The Civil War : The Causes Of The Memphis Riots

Before WORLD WAR I, military service represented a source of black pride. Black educators, clergymen, and the press frequently referred to Negro heroes of America’s past wars. After the Civil War, the U.S, Army maintained four regular Negro regiments –the 9th and 10th Calvary and the 24th and 25th Infantry. These units included veterans of the civil war and the frontier Indian fighting regiments. Retired sergeants often became respected, conservative leaders in their communities. This history set a foundation for black support and involvement in America’s future wars.

W.E.B. DuBois’ “Returning Soldiers,” an editorial piece written in May of 1919 for the NAACP’s publication The Crisis lays out for not just returning soldiers, but for African-Americans as a whole that the war is not over. While the Great War of 1914-1918 may have ended, there is still a greater war to continue to fight on the American homefront. “Returning Soldiers” calls out the United States government on the charges against its people as seen by DuBois and reiterates and rejuvenates the reader for the fight it still needs to take on. The black man soldier may have escaped the battlefields of France and now be able to shed the uniform that symbolizes the systematic injustices he faced, but upon returning, in his “civil garb” he is still a soldier, only in a different military.

The Civil War began in 1861 and left many white Mississippians in permanent mourning for lost loved ones. (3) The war hit close to home due to volunteer companies recruiting locally. Almost everyone knew someone fighting within the war. (41) As of 1861, the blood of Mississippians had not been spilled on Mississippi soil; however, that was about to be altered. (57) One of the first towns in Mississippi to be

The Civil War was one of America’s most brutal battles in history. Majority of which being white, male soldiers. Over the years, many historians have argued the actual involvement of blacks during the civil war era. Many claiming that they were doing nothing more than assisting the actual, white soldiers in combat such as, nurses, and wagon drivers, not actually picking up the gun and shooting alongside in battle. Most people look over the fact that almost ten percent, or 180,000, of the Union army were African American. Though a small fraction of the amount of total soldiers during the war, their involvement is still significant. These soldiers recruited and voluntarily, committing the same acts of bravery of any Caucasian solider, due to the prejudice against them, they were pushed to the back burner and treated with disrespect, virtually diminishing their extensive courageous acts. Nevertheless these soldiers made an impact in world changing war.

The Tulsa Race Riot is considered to be the most deadly and violent race riot of all time. The period of the riot was a time of prosperity in America, not only among whites, but the black population in Tulsa were also living an upper middle class life. The oil boom gave Tulsa a quick boost in the economy and people had money, lots of money. With oil in the ground and money everywhere, it’s hard to imagine that the National Guard was about to be called on its own civilians for the first time and only time in history.

In 1892 Three African American men named Tom Moss, Calvin McDowell, and Will Stewart set up a grocery store in Memphis. This drew customers from a local white owned store. The white owner and a few other began to attack and rob Tom and the others store, After a few of these attacks Moss and a few others started to guard the store and rebel against the attackers. One night Moss and the others shot and killed the owner and his partners as they tried to rob the store, Tom and the others were taken to jail and imprisoned for their crimes for self defense. Shortly after Tom and his friends were taken from their cells and murdered by a lynch

The Tulsa Riot of 1921 was a tragic racial riot that resulted in the periodic destruction of Greenwood, a neighborhood of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Nicknamed “Little Africa”, Greenwood was described as a vibrant community, and was built up by African Americans. This community, however, was completely destroyed by a massive mob of white men, whose anger stemmed from rape allegations of an African American man. Before and after the Tulsa Riot occurred, African Americans of the Greenwood community faced social issues due to the prevalence of racism among white men across the nation.

