Danver Steven L. (Edited). Revolts, Protests, Demonstrations, and Rebellions in American History: An Encyclopedia (ENG)

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The ensuing racial disorders followed a similar pattern. They broke out in

industrial centers that had experienced large inﬂuxes of blacks from the South.

Riots occurred in Springﬁeld, Illinois (1908), Evansville, Indiana (1903), and

Springﬁeld, Ohio (1904 and 1906). The worst outbreak happened in Atlanta,

Georgia, in 1906.

Race riots reached their height during the World War I era during the period of

American participation in 1917 and 1918. Mobilization accelerated economic and

social trends, including black migration and urbanization, that aggravated already

class and racial divisions. These tensions exploded into violence in East St. Louis,

Illinois, in July 191 7 afte r whites, infuri ated by reports that local businesses were

bringing in blacks to depress the labor market, stormed through black areas of the

city burning hundreds of buildings and killing 100 people, almost all of them black.

The immediate postwar period also saw numerous outbreaks of racial violence

as the economy contracte d and returning servic emen further satur ated the labor

market. The worst of these riots took place in Chicago in late July 1919. Over four

days, more that 20 blacks were killed and nearly 400 injured.

The violence of the ﬁrst two decades of the 20th century helped to galvanize a

growing civil rights movement in the United States. For many Americans, the

mob violence of t he period pointed up the need for an extra effort to protect the

civil rights of African Americans. The indifference of th e local white authorities

led to increasing calls for federal legislation to safeguard black rights and liberties.

It would take 40 years, but the seeds for the 1960s civil rights revolution were

planted in the mob violence of the early 20th century.

—Walter F. Bell

Further Reading

Barnes, Harper. Never Been a Time: The 1917 Race Riot that Sparked the Civil Rights

Movement. New York: Walker & Compa ny, 2008.

Hagedorn, Ann. Savage Peac e: H ope and Fear in America, 1919. New York: Simon &

Schuster, 2007.

Excerpt from the Cook County Coroner’s Report

Regarding the 1919 Chicago Race Riots (1920)

Reproduced below is an excerpt from one of several reports by the Cook County Coroner’s Office

on the causes and results of a series of race riots that occurred in Chicago in 1917, 1918, and

1919. The passage given here is from the report of the Coroner’s Jury investigating the particu-

larly serious riot of the "Red Summer" of July and August 1919. The jury finds the main causes of

the riot to be criminal activity on the part of both whites and African Americans as well as, to a

lesser extent, the friction created by a greater mixing of the races resulting from a great influx of

African Americans from the South, who came north during the war seeking work.

778 Red Summer (1919)

The true facts regarding the race riots in the City of Chicago in July and August, 1919, should

be presented to set at rest the many grossly exaggerated tales and rumors and the misrepre-

sentations which have been spread broadcast throughout the City of Chicago and the United

States. The number of lives lost, the manner of losing the same, the causes of the riots, and all

known facts attending the dark and frightful days beginning July 27, 1919, are matters of vital

interest to all orderly citizens who live and work in Chicago and for Chicago. That these facts

may become known and studied and analyzed is the purpose of this report.

Five days of terrible heat and passion let loose cost the people of Chicago thirty-eight

lives, wounded and maimed several hundred, destroyed property of untold val ue, ﬁlled

thousands with awful fright, blemished the good name of our City, and left in its wake

fear and apprehension for the future.

Race feeling and distrust reaches far back into the history of the past. While new, per-

haps, to Chicago, other cities and commun ities have tasted of its frightfulness, and yet

race antagonism in itself rarely gets beyond bound and control. The real danger lies with

the criminal and hoodlum element, white and colored, who are quick to take advantage

of any incipient race riot conditions to spread the ﬁrebrands of disorder, thieving, arson,

lust and murder— and under the cover of large numbers, to give full sway to cowardly

animal and criminal instincts.

The riot jury was impaneled July 28, 1919, and our investigations and inquiry have pro-

ceeded continuously through one form and another, to the present time.

