how they reduced the significance of these race riots. At the same time, research showed the NAACP creating awareness about and fighting for equal rights during these race riots. Yet, it is striking that there is not much known about many 1919 race riots through documentation of the NAACP. Why did the NAACP refuse to inform the public about all race riots, small or big, in an era that saw the organization creating awareness about racial inequality?
In this study, I argue that the race riots of the 1919 Red Summer have been underexposed by 1919 white newspapers, the NAACP in the same period and scholars in the decades after. While racism seems the obvious answer why the 1919 Red Summer is underexposed in white newspapers this study will argue that the 1919 Red Summer race riots are indeed covered in 1919 white newspapers. However, in reporting about these race riots, bias and the idea of white supremacy are present. Most striking, however, is the fact that a few of the investigated race riots are not mentioned at all in those newspapers. While racism could here be the answer for the absence of those specific 1919 race riots in white newspapers this is harder to claim for the NAACP and scholars who wrote about the riots during the recent decades. The lack of reporting about the exact same race riots in white newspapers is absent in the coverage of the NAACP and the work of scholars. Within this study I will try to find out how the NAACP decided that race riots were less valuable than, for example, lynching for its campaign efforts. Because the question of guilt is not as clear in a race riot as it is in a lynching, the NAACP may have seen a race riot as less helpful than a lynching in creating awareness among white Americans about the unequal position of African Americans and the racial violence they had to endure. This same claim can be made about scholars and the reason why they neglect the race riots in their work about the 1919 Red Summer. They focus mostly on the race riots in which a lynching took place and the question of guilt can clearly be placed on the side of white Americans. The sensitivity of the subject and ‘white guilt’ also play an important part in scholarship about the 1919 Red Summer as most of the scholars investigating the 1919 Red Summer are white.
As I will argue that the 1919 Red Summer race riots are underexposed I need to address the coverage of these race riots. I will focus in the press response only on white newspapers. With the help of the NAACP I will discuss the black response. I am aware of the limitations involved. The newspapers used in this research can be found in appendix 1. The methodology I will use in
11 analyzing these newspapers is based on the model of Stanley Cohen (the stages-theory) as applied by Jan Voogd and discussed earlier in this chapter. By using this methodology, I will study whether the newspapers changed their way of reporting about the race riots over time and evaluate the biases that may characterize their reporting. When analyzing how the NAACP dealt with the race riots, I will use the existing scholarship on the NAACP’s role during the 1919 Red Summer and its magazine the Crisis to see how the organization covered the race riots. The issues used within this research can be found in Appendix 2. In my discussion of the scholarship I will focus only on the scholars who investigated the 1919 Red Summer as a self-contained event.14
As much as I would like to include as many race riots as possible in this thesis this is not feasible here. Therefore, I have chosen the following race riots:
Place Date of race riot
Charleston, South Carolina May 10, 1919
Memphis, Tennessee June 13, 1919
New London, Connecticut June 13, 1919
Bisbee, Arizona July 3, 1919
New Orleans, Louisiana July 23, 1919
Norfolk, Virginia July 21, 1919
New York City, New York August 21, 1919
Elaine, Arkansas October 1, 1919
The decision to choose these race riots has been based on the desire to cover riots in different geographical places; Furthermore, these riots and their timespan also make sure that the transition of changing coverage and awareness throughout the Red Summer can be investigated.
This study will fill in gaps in the knowledge about certain race riots of the 1919 Red Summer that are only mentioned by scholars in their list of 26 race riots but never elaborated on. I will look at the role of the white press during these “minor” riots, to see if the riots were relatively insignificant, and differ from the major ones, and how they contribute to our understanding of the 1919 events. As the NAACP played a crucial role during the Red Summer and many scholars refer to the organization when describing the different race riots, it is
14 By this I mean as a subject of its own and not as part of a greater subject or theme, like the history of
12 interesting to look at the organization’s handling of the lesser known race riots of 1919. With this study, I will add to the scholarship about the role of the NAACP during the 1919 Red Summer and the claims about the propaganda the NAACP used in achieving its goals of justice and civil rights for the black community. Furthermore, by analyzing the way scholars write about the 1919 Red Summer and specifically the race riots, I will raise awareness about the scholarship about the 1919 Red Summer and the underexposed role these race riots play within this historical event. Overall, this thesis will add to the scholarship on race riots and their neglected position in comparison to cases of lynching in the Civil Rights campaigns and scholarship about African American history.
Chapter one will include a brief overview of the eight race riots discussed, followed by an analysis of their coverage by white newspapers. Chapter two will analyze the coverage of the NAACP during these race riots and its campaign for justice and civil rights in these race riots and in cases of lynching. Chapter three will take on the existing scholarship with a specific interest in the claims made by Ann Collins, Jan Voogd and David Krugler. This analysis aims to show how scholars, in their treatment of the 1919 Red Summer, focus on the major race riots in which cases of lynching are to be found while neglecting the other race riots. To summarize: this study aims to show that race riots of the 1919 Red Summer are unjustifiably neglected not only in their own time by white newspapers but also by the NAACP and in recent scholarship.
