The early 1920s were greeted with an explosion of race riots, following a ton of lynchings throughout the decade before. A notable race riot took place in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1921, where a white elevator operator claimed that a black man assaulted her. The man was arrested, and whites proceeded to set homes on fire and vandalize businesses owned by blacks. Unlike this riot, however, most of the race riots actually took place in the urbanized North, as African Americans moved there because of World War I. Because of the labor troubles at the time, racial tensions were heightened, as unions were generally completely without blacks, who, along with other immigrants, were hired essentially as strike-breakers, which caused problems for the minorities. For example, in St. Louis, disgruntled working-class whites spread rumors that blacks were arming themselves, and whites led shootings which resulted in one hundred to two hundred dead black people.
The Klu Klux Klan, commonly referred to as the KKK, was disbanded in the 1870s. However, the Klu Klux Klan was revived in 1915, and reached the height of its powers in the 1920s. It had roughly 4 million members in 1924, and unlike the previous KKK, this one was all across America - both the North and the South. Also, the Klan targeted Catholics and Jews, rather than only focusing on blacks as it did previously. The KKK promoted fundamentalism and advocated white supremacy, and consisted of both lower-class and middle-class Americans. The KKK became so dominant, in fact, that it took over the state government for some states.
Overall, racial tensions ran high in the 1920s, with the revival of the Klu Klux Klan, and the lynchings and riots that took place as a result.
Great post Rijul. I did not know about the race riots in Tulsa, Oklahoma but it's interesting how events like that spread throughout the nation and sparked racial tensions. I feel like you could've talked a but more about segregation and systemic racism during this time.
ReplyDeleteAn interesting and highly important topic Rijul. I did not realize that events such as the race riots in Oklahoma often punished innocent African Americans for the actions of either one or a small group of them. The intensity and brutality involved in some of the actions taken by white supremacists of the time were beyond extreme and its shocking to see how much of a following groups such as the KKK managed to muster during a time that was shorter than a century ago.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great post. It really stresses on an important topic and helps me understand it very well. I didn't realize that the racial conditions were as bad as after the Civil war. The blog also covers the Klu Klux Klan, which was good recap of what we went over in class.
ReplyDeleteThis is such an interesting topic to discuss. It is baffling that, as you mentioned, such a harmful organization could practically take complete control over a state government. This threatens the very principles that the US was founded on: life and liberty.
ReplyDelete