We have visited hospitals, undertakers, and scenes of the rioting, received statements

from the relatives and friends of the victims, attended the exhumation of one body at

Lincoln Cemetery for fuller conﬁrmation as to the course of the bullet wound; have held

seventy day sessions and twenty night sessions on inquest work, examining approximately

four hundred and ﬁfty witnesses, the testimony taken amounting to ﬁfty-ﬁve hundred and

eighty-four folio pages, typewritten. Twenty men were held to the Grand Jury for murder

or manslaughter, one held to court martial for murder. There were seven cases of justiﬁ-

able homicide. Recommendation that unknown rioters be apprehended and punished was

made in eighteen cases. One Police Ofﬁcer was killed, three men were killed by Police

Ofﬁcers. One case—that of Joseph Lovings, a colored man—is still under investigation.

Homicides, due to the riots, occurred in wi dely separated loca lities, on the so uth,

southwest and west sides of the city.

Particularly atrocious and cruel murder was committed on t he persons of Morris

Parel, Walter Parejko, Eugene Temple, David Marcus, Morris Lazzeroni and George L.

Wilkins (white men), and Robert William s, B.F. Hardy, John Mills, William H. Lozier,

Oscar Lozier, Louis Taylor, Paul Hardwick and Joseph Lovings (colored men). ...

We have no thought of, or desire, to criticize any of the city ofﬁcials, the State’s

Attorney or the Police Department. In the grave emergency and riot conditions, we

believe they all did their duty, as we conscientiously tried to do ours; nor do we believe

that politics, so-called, or catering to the white or colored vote, had much if anything to

do with the production of race rioting.

The riots began on the afternoon of July 27, 1919, when Eugene Williams, a colored

boy, was drowned at the 29th street bathing beach, having been prevented from landing

Red Summer (1919) 779

by stones thrown by a mob of white men and boys. Prior to that afternoon, this beach

had been used exclusively by white people. The colored people contested the right of

the white people thereto, and a pitched battle was fought with stone s thrown betw een

two mobs, the drowning of Williams being the result. The report of his death spread with

great rapidity through the colored residence district, and the report was general that he

had been stoned to death in the water. Evidence disclosed that no stones struck the boy,

that an attempt was made to stone him and stones were thrown in his direction. He was

drowned—probably by reason of exhaustion due to the inability to land. However, the

reports caused a white heat of passion and desire for reprisal among a large proportion

of the colored population, and the riot spread.

July 27, 2 men were killed or sustained injuries causing death.

July 28, 17 men were killed or sustained injuries causing death.

July 29, 11 men were killed or sustained injuries causing death.

July 30, 5 men were killed or sustained injuries causing death.

July 31, 1 man was killed or sustained injuries causing death.

One George R. Fleming, white, was slain by a soldier, white, August 5th.

By August the 1st, the riots had subsided, the situation being well under control of the

police and the soldiery, normal conditions being in part restored.

Incomplete police reports covering the ﬁve days of the rioting, show that one police

ofﬁcer was killed and thirty-nine wounded or injured; twenty-three colored men and four-

teen white men killed; two hundred and ninety-one white and colored citizens wounded

or injured. We have no report of white or colored women outraged and but few women

were mistreated during the rioting. No evidence of drunkenness was presented.

To revi ew the circumstances of all the thirty-eight hom icides woul d be tiresome to

the reader and serve no good purpose. As illustrating all of them we will review brieﬂy

the cases of Eugene Temple, a white man, and Joseph Lovings, a colored man. All verdicts

rendered are on record in the Coroner’s ofﬁce.

Eugene Temple, a reputable citizen and proprietor of the Columbia Laundry, located

at 3642 South State Street, steeped from the doorway of his place of business, accompa-

nied by his wife and another lady, and was thus upon the sidewalk about to enter his

automobile. He was leisurely approached by three colored men, who grabbed him, one

on either side , at his back. While securely h eld by two of the men, the third man lifted

up Mr. Temple’s left arm and plunged a sharp and long knife, evidently a stiletto, through

his heart. Then they as leisurely walked away, leaving their victim dead upon the sidewalk.

Apparently, this was a cold blooded, calculated mu rder, without the element of race

passion. There was evidence that some attempt had been made to rob him at the same

time. These men have not been apprehended and presumably are walking the streets

of Chicago, a constant and continual menace.