13
Chapter One:
“Did you read it in the newspapers?”
The coverage of the 1919 Race Riots in Charleston, Memphis, New London,
Bisbee, New Orleans, Norfolk, New York & Elaine in White newspapers.
‘We return. We return from fighting. We return fighting. Make way for Democracy! We saved it in France, and by the Great Jehovah, we will save it in the United States of America, or know the reason why.’15
These are the words W. E. B. Du Bois wrote in the April 1919 issue of the NAACP magazine the
Crisis. During World War I president Woodrow Wilson spoke about the fight for democracy.
After the war, African American soldiers thought they would see Civil Rights in their own country as they had just risked their lives for the rights of others. Yet, this was something white Americans would not let happen although (or, better perhaps, because) they became scared of the new black man returning from war. This New Negro listened to the words of Du Bois and started asking for Civil Rights and justice. The time of subservience was over as black Americans would not just silently live the life white Americans wanted them to. This resulted in the black and white communities being diametrically opposed and the outbreak of more than 20 race riots throughout the United States. In this chapter, I will argue that the race riots in Charleston, New London, Bisbee, New Orleans, Norfolk, New York and Elaine were underexposed by white newspapers and that this was not only the result of racism. I will analyze how white newspapers reported and covered the seven race riots mentioned above. In the analysis of these newspapers, the stages of Stanley Cohen’s ‘politics of denial’ will be used as described by Jan Voogd in her
Race Riots & Resistance: The Red Summer of 1919 (2008). Prior to analyzing the newspapers, I will
give a brief overview of the most important and factual events happening during those race riots.
1.1 May 10, 1919: Race Riot in Charleston, South Carolina
In 1919 Charleston numbered around 80.000 people of whom more than half were black. On the evening of May 10th, a racial conflict started when a black man got into an altercation with a
white sailor. It is said that the black man pushed the white sailor off the sidewalk and fled to a nearby house. A group of white sailors and civilians chased him to the house where the riot started
14 as both white and black sides threw bricks and bottles at each other. A black civilian then fired four shots. Although no one got injured the riot grew and spread all over the city. The Charleston Navy Yard helped in restoring the order. In the aftermath, it became clear that eighteen black and five white men were seriously injured; three black men did not survive their gunshot wounds. Not long after the riot the navy report was published and it indicated that this was a serious case of white violence against the black community. It even mentioned names of white sailors and civilians who played a huge part in the riot and could be held responsible for the death of the three black men.16 It is not only interesting to see how newspapers covered this riot but also, with
an official document that the navy report is, it is interesting to see if newspapers changed their tone after this report was published.
Big names like the New York Times and the Washington Post do not mention anything about the Charleston race riot in their 1919 papers. Yet, the newspapers that do cover the race riot do it mainly on their front page. On May 11, the Los Angeles Times, Evening Star and Arizona Republican report about the riot. The Los Angeles Times leaves a little spot open on page four with the headline “Six killed in South Carolina Race riots”. Using the plural form of riot the Los Angeles Times indicates South Carolina saw more than one riot. In reporting about the riot the newspaper is very careful in choosing its words. Every piece of information is preceded by its source as it is stated that two sailors and four “negroes” are reported killed and that it has been said that the riot started with the shooting of a sailor by a “negro” in a downtown poolroom. The paper closes with the information that it took several hours before the rioting could be quelled. The Evening star, a Washington newspaper, makes room on the front page to headline “Six killed in race riot”. Whereas the Los Angeles Times was specific in naming its sources the Evening Star does not do this and just gives the information. It mentions ‘two “bluejackets” and four negroes were killed, while many wounded, including eight severely in a race riot that broke out here late last night and continued until early morning’.17 The Arizona Republican has almost the exact same report as the
Evening Star. With the headline “Six killed in race riot at Charleston S.C.,” the race riot is
mentioned on the front page in no more than 8 lines with the report that the navy came in to help and it cost several hours to quell the riot. Although the race riot in Charleston has been depicted as the first riot of the Red Summer; it is interesting to see how little attention there is
16 Voogd, Race & Resistance, 82-98.
15 given to this race riot. Also interesting is the fact that these three reports seem to fall outside of Cohen’s notion of “politics of denial” as they are stating what happened without making more of the riot or denying it existence.