Before the Civil War started, the North and the South argued on two main topics: slavery and state rights. In my opinion, it was because of slavery that state rights were argued. When Western territories were annexed from Mexico, they were admitted to the Union with the condition that that slavery be banned through the Wilmot Proviso (History.com). Because of this, slave states felt they were unfairly treated and outnumbered. The religious fervor of the Second Great Awakening also gave way to new ideology. Combined with the growing abolitionist sentiment, Northern states began taking action against Southern states. Because their rights as

The N.Y Tribune” says that Negro troops at Hilton head, S.C will soon start an expedition, under the command of Colonel Montgomery, differing in many respects from any heretofore projected. 3 (John Lewis)

It occurred when a white mob started attacking residents and businesses of the African-American community of Greenwood in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in what is considered one of the worst incidents of racial violence in the history of the United States. Although the riot itself lasted only a few hours, its repercussions are still felt today. The riot started after a young black man was accused of having sexual contact and raping a young white female who was operating an elevator. He was later taken into custody and rumors raced all throughout the Negro Community. Over 800 people had to be taken to the hospitals and over 6,000 negroes were taken into custody. Tulsa Policemen made every negro evacuate their homes. “After the homes vacated,” said one Greenwood resident, “one bunch of whites would come in and loot. Even women with shopping bags would come in, open drawers, take every kind of finery from clothing to silverware and jewelry. Men were carrying out the furniture, cursing as they do so, saying, ‘These damned Negroes have better things than lots of white people.’” (CITE) (http://www.tulsaworld.com/app/race-riot/timeline.html )

Cobb shows that one of the earliest restrictions placed upon peoples of African descent came in the form of laws that made it illegal for any black person, free or enslaved, to own a gun. And he reminds us that fears of slave insurrections remained a constant feature of slavery. Cobb considers the Civil War a “watershed” moment because it provided African American soldiers with the opportunity to fight courageously and use guns to wound and kill

The film Glory by Edward Zwick is one of the most well-known films of all time. The film itself is solely based upon the first formal unit of the Union Army during the American Civil War which consist of all African American men. They were essentially the very first unit of United States Colored Troops. They were formally known for their courageous attempts to and actions at Fort Wagner in 1863. The film is set in many different locations such as New York, Maryland, South Carolina and Massachusetts. In each of these different locations events took place that shaped our history. For example on November twenty seventh of 1862 Robert Shaw started to train soldiers. July eighteenth 1863 the Colonel Shaw and his troops attempted to take Fort Wagner, which didn’t succeed.

The American Civil War, which began in 1861 to 1865, has gone down in history as the one of the most significant events to have ever occurred in the United States of America, thus far. At that time, questions had arose wondering how the United States ever got so close to hitting rock bottom, especially being that it was a conflict within the country itself. Hostility steadily grew through the years dividing the nation further and further, and finally leading to the twelfth day in April 1861 in Fort Sumter, North Carolina. The American Civil War was an irrepressible battle and aside from the obvious physical effects of the war, the disagreement over states rights, the act of slavery, and the raising of tariffs played crucial roles in the

1866 is the first time a Black woman was raped in the United States of America. Now, something seems wrong with that sentence. A more accurate way to express this would be that in 1866 the United States government recognized that Black women were capable of being raped for the first time. It was in response to the 1866 Memphis Riot, in which white men attacked a Black community for 72 hours straight killing 48 people, wounding 60-80, and raping at least 5 Black women. Republican abolitionist and reformers came from Washington D.C. and gave the Black women who were sexually abused a platform to speak, giving them a chance to have a Federal testimony in 1866 (Peiss, 2002). This recognition did little to change a society that has been built upon the lie that Black women are “unrapable” due to their assumed hypersexual and licentious ways. A Mississippi defense attorney summarized this viewpoint well in an 1859 court case in which an older enslaved man was being convicted of raping an enslaved girl under the age of ten. He said, “The crime of rape does not exist in this State between African slaves...their intercourse is promiscuous” (Sommerville, 2004, p. 65). This toxic mentality cultivated in slavery is just as present and strong today and creates not only blindness to the presence of sexual violence towards Black women, but also pushes Black women into silence due to shame and a desire to separate oneself from such negative stereotypes (Harris-Perry, 2013)

In July 23, 1967, the Detroit Police department busted a bar with a prominent number of African Americans. They arrested every person in the bar. More and more people started to gather on 12th street to watch the proceedings. That is when the rioting started. The crowd began to get more violent as more people joined.