The slaying of Joseph Lovings, colored, was an atrocious, savage crime. He, a defense-

less man, caught like a rat in a trap, by a surrounding mob, was dragged from his place of

concealment and refuge, beate n, skull fractured, and shot four teen times—left lying a

780 Red Summer (1919)

bruised and broken semblance of a man, on the grass plot in front of a city home in the

heart of the west side. This crime has not a single redeeming feature. It particularly illus-

trates the savage animal nature of a m ob. To hunt down, app rehend and punish the

dastardly criminals who killed this man, is the duty, not alone of the Police Department,

but of every citizen who values the security of life. No wonder that reports of this crime

grew to large proportions as it spread. It was published by the press of this and other

large ci ties that he had been sprayed with gasoline and burned alive. Comments were

made in Congress at Washington regarding the rumor. It gives us satisfaction to say that

this rumor, from our investigation, is false and unsubstantiated—but the subtraction of

this rumor mitigates the crime but a very slight degree.

Persistent reports have been circulated that the total number of deaths far exceeded

thirty-eight. Intelligent citizens have approached the Coroner and members of this jury

and gave their opinion that the number of deaths was far in excess of the number found.

These reports were freely handed about and believe.

We have made a thorough investigation to verify or disprov e these reports. Bubbly

Creek has been the favorite cemetery for the undiscovered dead, and our inquiry has

been partly directed to tha t stream. In our inquiry we have been assisted by the Stock

Yard ofﬁcials and workers, by adjacent property owners and residents, by private detec-

tive bureaus, the Police Department, Department of Health, State’s Attorney’s Ofﬁce, by

observing and intelligent colored citizens, and by other agencies, and we are ﬁrmly of the

opinion that these reports, so widely circulated, are erroneous, misleading an d without

foundation in fact, the race riot victims numbering thirty-eight, and no more, nor are

there any colored citizens reported to us as missing.

It has be en said that the importation of colored labor from the South, congesting the

south side residence district, caused ill feeling and friction, and was one of the causes of the

rioting. The labor situation was a war condition; at the same time taking thousands of young

men from the factory and shop for war service. Labor was needed, and employers turned to

the South as their source of sup ply. Neither the Government, the employer nor the

southern laborer is to be criticized for that condition. And while some friction was produced,

we doubt very much whether it was in any considerable measure productive of the rioting.

Nevertheless, it was unfortunate that negroes in large numbers, and unacquainted

with northern ways, were induced to come or did come to the City of Chicago without

adequate steps being taken to properly house and care for them. Naturally they gathered

in the south division, where others of their race were to be found, and where there was

congestion, ab ominable housing, and bad sanitary conditions. This, with the inadequate

transportation facilities, notably in the rush hour, which resul ted daily in the m ixing of

white and colored in the overcrowded street cars and elevated trains, tending to friction

and bad feeling, can be readily understood.

These conditions can and should be changed. We believe that a representative com-

mittee of white and colored p eople, working together, could suggest and bring about

the necessary and advisable changes.

The movement of the southern negro to the North, and mainly to the large northern

cities, has brought the race problem to the North. It is serious indeed, but not

Red Summer (1919) 781

necessarily a great danger, unless we allow it to become so. The problem is new to the

North and must be solved by Northern people. This problem is so large and entails such

serious consequences that this jury feels i tsel f powerless to do more than suggest its

seriousness to the civilized thinking people of the North, both white and colored, in

the hope that the initiative may be taken in the solution of th e race p roblem, which is

here now and here to stay.

In our investigations, numerous visits were made to the home district of the colored

population, and we observed the housing conditions of which we had heard much.

Overcrowded and unmistakably bad living conditions were found, and we w ere

impressed w ith the fact that the colored people justiﬁably for c leanliness and health

had m oved in considerable numbers t o the east of Michigan Avenue and to the south

of 39th Street , encroaching on the reside nce dis tricts of the wh ite people. The streets

mentioned have been the boundaries voluntarily accepted by the colored population to

within the past few years. The inrush of colored labor from the South caused congestion

and resulted in a movement of considerable extent into the white neighborhoods where

homes were purchased or leased.

Unquestionably this movement was encouraged by unscrupulous dealers in real

estate, both white and colored, who were interested solely in the proﬁts to be derived.

In our pinion the situation described was not a vital or material cause of the riot, but

the rioting certainly awakened the public to the changing conditions of the south side

residence district, and thoughtful men must consider that unless some remedy is fo und

and applied, the situation is fruitful of unsettled and in harmonious relations in the future.