On May 12, the Bennington Evening Banner reports about the riot on its front page. The article is very focused on the situation for the blacks and not the whites; apparently the editors were supporters of the black civil rights movement. Mentioning the killing of two blacks and the more than 17 injured African Americans the Bennington Evening Banner writes that it has also been reported that seven whites were wounded. The difference here is that the injured blacks are reported as a fact while the injured whites are mentioned as more doubtful: as simply reported (and not confirmed). Whereas the Los Angeles Times named the shooting of a sailor by an African American as the start of the riot, the Bennington Evening Banner turns it around and states the trouble began when Isaac Doctor, a black, was fatally shot after he killed a sailor. The Bennington
Evening Banner chooses to write from the black perspective and blame white people. It reports, ‘in
a short wihle (sic) nearly 2000 soldiers were on the streets and in the rioting many innocent negroes were shot and beaten. One of the negroes was dragged from a street car and badly wounded while a crowd in front of a café looked on’.18 As a white newspaper supporting the civil
rights movement the paper is focused on the treatment of blacks instead of the wounded whites. The Bennington Evening Banner is clearly acknowledging the fact that white racism plays a big role in the race riot and therefore is much further in its understanding and reporting of race riots than other periodicals and newspapers. Yet, the paper is not outspoken in blaming white racism for the race riot or seeking any action. Its report mainly shows how it wants to raise attention to the brutal condition of blacks. This makes the paper part of Cohen’s stage of feeling the disturbing emotions the acknowledgement (of white racism) generates, as it is still unsure how to handle white racism in its reporting.
“Few Charleston Men participated in race rioting” is the headline on page nine of the New
York Tribune on May 13. The New York Tribune is most interested in telling how very few civilians
took part in the race riot as it was mostly between sailors and soldiers. Focusing on the fact that not many civilians participated indicates that the New York Tribune tries to reduce the race riot to a simple military problem. It also reports about many rioters appearing in court and getting fined for their actions. With this approach the New York Tribune fits perfectly into the stage of “outright denial” as it is reported as an isolated race riot without many civilians being involved: as the rioters
16 get their sentences in court the case seems closed for the New York Tribune.
South Carolina’s own newspaper The County Record pays much attention to the race riot in its May 15 issue. The front-page reads “Serious race riot in Charleston” while the subtitle states: “Sailors wage war on colored people- two are killed and many injured”. Although it is not known how the owner viewed the civil rights discussion in America, The County Record puts the focus, just like the Bennington Evening Banner, on the consequences for blacks and not the whites. It sees the race riot as a result of ‘scores of attacks on negroes’. The paper names the two black men who were killed as Isaac Doctor and James Talbert while not doing the same for the white sailor who was killed. The Major of Charleston is quoted as saying he will investigate the riot as the city would pay for the damage done to a black barbershop as “negroes must be protected”.19 Interesting
is how The County Record states that the race riot started when a clash broke out between negroes and sailors without mentioning anything about this clash. After this clash other sailors and citizens joined in and hunted down blacks. Whereas all other newspapers see the incident between Isaac Doctor and the sailor as the trigger of the race riot, the The County Record mentions that an African American presumably shooting a sailor could be seen as triggering white sailors to use violence. While it is not known in what particular order things evolved on May 10, it is significant that The
County Record is the only one reporting that the Mayor of Charlestown took responsibility for the
race riot. The County Record itself recognizes the wrong done to blacks and accepts its responsibility through the words of the Mayor of Charleston.
Most significant is the mention of the Charleston race riot on the front page of the Cayton’s
Weekly on May 17, in which the editor writes:
Yes, dear readers, there was a race riot in Charleston S. C., last Saturday, and while such riots are not uncommon in that section of this land of the free and home of the brave, yet this one was more or less uncommon from the fact that both sides were led by black and white soldiers and sailors recently returned from overseas, where they have been fighting to make the world safe for democracy”.20
Answering his readers and stating that race riots were not uncommon suggest that the editor wants to know why there was not a mention of the Charleston race riot in a previous issue. Referring to
19 “Serious race riot in Charleston”, The County Record, May 15, 1919, accessed on May 4, 2017. 20 Cayton’s Weekly, May 17, 1919, accessed on May 4, 2017.
17 The Star-Spangled Banner and the irony of fighting overseas for democracy the Cayton’s Weekly tries to show its readers how big a contradiction is occurring in America. But by stating ‘race riots are not uncommon in that section of this land’, the Cayton’s Weekly closes its eyes for the effects of race riots and white racism in all of America. Calling the riots not uncommon also suggests that the newspaper therefore sees no reason to cover them all. Uncommon about the Charleston race riot is the involvement of sailors and soldiers: this is the reason why it was mentioned in the foreword by the editor. The Cayton’s Weekly is clearly part of Cohen’s stage of ‘outright denial’ as it acknowledges race riots happening in America but considers them as parts of a particular section in the country and not worth paying too much attention to.
The navy report about the Charleston riot was published on May 27 and while it would have been interesting to see how newspapers dealt with its conclusions this cannot be analyzed as no newspaper mentioned this investigation or reported back on the Charleston race riot after covering the actual event. Although nothing seems to be analyzed here, the silent treatment of newspapers, after new information about the race riot had been released, is significant and of high relevance. Their way of handling cannot be named ‘outright denial’ as the papers admitted the riots happened through their coverage of them. Yet, it also cannot be labelled “discrediting” as the papers do not even mention the information and its sources. This would mean that Cohen’s “Politics of denial” is not fully covering all dimensions of denial as the stage of “withholding” is not mentioned while this is what American newspapers did with the navy report about the Charleston race riot.
