Berna Six Case Study

Fire in A Canebrake: The Last Mass Lynching in America by Laura Wexler is about the lynching of four African- Americans: Roger Malcom, Dorothy Malcom, George Dorsey, and Mae Murray Dorsey. This occurred in Walton County on July 25, 1946 at the old Moore’s Ford Bridge. The lynching spurred a six month federal investigation in Walton and Oconee County, but eventually led to no convictions or arrest. The FBI had many prime suspects and prime witnesses, but the white community stuck together and the black community was too afraid to speak against their white counter parts. The reason for the lynching at Moore’s Ford Bridge was because the white community of Walton County wanted revenge for Barnette Hester’s stabbing, to keep interracial relationships separate, and to keep whites in control of the political power.

Ossian Sweet was an African American doctor that bought a house in a white neighborhood in Detroit. At the time, neighborhoods in Detroit were unofficially segregated. After Dr. Sweet bought the house, he was warned by neighbors that trouble would come and a block club formed to keep him out. Dr. Sweet expected trouble in his first night at the residence, and thus he enlisted the help of family and friends to protect themselves; he also warned the police, knowing they would not help to keep him safe. In his first night, a crowd formed, 11 police officers were present and there was no violence. However on the second night the crowd was allegedly aggressive and Dr. Sweet feared that the crowd would burn the house along with everyone inside, and as a result someone inside the house shot and killed a member of the crowd while also injuring another. The police immediately rushed inside the house and arrested all occupants. After their arrest, the police wanted to charge them with 1st degree murder, but before the trial, the NAACP heard of the case and wanted to provide legal assistance to protect their rights, out of fear that lynching might spread to the northern part of the U.S. During the first trial the temper of the crowd that had formed outside of Dr. Sweet’s house was heavily debated. One of the strong points for the defense was that the prosecutors could not identify who killed the member of the crowd. The jury could not reach a verdict and thus there was a retrial. In

‘Fire in a canebrake’ is quite a scorcher by Laura Wexler and which focuses on the last mass lynching which occurred in the American Deep South, the one in the heartland of rural Georgia, precisely Walton County, Georgia on 25th July, 1946, less than a year after the Second World War. Wexler narrates the story of the four black sharecroppers who met their end ‘at the hand of person’s unknown’ when an undisclosed number of white men simply shot the blacks to death. The author concentrates on the way the evidence was collected in those eerie post war times and how the FBI was actually involved in the case, but how nothing came of their extensive investigations.

The Elaine Massacre was one of the most destructive racial dispute that had taken place in Arkansas history and perhaps, the bloodiest racial rivalry in the history of the United States. While its inmost origin lies in the United States dedication to white superiority, the events in Elaine were emanated from strained race affiliates and expanding sympathy regarding the labor unions. A firing incident that took place at a meeting of the Progressive Farmers and the Household Union inflated into throng brutality on the part of the white people in Elaine and the nearby areas. Despite, the perfect number is unidentified, a huge number of African Americans were killed by the white’s territory that was around hundreds; and five white people lost their lives.

“From Chicago to Tulsa, to Omaha, East St. Louis, and many communities in between, and family to Rosewood, white mobs pursued what can only be described as a reign of terror against African Americans during the period from 1917 to 1923.” (Rosewood Report, 1995, Pg. 3) Lynching had become very common in the United States, although the number of lynching’s had declined from 64 in 1921 to 57 in 1922. Rosewood was known to some as basically a riot, or a war. I believe Rosewood was known to become a war because the African Americans in Rosewood didn’t want the whites to run them out of the only city they were raised in. So the African Americans refused to leave, and fought back. How would you react if someone tried to run you out of your home, or the city you were raised in? Would you leave? Or fight back? Some incidents that occurred in Rosewood report had to do with Fannie Coleman. She was a married woman with three children, who claimed she was raped and beat by a black male while no one was home. According to Fannie Taylor’s version of events, “A black male came on foot to my house that morning and knocked. When I opened the door the black male proceeded to assault me.” (Rosewood Report, 1995, Pg. 5) None of this was true. She was having a affair with a white man, who beat her, so she lied and made a scene to the community to cover her up. Little do she know how this petty lie will cause many African Americans to die.

Laura Wexler wrote Fire In A Canebrake to expose the truth of what happened in Walton County, Georgia in 1946 to the four black people who were lynched. The author wanted to show the racism in the south and how it conflicts with the truth of what happened. The author showed us that it took many years to actually get something done about the lynchings because the people in power in the south were just as racist as the people doing the lynchings. They didn’t want to get involved with the injustice and wanted to stay out of the problem. The author gave us the full story on what happened, because in 1946, many people never got the full truth. The author’s thesis would be that racism obscured the search for justice for the four black people who were lynched. Throughout this book, they showed how, at the beginning, there was hardly any search for the people who lynched the fur black people, showing that racism stopped them from

In the years between 1865 and 1965 there were hundreds of Negro lynchings in Texas. The Brenham Weekly Banner newspapers during this time barely focused on lynching and when they did, they referred to lynching as an unjust way of punishment for the black men they were burning, hanging and torturing; However, when chances arose for the lynching offenders to be punished there were no repercussions. The Brenham Weekly Banner had three papers touching on the topic of lynching that reveal the white supremacy running through southerners and how it is linked to lynching, as well as Brenham’s desire to bury their participation in lynchings.