Source: Cook County (IL), Coroner, The Race Riots: Biennial Report 1918–1919 and Official

Record of Inquests on the Victims of the Race Riots of July and August, 1919, Whereby Fifteen

White Men and Twenty-three Colored Men Lost Their Lives and Several Hundred Were Injured

(Chicago, 1920), 19–22.

Excerpts from the “Anti-Lynching” Hearings Held

before the House Judiciary Committee (1920)

Reproduced below are excerpts of testimony given before the House Judiciary Committee in

January 1920. Responding to the many serious race riots that had erupted over the previous

three years, and especially during the “Red Summer” of 1919, the committee heard testimony

regarding the need for antilynching legislation to protect African Americans from the growing rac-

ist violence being offered them throughout the country. The hearings accompanied the House’s

consideration of the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill, whic h was introduced into the House in 1918 by

Congressman Leonidas Dyer, a Republican from a heavily black district in St. Louis. Although

passed by the House in January 1922, the Dyer bill, which made participation in a lynch mob

a federal crime, was defeated in the Senate shortly thereafter. No federal antilynching legislation

was ever passed by Congress.

782 Red Summer (1919)

Statement of Mr. Neval H. Thomas

Mr. Thomas:

In the first place, I am representing the National Association for the

Advancement of Colored People. Locally we have 7,000 members

whom I am representing, and nationally we have 100,000 members in

310 branches, which are organized to oppose just such a

recommendation as has been presented here to-day. I do not know

where this man comes from—

Mr. Dyer: He says he comes from St. Louis. How long have you lived in St.

Louis, Mr. Madden?

Mr. Madden: About two years: I came there from Oklahoma.

Mr. Dyer: I thought so.

Mr. Thomas: I am acquainted with the leaders of thought among colored people all

over this country, and I never even heard of this man before. He repre-

sents nothing but himself. Beware of any Negro who comes recommend-

ing a segregation scheme to you: he is simply seeking to be head of the

group if we are segregated. When Woodrow Wilson became President,

there were some venal Negro politicians who asked him to segregate the

colored clerks in one department, and at the same time everyone

presented an application for the leadership of that department; so pay no

attention to them. The masses of the colored people are unalterably

opposed to segregation. Civilization has been spread and prejudices

softened by the contact of peoples with each other. Even President

Wilson is on record as saying that you can not hate a man whom you

know, although he has segregated men to keep them from knowing, so

that they can hate.

We recognize, in the first place that every man is lord of his castle;

complete master of his own home. We seek no association, but

cooperation with the white people of this country in the up-building of

the things which belongto usall. Whenwe go upon a common carrier, we

are not seeking contact with the other people, we simply want to travel

from place to place; we do not even expect another passenger to say

“Good morning” to us. This is an ordinary civil right. The common

carrier, like all other institutions, belongs to all of us alike. They are

supported by our taxes, protected by the police power of our State, and

every one is a taxpayer because the ultimate consumer is the taxpayer.