1.2 June 13, 1919: Race Riot in Memphis, Tennessee & New London, Connecticut Memphis has been known for its race riot in 1866 in which more than 40 black civilians died while homes, churches and schools were burned down. The race riot in this town around June 13, 1919 is far less known. It is mentioned on the list of race riots occurring during the Red Summer but other than this there is no information. Yet, June 13, 1919, also saw a race riot occur in New London, Connecticut, and about this race riot there is more information. In the build-up to the race riot both white and black sailors got into a conflict. The black sailors accused the white sailors of attacking them while the white sailors accused the black soldiers of lying. Eventually the police arrested two white sailors for fighting; frustrated they could not get their friends out of jail, a few white sailors went to the hotel where the black sailors spent their time. It is then that the race riot occurred as the white navy men threw a few black men out into the street and started
18 fighting. For both sides sailors showed up to help in the fight. As the local police and fire department could not stop the riot, the marines were asked to help and they eventually restored order.
Both the Memphis and New London race riots of June 13 are part of the official 1919 Red Summer list. While scholarship offers no information about the actual events happening during the riots, the newspapers do not give any insights either. On both riots, the newspapers remain silent in 1919. On June 13, the New York Times mentions a race riot in Liverpool, Great Britain but nothing on any riots happening in America. As I mentioned before, this analysis does not cover all American newspapers, which means one cannot conclude that no newspaper covered one or both race riots on June 13. Yet, this study includes well-known papers as well as newspapers on the state and local level. It is strange to have two race riots included in the Red Summer of 1919 not covered by the media. This does not indicate that I believe race riots can only be included when they are mentioned in the newspapers. It is possible that there are other official documents about these riots. But it also highly possible any documentation about the race riots is absent as many cities tried to cover up these riots and pay no attention to them.21 This would mean for the
race riots in Memphis and New London that the American nation is engaged in the ‘outright denial’ stage. Because it cannot be determined whether the newspapers knew about the race riots and decided not to report about them or simply had no idea about them, it is hard to put the newspapers in one of Cohen’s stages. Yet, it seems strange that even local newspapers did not known about both race riots.
1.3 July 3, 1919: Race Riot in Bisbee, Arizona
Buffalo Soldier, Dreadlock Rasta:
There was a Buffalo Soldier in the heart of America, Stolen from Africa, brought to America,
Fighting on arrival, fighting for survival
- Buffalo Soldier, Bob Marley
Bisbee is known for its mining and has been called the “white man’s mining camp”. In 1919 Black troops of the Tenth Calvary, “Buffalo Soldiers”, served near Bisbee. On the evening of July
19 3, 1919, these African American soldiers were in a club in Bisbee when white military policeman George Sullivan came in and exchanged hostile words with five of the Buffalo Soldiers. According to the official statement from Sullivan the black soldiers drew revolvers, knocked him down and took his weapon, after which bystanders came to his aid and the soldiers ran away. It is not known how the police got involved but they forced the black soldiers to turn in their weapons. As the Buffalo Soldiers refused, the police used fire to disarm all black people; the Calvary surrendered. The event led to fifty black soldiers in custody. The remaining soldiers were taken back to their camp with two police cars escorting them. During this trip a black soldier got on the nerve of a policeman and got shot in the lung. Chaos erupted as many shots were released and even bystanders were injured. Yet, the next day was Fourth of July and the Tenth Calvary was present during its parade in Bisbee. No word was spoken about the riot and it looked as if nothing had happened. This sudden and silent change from July 3 violence to July 4 celebration is remarkable and it is interesting to analyze whether newspapers saw this as remarkable too. Moreover, it is interesting to see if and how white newspapers reported about the Bisbee race riot and, most importantly, what their aim was in covering this story.
Although Bisbee tried to cover it up, the local Bisbee Daily review reported about the race riot on July 4. On its front-page the headline reads “five wounded in streets of Bisbee as police and Negroes exchange shots”. This headline indicates that the paper does not simply blame African Americans as “exchanging shots” does not refer to any one party as the instigator. Yet, the blame is put on blacks as the account of the Tenth Calvary men and officers argues: “it were an irresponsible few who fell under irresponsible influences”22 and “the occurrence was deeply
deplored by practically the entire regiment”23. There is also a highly detailed account of the events
happening during the race riot. The newspaper explains why there were shots on many different occasions during the race riots and why the race riot started. According to the Bisbee Daily review the riot started when blacks attacked military man George Sullivan and took his gun. The African Americans were taken to the police office but would not let go of their guns, resulting in the white officers disarming every African American of weapons. This led to shootings in which also civilians were part; a Mexican woman was shot in the head (the Bisbee Daily review states that she survived). This detailed account of what happened in Bisbee could be seen as part of Cohen’s
22 “Five wounded in streets of Bisbee as police and Negroes exchange shots”, Bisbee Daily, July 4, 1919, accessed on
May 4, 2017.