The Hazelwood School District in Hazelwood, Missouri was one of the districts affected by the events that were happening in Ferguson, Missouri with the deathly shooting of Michael Brown. Hazelwood West High School Special Education Teacher Jodi Schutzenhofer was one of those teachers that found it difficult to try and find an equal balance and understanding of how students within the school were dealing with the grand jury decision. “I did not really have any types of group discussions with my students, but I had several questions like, ‘what happens now?’ and ‘why did they have to burn down the city?’ for which there is really no good answer. I think it was fear that something so awful happened so close to their homes.” And how does one explain

The asserted scorn wrongdoing of James Craig Anderson, a 49-year-old vehicle plant laborer, who was beaten and afterward killed by a gathering of white high schoolers goal on harming a dark individual. Deryl Dedmon Jr., 18, of Brandon, Miss., and his companions were at a gathering drinking when Dedmon professedly told companions they ought to leave, saying, "Let's go f--- with some niggers," according to CNN. According to CNN, this is what happened in the scene, “The teens

The Tulsa Race Riot is an event that is quite possibly the most unknown and misconstrued piece of history in the United States of America. When and if it is discussed, it’s taken as a single event that happened in Tulsa and was deadly and very destructive. The many theories of what occurred and how it came to the extreme mob like violence taken on Tulsa’s own civilians. The evidence found suggest there were alternative motives in Tulsa for acquiring land that the black civilians held.

Sanford was returning home, around 11:30 p.m. when a group of white men threatened him and he began to run. They did not get far until one of them from the group shot Sanford, who was later pronounced dead. After the police came there were no arrest made that night, even with the assailant being known. The same night Joseph was attacked while coming home from work by the “roughs” and stabbed to death. Many were angered over these murders, however they tried their best to be patience. After the killings of the two black men, there were posters promoted around to kill all the blacks on July 4th. After seeing this post all the black people started to warn people of the riot that was coming and to prepare. Prior to this, since the migration from the South there was competition between the white and black laborers due to the large volume increase of population. From this it created a housing issue for the black people, after being able to take the adjoining homes in neighborhoods this developed friction. Within that period just before the riot there was 27 black residences wrecked by unidentifiable people. From this series of events occurring it struck the tension in both races to soon offset a flame to start a dangerous riot.

March 16 saw a demonstration in Montgomery, Alabama in which 580 demonstrators planned to march “from the Jackson Street Baptist Church to the Montgomery County Courthouse” (Reed 26). These protestors included a large number of northern college students. They met a police line a few blocks from the Courthouse and were forbidden from proceeding because “they did not have a parade permit” (Reed 26). Across the street came 40 or so students who planned on joining the group en route to the Courthouse. Eventually a few of the demonstrators dared to cross the street, led by James Forman who had organized the march. When it seemed the whole group would cross, police took action, with mounted officers and volunteers arriving at 1:12 pm. Riding into the small group of protestors, they forced most to withdraw, but a few stood fast around a utility pole where horsemen began to beat them. “A posseman

The Tulsa Race Riots, the Rosewood Massacre, Emmett Till, the Scottsboro Boys, Timothy Cole, and the Central Park Five—what do all of these instances have in common? They represent the complicated, yet emotional history in

    One of the most horrific events that happened in 1917 was the Tulsa Outrage. The Tulsa Outrage was most known for when seventeen men were murdered. One late November night a group of about fifty men dressed in all black known as the “Wobblies” approached seventeen men. The seventeen men were then “pulled from the lineup, tied to a tree, a Knight approached every man with a double piece of hemp rope and whipped the victim’s back until blood draped their backs. Another man stepped forward and slathered boiling tar on the victim’s backs with a paint brush, coating him from head to seat. The final act of humiliation, the Knight then padded the victim’s back with feathers from a down pillow”(Chapman 2). “According to multiple interviews conducted by National Civil Liberties Bureau Investigator L.A.

The public was able to witness for the first time the violence and police brutality used against many civil rights activist. The majority of the civil rights demonstrators in Alabama that day were high school students. The pictures of these children being attacked by dogs and sprayed with water from high-powered fire hoses were very disturbing and shocking to most viewers. It gave a more accurate and sympathetic account; one that the public hadn’t seen before,