Amidst the patriotic fervor whipped up by President Woodrow Wilson’s declaration of war against Germany was the continuing racial violence and racism against African Americans. At the beginning of July, a bloody riot in East St. Louis, Illinois left an entire black neighborhood decimated and countless residents murdered, maimed, and left homeless. In response to …
Tag: naacp
The Years America Ran Red: A History of Lynching in the United States
Many would love to believe that life one hundred years ago was gentler, better mannered, and simpler than today. I love history dearly, and I love historic sites, period dramas, and the like. I wouldn’t be working in museums and archives if I didn’t believe in the power of history for truth, reconciliation, justice, and …
The Mid-Winter Assembly, Baltimore, 1912
In 1908, William H. Bishop, Jr. invariably identified as “belonging to one of the oldest families in Maryland,” who was clerk in the Internal Revenue Service for thirty-five years, succeeded in pulling together the various rival factions in Baltimore’s black elite into a single organization, known as The Baltimore Assembly. Bishop served as its president …