20 justification for the riot. Explaining in detail how things evolved during the riot and ending with the apology of the black soldiers the Bisbee Daily review “justify” the race riot without having to look deeper into the problem of white racism. The Arizona Republican has a little spot on the front-page for the Bisbee race riot. Yet, it is far less detailed than the Bisbee Daily review in its account of the riot. The newspaper reports about shots being fired after the Tenth Calvary refused to hand in their weapons. What happened beforehand is not made clear. This does not mean that the Arizona Republican sides with the whites: not mentioning that a white policeman was shot by an African American could also be seen as protecting the black community from getting the blame for instigating the race riot. However, it indicates that this feeling of justification is less present here as no details are given why the race riot got out of hand and no apology from the Tenth Calvary is given. Both the Rock Island Argues (Illinois) and The Chattanooga News (Tennessee) are more focused on the decision to allow the Tenth Calvary to participate in the 4th
of July parade the next day. Both papers report about the Bisbee authorities “being undetermined” whether the Tenth Calvary was to do the parade. It is understandable that both papers seem to find it quite extraordinary that the Calvary participating in a race riot could parade the next day as if nothing happened. Yet, it is even more difficult to place their reaction in Cohen’s stages of denial as they are not in denial or discrediting sources. Both newspapers do not seem to understand that the enemy of the one day could be the friend on the other. This approach to a riot having an effect on other venues is not part of Cohen’s stages.
On July 5, the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post and New York Tribune covered the Bisbee Riot. The focus is very much on justifying the race riot: the papers report why all shots were fired by the white policemen and officers. They report how military policemen George Sullivan advised a group of noisy blacks to go home, which resulted in him being attacked and disarmed by those blacks. The police tried to disarm the African Americans as shots were fired. This made them decide to disarm all African Americans. The New York Times even reports that the blacks also shot civilians, which resulted in a Mexican woman being shot in her head. This way of reporting about the race riot leaves no room for implications that race had anything to do with the actions of the civilians involved (although the event is depicted as a race riot). This makes it very clear that the newspapers are not yet ready to acknowledge the role of race in those riots and the part white racism plays in them. The New York Times seems one of the first getting to the stage of ‘acknowledging’ with the publication of a statement of the commander of the Tenth Calvary on page two of their July 22 newspaper. It reads that he denies his troopers began the riot. He
21 investigated the whole race riot and concluded that “local officials had planned deliberately to aggravate the negro troopers so that they would furnish an excuse for police and deputy sheriffs to shoot them down.”24 He acknowledges that blacks did indeed take a gun away from George
Sullivan but only after a gun was taken away from them. The commander speaks of the confusion of the events happening afterwards but the blacks’ weapons were taken away and they were assaulted. He closes his statement by explaining it were civilians who shot the African Americans and not the other way around and it were also these civilians who shot the Mexican woman in the head. This statement by the commander of the Tenth Calvary, whether true or false, puts the blame on white racism. Although the New York Times does not voice an opinion in this respect, it shows by making room in its newspaper for this account that it is no longer in the stage of justification but open for the opinion of others and more importantly, it is not hiding for the argument that race and more specific white racism played a crucial part in the Bisbee race riot.
1.4 July 21, 1919: Race Riot in Norfolk, Virginia
Americans came to the realization that race riots were part of a bigger problem after the race riot in Washington D.C., which began on July 20th 1919. A day later a riot broke out in Norfolk,
Virginia. On the first day of a weeklong celebration to honor the return of black troops from World War I there was an altercation between white policemen and black Americans. As the policemen wanted to arrest the black persons, these latter got help from other black people showing up. Shots were fired injuring six people: four black men and two white policemen. The naval authorities were asked to restore the order; they succeeded at midnight. Yet, it is interesting to see how newspapers reported about this race riot, especially since it coincided with the riot in Washington.