The owner of property does not pay the taxes. He charges enough rent

to make a profitable return on his investment, plus the insurance, water

rent, and all other expenses, and the tenant pays it. The owner of the

property is simple a messenger through whom the tenant sends his taxes

to the tax gatherer. Therefore, we have equal rights to all public places,

such as the common carrier, thetheaters, restaurants, and hotels, and we

will never cease to clamor for our rights until we gain admission. What we

Red Summer (1919) 783

want the Congress to do, and also the Department of Justice, is to

enforce the thirteenth, the fourteenth, and the fifteenth amendments to

the Constitution. Even the thirteenth amendment, forbidding slavery and

involuntary servitude, is violated in the Southern States by the infamous

system of peonage. We demand the ballot, for in a Government where

men vote the voter is king, and the disfranchised man is the victim of the

man who does vote. We demand the abolition of the infamous “Jim-

Crow” car, which was simply made to insult us. We demand admission to

all public places, in fact, we demand equality of treatment everywhere,

and equality before the law. Again, I say that segregation keeps men apart

and is opposed to all sound principles of Government. My own

experience in this country and Europe with white people has taught me

how segregation works against my people. I have met people in this

country and in Europe who were surprised that I could write; that I knew

history; that I knew what I was traveling for; could explain a painting or a

piece of sculpture or a great work of architecture. They had lived side by

side with me for all these years, the segregation had kept them from

knowing me. Suppose there were no prejudices in this country, the races

would mingle and discover their common humanity, and learn that color

is the least of differences among men, and we would have no resulting

friction. There are people living right in Boston who have gone over

Boston Common, the most historic park in this country, where there is a

statue of Crispus Attucks, a Negro, the first to shed his blood in the

American Revolution. Nearby is the famous Robert Gould Shaw statue,

dedicated to the Fifty-fourth and Fifty-fifth regiments of Negroes in the

Civil War, who died like men at Fort Pillow for the preservation of the

Union, and yet have never looked up to find how much the colored men

ofthiscountryhavedoneforit.Thesystemofsegregationpreventsthat

mutual interest that should exist between the races; we are all opposed

to segregation. The African Methodist Episcopal Church is the largest

institution among the Negroes, with 700,000 members. This church

issued a declaration of 14 points, the number of which is in imitation on

the President’s 14 points, and the strongest point in it is a declaration

against segregation. This church supports 24 institutions in the South and

collects from the pockets of washerwomen $350,000 every year for the

education of the Negro youth, and this is in addition to the expense to

which colored people are put for education of their own in the South

because all the people are taxpayers.

As this great church is against segregation, so are the Baptists and

other denominations. The great organization for which I am talking

to-day is opposed to it. We are all opposed to it, and this man is simply

seeking his own personal gain. The gentleman from Oklahoma

asked if we were willing to leave this country and said he believed

784 Red Summer (1919)

three-fourths of us would not leave. No. Nine hundred and ninety-nine

out of every thousand would not leave. This man has falsely stated that

this is a white man’s country. He knows nothing of the history of his

people. The Negro came here when the white man did, and he has

contributed to the upbuilding of this country by this labor, by his

suffering, by his sacrifices and blood. There are none of the highest

callings he has not entered. In art, the highest calling of man, the greatest

name is Henry O. Tanner, a Negro, whose paintings the French

Government seeks and purchases and puts in her great art galleries as

soon as they are painted. So it is foolish to talk about Americans, and we

are not going to leave in spite of our sufferings, but we are going to work

out our destiny right here in our own land. We have almost enough law

in this country. What we want is enforcement of the law. We have a

Constitution with 19 amendments, and with its imperfections, it is the

greatest political document that has ever come from the hand of man.

What we want Congress to do is to enforce it. Think of it: even the

House of Representatives has closed its public restaurants to Negroes,

where we have been going for 50 years without friction. This was done

at the very time that brave black boys were dying in the trenches in

France. This is a new reward to give the returning black soldier for his

heroic sacrifices in every part of far-off France. ...

Statement of Prof. George William Cook, Howard University,

Washington, D.C.

Mr. Cook:

I have been coming to the Capitol appearing before committees for nigh

onto 20 years. I must say that I have never been before a committee where

the occasion was of such vast and deep importance as this appearance to-

day. You may read it through the inference or read where the inference is

given, or you may read it out of the logic of events, that this committee

representing the judiciary of the United States in Congress assembled is to-

day challenged. The presentation of facts and conditions here to-day are

such that if the committee does not take a very serious consideration of it it

is scarcely up to the level of its own duty.

We did not come here to-day simply for the purpose of talking to you.

We came here to convince you as we know it, and as we hope to show it to

you that this awful carnage of lynching and injustice in so many different ways

must be stopped or we have our backs to the wall. My family is broken to-day

and let me give you the circumstances. As my wife and I motored from

Washington last July, we heard in Baltimore that there was a race riot in

Washington. It was Tuesday after Monday the last day of the riot. We

hastened here because we had one son, our only child, a young boy whom we

found home, and I asked him. “Where were you, George?” “I was in it.” “Why

were you in it?” “You can not take me out and shoot me like a dog. I am going

Red Summer (1919) 785

to die fighting if I have to die.” There is an 18-year-old boy. He contemplated

that thing, and he said finally, “Papa, I am not going to stay here.” He is

somewhat of a law unto himself. I said, “Where are you going?” “I am going

out of the country.” “Where do you propose to go first?” “I think that I will go

to Canada and go to school.” He went to Canada. These holidays he returned

to Washington on a visit and he was not home two days before he said, “I

smelt it as soon as I reached Baltimore and I am going away again.”