Because the Norfolk race riot occurred at the time of the Washington race riot, newspapers did indeed report about this race riot. Both The New York Times and The Bossier Banner were determined to hold African Americans accountable for the riot. Pointing out that the race riot happened in the ‘negro section of the city’ and how it started when policemen attempted to arrest black men who were fighting amongst themselves, both papers clearly seek to ‘justify’ the riot. A few newspapers focused on the fact that the ‘welcome home’ festivities of black soldiers were disturbed during the race riot. “Rioting breaks out I Norfolk. Four shot, none dead, in clash as
22 Negro Soldiers are welcomed,”25 headlines the New York Tribune. The Sun and the Washington Times
report something similar with the latter adding that during a conference city and police officials decided it was not necessary to take the drastic step of cancelling the festivities of the welcome-home party of the black troops. Those newspapers are not looking to justify the race riot but at the same time refuse to acknowledge the fact of white racism playing its part in the events. They are in between Cohen’s stages as no real claims are made or side is chosen in the coverage of this race riot. As the Washington race riot was still in its aftermath, a few newspapers coherently discuss both the Washington and Norfolk race riots. The Morning Tulsa, The Daily World, Arizona
Republican, Norwich and Alexandria Gazette speak of a ‘serious riot’. In their reports about the race
riot in Washington and its aftermath, they depict the Norfolk race riot as a serious one. This indicates that they distinguish serious and non-serious riots. Marking this July 21 race riot ‘serious’ puts these newspapers in the stage of outright denial. Cohen argues that this stage also includes the idea of the press making too much of certain riots. By distinguishing serious and non-serious race riots the above newspapers argue that some race riots are not sufficiently relevant to be discussed. Lastly, there is The Oklahoma City Times which explicitly mentions how the race riot happened in a southern city. This reference shows how the newspaper is in between acknowledging the fact of white racism and justifying the race riot. The idea that race riots are not a surprise when it comes to southern cities implies that these cities ‘attract’ race riots. Since many Americans believe that southern states are more racist than northern states, it is here that The
Oklahoma City Times implies that white racism is part of the race riot problem. Yet, the paper does
not acknowledge this in those exact words.
1.5 July 23, 1919: Race Riot in New Orleans, Louisiana
When it comes to Race Riots in New Orleans one might think about 1866 or 1900. The 1919 Race Riot is difficult to find: it is absent in people’s memories but also in the existing scholarship. Summing up the Race Riots of the Red Summer, however, 1919 New Orleans makes the lists because it was one of the Race Riots highlighted by both the NAACP and the Work’s Tuskegee Institute. Yet, not much is known about this Race Riot and its content. According to research by David Krugler, “On July 24, 1919, the War Department received a request from the chief of police in New Orleans: what help would he receive from troops at the Newton Jackson Barracks
25 “Rioting breaks out I Norfolk. Four shot, none dead, in clash as Negro Soldiers are welcomed”, New York Tribune, July 22, 1919, accessed on May 13, 2017.
23 should race riots break out?”26 This information leads to the question why the events of July 23,
1919 in New Orleans have been named a race riot while the New Orleans police saw what was happening not yet as a race riot. A close look at the coverage of newspapers could not only create insight about the coverage of newspapers but also fill in the gaps in knowledge of what presumably happened on the 23th July of 1919 in New Orleans.
Yet, just like the race riots on June 13 in Memphis and New London, the New Orleans race riot is nowhere to be found in newspapers. The difference, however, is that the Washington race riot happened during this same period. The end of July 1919 saw all newspapers still covering the Washington race riot and its aftermath. A possible reason for newspapers to remain quiet about the riot in New Orleans could be the desire to avoid adding fuel to the ongoing turmoil in the capital. Furthermore, the New Orleans police depicted the events happening on July 23 not as part of a race riot although they eventually made the Red Summer list of race riots. On the one hand this generates vagueness about the use of the word ‘riot’ but on the other hand it is clear something did indeed occur on July 23 1919 in New Orleans. A reason why it is also difficult to find reports about the New Orleans race riot is the fact that newspapers after the Washington riots began to write their articles on race riots more in general terms than in terms of specific riots. Both the Los Angeles Times and the New York Tribune wrote many articles after the Washington race riot about racial violence and the race problems in the nation. On July 27, 1919, the New
York Tribune reports about the Washington race riot and states Washington was not alone: there
were also race riots in Norfolk, Cardiff and Liverpool. However, New Orleans is not mentioned. Yet, on August 4, 1919, the same newspaper published an article about blacks uniting with whites to prevent race riots. Representatives of 30 churches and mission organizations held a convention in September with bishop Wilbur F. Thirkield representing churches in New Orleans. He is quoted as saying: “the serious city problem is no longer in New Orleans, Memphis or Birmingham, but in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, New York and Chicago.”27 The bishop argues that race riots were
no longer simply the problem of the South. As New Orleans is mentioned, this indicates race riots did occur there. Most important, however, is the fact that the words used here are “no longer,” indicating New Orleans did not experience a race riot during the period Northern states faced them during the 1919 Red Summer. This puts the race riot in New Orleans on the same level as
26 Krugler, 1919, the Year of Violence, 200.
24 the riots in Memphis and New London: that is to say, it is hard to believe even local newspapers did not hear about the events happening in New Orleans (especially because of the official police report). A month after the Memphis and New London riots, the papers were still in the stage of ‘outright denial’ (although they indeed did cover the Bisbee race riot at the beginning of July). The question is then why the Bisbee race riot, which the Bisbee local police wanted to hide from the outside world, was mentioned in newspapers while the race riot in New Orleans, which was covered in a police document, is not mentioned at all. The answer could be the major race riot in the Capital around the same time. The Washington race riot intensified with every day and made the nation realize that the race problem was more problematic than people wanted to admit. This resulted in newspapers covering the race riots in a general way and opting for solutions to stop them instead of fueling them. As Bisbee, Arizona is located in the South of the nation, it was easy for the New York Times to report about the race riot here on July 3rd and show how the South
instigated riots. Yet, the race riot in the Capitol showed how race problems were a ‘universal’ problem. Reporting about them now would mean not only referring to the South and its problems but possibly also stirring up the fire in the north.
1.6 August 21, 1919: Race Riot in New York City
New York saw more than one race riot in 1919. Although these race riots are often mentioned by scholars, they are not so much explored. It is known that the July 21 race riot in Syracuse, New York, occurred due to labor conflicts.28 Less is known about the race riot on the 21st of August,
1919. August 21, 1919, New York makes the lists as it was one of the race riots highlighted by both the NAACP and the Work’s Tuskegee Institute. An analysis of white newspapers will fill the gap of what presumably happened during the 21th August of 1919 in New York City. Furthermore, as New York also saw the Syracuse race riot that same year it is interesting to analyze whether this earlier race riot played any part in the outbreak of the August race riot and whether white newspapers referred to this earlier race riot when reporting about the latter one.
The New York City race riot of August 21, 1919 is nowhere to be found in the newspapers. Just as we have seen before with the Memphis, New London and New Orleans race riots of 1919 there is no record in the papers of a potential race riot happening. It seems odd that papers like The
28 “Syracuse Race Riots: 1919 and 1967”, accessed on June 5, 2017, http://www.cnyhistory.org/2015/02/race-riots/.
25
New York Times and The New York Tribune did not write about the race riot in their own city. On
July 22, The New York Tribune reports about a mob in a restaurant when two people had dinner and none of them wanted to pay the bill. One left the restaurant to come back a few minutes later and killed the other person. The article does not mention race and it seems strange that this incident would account as a race riot. The New York Times reports about a mob in North Carolina on July 21 where an African American was killed. He allegedly assaulted a farmer’s wife and as a result got shot in the head after which he was hanged. This is something that could be the start of a race riot but it happened in North Carolina. Yet, it seems strange that a New York City paper would mention this atrocity but writes nothing about a race riot in its own city. The Washington
Post, on August 22, reports about a crime committed by a black man named George Cummings
but it does not mention a riot. The only newspaper reporting a riot happening in New York on August 21 is The Sun. It speaks of a labor riot in which six people got hurt at the Turner Construction Company. Yet, this riot was depicted as a labor riot; the article did not mention the involvement of black people and, furthermore, the riot took place in Long Island City. As the August 22 race riot in New York City received no coverage in newspapers one would assume the same thing happened as in the Memphis, New London and New Orleans race riots. Yet the big question remains why New York City papers would not mention a race riot happening in their own city. It could be part of the ‘outright denial’ as New York does not want the rest of America to know that race riots are part of its northern society. Then again, this theory could have worked in the earlier days of the Red Summer but by the time of the Washington race riot this view had already been demolished. The remaining questions is how the New York City race riot became part of the Red Summer: where the information came from that a race riot occurred here on this August day.
1.7 October 1, 1919: Race Riot in Elaine, Arkansas
Of all (known) race riots the one that occurred in Elaine saw the most deaths with around 5 whites and 200 black people being killed.29 Elaine was a rural area; many black people worked there as
sharecroppers. Black people decided to form the Progressive Farmers and Household Union of America (PFU) to discuss their rights. On the evening of September 30, the PFU had a meeting in a church. What exactly happened at the church is still under debate. There was an altercation at the church between two white and one black man, in which the two white men were shot, one
26 fatally. Led by the Elaine sheriff, many whites joined in to help stop an alleged black uprising. Federal troops were also called in. The next day the white mob got larger as many whites from surrounding counties joined in and attacked black citizens. The Elaine race riot lasted three days and left many dead and over 100 blacks prosecuted. Studying the newspapers about this race riot will not only offer insights about the press coverage of the last race riot of the Red Summer but also adds another perspective to the analysis: as this race riot lasted three days, one can try to figure out if the newspapers changed their coverage over this short period and what role they played in the duration of the riot. Furthermore, as scholars differ in terms of what caused the race riot it is interesting to analyze whether this disagreement also occurred in newspapers and what the causes of this could have been.