Now, you may consider that as an isolated case or you man consider it

trivial. I have been teaching young colored men for 40 years. I have tested the

opinion and growing conviction. I want to say if you want to drive out a pure

unadulterated loyalty that has existed in the colored man, just allow this

lynching to continue. You are all men of spirit and courage and belong to the

Anglo-Saxon race. You would not stand it. You did not stand taxation without

representation with very little personal violence attached to it and you were

right, and I want to say here as far as I can gauge my people they are loyal to

the backbone, they want no disturbance, and they will accept none until

forced to. This is our position in the matter.

Why did I speak of that boy? Do you want to drive citizens who are loyal

from your shores. You have sent away the undesirables. We are not

undesirable; no. You want the labor, but we are going to say and can say that

along with that response and the giving of labor we are going to ask for our

God-given rights, and it is our duty as far as possible to demand them.

There was a question raised this morning as to loyalty. There seems to be

some little idea that possibly the Negro is not quite as loyal as he used to be. The

Attorney General of the United States shows that in 30 pages, I read almost all

of it night before last and there are some in the South who feel the same way.

Mr. Sumners: Just a moment. I made the statement that there was no evidence. I made

the statement that there was no general evidence of disloyalty on the part

of the colored man toward the Government. I made that upon my own

responsibility.

Mr. Cook: I meant simply the question that came before us. I want to say now, sir, that

the colored man is loyal. He is loyal in secret and he is loyal openly, and

there is but one way to shake that loyalty. He sings, “My Country, ‘Tis of

Thee,” with all the luster and all of the sincerity that you sing, and there is

now but one way to shake that, and that is to continue the lawlessness

against him, and when you find him raising his hand in defense it is against

the mob. He never voluntarily raises his hand against the Government,

never has, never was an assassin, political assassin or menace, never was a

traitor, there is not one that betrayed the confidence in all of the wars, and

in all you have had he has engaged. There never was one. Therefore, I

appeal to you now to help us because we are a weak people, financially,

economically, but with all the opposition we have had we are stronger that

we were 50 years ago, and it is not only in strength that we would come

786 Red Summer (1919)

and ask you, we would come and ask you in our helplessness, that we, as

American citizens, in the Thomas Jefferson declaration sense, are willing to

die rather than continue our serfdom.

It is only necessary to be a little honest. You gentlemen who have

studied the Elaine case understand it. These four brothers were not in the

riot. They were out hunting when that treacherous gang came to them and

told them they had better go home because they might get into trouble, and

“let us have your guns in order that you will not be considered in the mob.”

They got their guns and then shot them to death. They had not done

anything and did not even know a riot was going on in the town. I appeal to

every man on this committee and I am sorry they are not here to hear

these other gentlemen speak. I am only taking up the raveled ends and

appeal to you upon pure justice first, and then on the lower ground of

political necessity, to give us our rights. Do not allow your communities to

deny the colored man an accounting when he has given his sweat toward

the cultivation of the crop. Let him have an accounting and treat him fairly.

We bring this general proposition to you and we can support every

one of them by cases upon cases. The most horrible thing of it all in that

lynching, when they shot these four brothers to death, that they scarcely

knew for what they were being shot. That was a lynching. Now, it is too

late, and I am glad to see by the public press, the white press, that the white

man is half ashamed of bringing attacks upon women as the great cause for

lynching. The record has been too well kept by the Chicago Tribune and by

The Crisis. We know why it is. Men have been lynched for nothing else but

wearing the uniform of the United States Government. It was but yesterday

that a young man in my class in commercial law said to me: “I will tell you

something.” I went to him when I came out of the classroom. He said: “I

was simply standing in the street down in South Carolina talking when a

young white man came up and said, “What are you doing with this on?” He

says, “I just came out of the Army.” “Well, you can not wear that down

here.” Can not wear the uniform of the United States Government down

there? Just a few feet away they brought up another one and he left for

nothing but wearing the uniform. He said he went to the post office for his

father’s mail and the postmaster said to him, “Do you want the package that

is here?” He said, “No, I can not carry that, I will wait for the car to come

in.” This young man said, “What did you say to me?” I said, “No, I will not

take that now.” He said, “I want you to know you can not talk that way to

me. You must say ‘sir’ to me, if you propose to stay about here,” and

started to come out to him. He talked up and said, “If you come after me on

a charge like that, one or both of us will report to God to-day.”

That is just yesterday. Do you blame the man for saying it. No security

from attack upon a colored man even though he had the uniform of the

United States Government upon him; this young man in the post office

Red Summer (1919) 787