The reports on the Elaine race riot, listed as the last race riot of the 1919 Red Summer, show some remarkable views. Newspapers stay quiet about the cause of the race riot. The Los Angeles
Times reports on October 2nd that white special agents went to the church and one of them was
ambushed and was shot when he tried to arrest a black bootlegger. The New York Tribune reports that the agents went to the church to ‘arrest men from the Clem family as they were in a row among themselves’.30 Both the New York Times and the Grand Forks Herald report the same as The
Los Angeles Times; it is particularly interesting how the Grand Forks Herald does not mention that a
black person shot the special agent but states that he got shot ‘by unknown persons’. This indicates that the paper did not want to blame the race riot on black people or was not sure of the sources claiming this to be true. Either way, it implies that the Grand Forks Herald does not want to put negative attention on the blacks while uplifting the whites. This also becomes clear in the rest of the coverage as it writes that it was not until a posse (whites) approached the dead man that blacks fired upon them. The explicit use of until makes it seem that the death of the special agent was no reason for a race riot; the arrival of a group of white men was. It ends with stating a white man got arrested because he had ‘questionable literature’ with him. This report about a white man with ‘questionable literature’ is also mentioned in the Los Angeles Times, New York Tribune and the
New York Times. Both the New York Tribune and the New York Times cover the Elaine race riot on
multiple days and every time there is talk about white ‘influence’ in the race riot:
“the returning possess brought numerous stories, rumors and suspicious through all of which ran the belief
27
that the rioting was due to propaganda distributed among the negroes by white men” – October 2, 1919
(New York Tribune)
“it is stated on good authority that negroes in the vicinity of Elaine have been holding secret meetings at night
and that unidentified white men have been circulating literature among them” – October 2, 1919 (New York Times)
“meetings have been held between white officials and negro leaders and the latter have issued appeals to their
race to abstain from any outbreaks, and to oppose any violence by fellow negroes” – October 3, 1919 (New York Times)
“many of the negroes were returning back to work and charged that the uprising was due to white agitators
and negro leaders who have been exploiting the blacks for their own gain” – October 4, 1919 (New York Times)
The focus on white men inducing African Americans to riot is part of the stage of seeking justification for the race riot without accepting the fact that white racism has anything to do with it. The fact that the New York Times reports about a white man teaching blacks about social equality but not arguing whether this is wrong or right shows how the newspaper is not yet ready to acknowledge the fact that white racism is part of the race riots. It is used as justification, to say that the race riot only happened because white men used propaganda to lure African Americans to their side. The use of the word propaganda has negative connotations; this use could be seen as the New York Times indeed taking a stand and seeing the actions of the white men as wrong. While there is no actual acknowledgement of the fact that white racism is part of the problem it seems that both the New York Tribune and the New York Times altered to the stage of ‘disturbing emotions the acknowledgment of white racism would generate’. The latter published an NAACP letter on October 13 in which it is stated that a correspondent near the scene of the race riot said it was not ‘black insurrection that cost the race riot but it was the cotton prices’31 and that is why
the white man with the ‘questionable literature’ tried to help them. Yet, this is published on page 22 of the paper. The New York Tribune ends its article on October 4, in which it reports about the race riot, with the news that the Red Cross opened a station ‘in order that the wounded negroes might be treated’. On November 28, the paper reports about an appeal made by blacks to
28 Woodrow Wilson about eleven African Americans who because of their involvement in the Elaine race riot were about to be executed on Friday. The New York Tribune also informs its readers about another request, a request to amend the railroad bill, “to abolish that greatest violation of democracy, the segregation of passengers for race, as applied to interstate travel”32. While these
newspapers never explicitly say racism is a part of the race riots, it looks as if they acknowledge that black Americans have been treated unfairly and need an outlet to make people aware of this fact. On the one hand, black citizens get a voice; on the other hand these remarks are made on page 22 or are part of a brief sentence in a long article. However, it shows how newspapers struggle to give black people a voice in American society without criticizing their own white community; the disturbing emotion Cohen addresses in stage six of his politics of denial is clearly present here.
Conclusion
The race riots were no new phenomenon during 1919. Yet, as the plural form already suggests, in a short period there was more than one race riot. The newspapers were well aware of this fact. This chapter analyzed how white newspapers covered these different race riots during the Red Summer beginning with the official first race riot in Charleston and ending with the official last race riot in Elaine. The Charleston race riot in April 1919 saw newspapers focusing on the factual information, which has no room in Cohen’s ‘politics of denial’. Yet, the stage of ‘outright denial’ was clearly visible in the newspapers that refused to admit the recurrence of race riots. However, the stage of ‘withholding’ information appears absent; just a few newspapers were guilty of not sharing the navy report stating that white navy representatives aggravated African Americans and started a riot. Thus, Cohen’s theory does not cover all actions taken by newspapers concerning the race riots. The Bisbee race riot saw the introduction of ‘justification’ for the riots as most newspapers were focused on telling its readers why white soldiers had to shoot and arrest so many blacks. The Norfolk and Elaine race riots in July and October showed that newspapers indeed made changes and hesitated between seeking justifications for the race riots and acknowledging the impact of white racism as the trigger for the race riots. The Elaine race riot showed how newspapers tried to include relatively sympathetic messages about African Americans in their articles about the race riot and sometimes even included an article depicting black self-defense or questioning white supremacy. Yet, none of the newspapers goes beyond Cohen’s stage of ‘disturbing emotions the acknowledgement of white racism generates’. However, the June 13
