- Many of you all know the Tulsa Race Massacre that took place in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1921, but did you know that in the summer of 1906, the Atlanta Race Massacre took its unfortunate ranking among the countless number of other horrific massacres in U.S. history?

In this episode, we will discuss the Atlanta Race Massacre of 1906 and how the social, political and cultural implications are in black and white and sets Atlanta up to be a major battleground to where Black Atlantans produce resistance and resiliency in the face of White terror.

(dramatic music) As a historian, author and professor I've witnessed the timeless power of history, the way we understand the people, places and events of the past shape our future.

So join me as we dare to look deeply and differently at the world behind and before us.

You never know what you'll find, while "re-Defining History" (ambient music) Many Atlantans don't know about the Atlanta Race Massacre formally known as the Atlanta Race Riot, yet they unknowingly engage in the sacred spaces where it all unfolded.

On September 22nd, 1906, a violent rampage erupted in the Five Points area of downtown Atlanta.

On that day, a riotous mob of White men gathered to destroy Black-owned businesses and brutally attack any person of color in sight.

The violence occurred over a string of four days as the mob dispersed throughout downtown and surrounding areas.

If you're like me, you may be wondering why did all of this violence happen?

What was the social climate of Atlanta in 1906?

And what were some of the political influences of that time?

To find out more, I decided to take a trip to the National Center for Civil and Human Rights.

I'm meeting up with Dr. Clarissa Myrick-Harris to review a few archival materials from that time period.

I am on a quest in a journey to find as much as I possibly can from the ground up on the Atlanta Race Massacre.

Can you tell me some things about what we have here?

You ladies have assembled real primary sources that discuss the Atlanta Race Massacre.

But can you tell me what's going on?

- In 1906, September 22nd, 1906, to be exact, the city exploded when a mob of thousands of White, primarily men, but I believe there were some women in there too, began to attack Black citizens and Black businesses and Black residential areas.

It started in the central business district and that's where the Black and White businesses were located and in competition.

And so, it started there.

It was September 22nd, that Saturday, the 23rd, the Sunday, the 24th, that Monday and September 25th, that fourth day.

And that was the day that it was centered primarily in Brownsville, where there was really an armed confrontation.

They duped it out.

They battled it out the Black- - So that's south side.

- That's south side.

The documentation says that there were 25 African Americans killed and maybe two Whites.

We know the numbers were greater.

- Absolutely.

- Especially when it came to the Black victims of this assault.

The catalyst for this was really a result of media, a result of articles that were in newspapers.

- Oh wow.

- In the city, during this timeframe, they published articles that essentially categorized all Black people as criminals.

And so, there're saying that White safety and White power was in jeopardy by Black citizens.

This is actually from the Atlanta Constitution, 1951.

And so, you'll notice that they say, "Possibly Atlanta's most tragic period was the four bitter days in September, 1906 when hatred and death rode rapid through the normally quiet peace-loving city.

Following a series of attacks on White women by Negroes, tension had grown to an extremely dangerous point."

So, they're validating, and they're saying there were attacks on White women by Black men.

- Wow.

- So in telling the story, they're perpetuating a lie about what really occurred.

This was a period of the gubernatorial elections, the campaigns.

And so, the papers were in competition, really.

The papers were actually the tools of the two candidates for the Democratic nomination for governor.

The Atlanta Constitution was the paper that was affiliated with Clark Howell, okay?

One of the two gubernatorial candidates, Democratic, gubernatorial candidates.

The Atlanta Journal was affiliated with Hoke Smith.

There was fear that Black male voters had too much power and of course, Black men were in a majority in the Republican party.

About 75%- - Absolutely.

- Of the Republican party was comprised of Black men.

- So this is Lincoln's Republican party.

- Exactly, exactly.

- So, now with that being said, so what you're articulating here is that this is organized from the top.

- Yes.

- I mean, if we have two gubernatorial candidates that are using some kind of demagoguery to really strike fear into White Atlanta, this is orchestrated at a very high level.

Why do you both believe that this story is not told?

Why is it not taught in our schools?

Why is it not really marked in particular ways in our community?

Or are there efforts to do so?

- Yeah, I think a reason is because this history is not consistent with the image that Atlanta wants to project.

- Ah, of course.

- As a progressive city, a city too busy to hate.

- Of course.

- Fortunately, and Autumn you can talk about the efforts of the National Center for Civil and Human Rights.

- Yes, so we have a Truth and Transformation initiative which I am a program coordinator with.

And so, we want to focus on telling truths to transform the future.

- Absolutely.

- And we would love for you to come and meet our team and learn more about our Truth and Transformation initiative.

- Hi.

- Hey.

- I wanna introduce you all to Mo Hobson.

He's on a journey to learn about the 1906 Atlanta Massacre.

- Nice, it's a pleasure to meet you.

- Nice to meet you.

- I understand what the National Center for Civil and Human Rights is doing in the community, but I would like to know what Truth and Transformation is doing in the community from the ground up.

- So a lot of the work that we do is around telling the truth.

We focus on history in Atlanta history that people don't know about, like 1906, and the ways in which we can engage our community or keep our communities engaged.

That's a lot of work in the community that's happened around 1906 that has happened, and part of our work is uplifting network, uplifting those stories and finding a way to push it forward.

I really hope engaging people in the community, engaging decendants will shine a light on all the many people who were impacted and bring their voice back to the forefront.

- [Mo] I'm looking for hidden histories.

What are some of the things that you would suggest for me?

- Well, I definitely think you could use our truth tell model and it is something that we preach by and we teach on.

So the first thing is figure out what history is hidden?

What is the omission that exists?

And next will be to understand why is it hidden?

Why is the omission there?

Is it intentional, by who?

And then the next phase would be to insert the hidden history into the modern day era.

How could this connect with people today?

Where does it still show up today?

And then the last step is to give it to the community.

What's happening in the community around this issue?

And what are ways in which we could galvanize our community, our families, around this issue.

And using that model we're able to move the issue forward or bring it back to the light.

- Well, thank you so much for this.

I will certainly use your Truth Telling model in my quest in my journey to understand what it is that we're doing with the Atlanta Race Massacre, because I feel like we've just scratching the surface.

There's so much more that I need to learn and uncover.

So thank you so much.

- Please do, and let's stay connected.

- All right, sounds good, pleasure.

I think it's safe to say, that I've already completed the first step of the Truth Telling model.

The Atlanta Race Massacre was a planned effort by White power structures to politically disempower Black Atlantans and impede future social progress.

This was done under the guise of a race riot sparked by alleged Black criminality.

But there's still so many more parts of the story to uncover and there's no better way to understand history other than immersing yourself in the actual places where it unfolded.

That's why I'm going on a walking tour.

I'm hitting up some of the key locations in downtown Atlanta impacted by the massacre.

While researching, I discovered that the late historian in Georgia State, Professor Cliff Kuhn, was known for his monthly 1906 Race Riot walking tours and previously recorded a version before his passing.

Let's let his voice guide the way as we dive into this tour.

- [Cliff] Right, we start right down at Five Points.

It was the heart of Atlanta and it was where the riot began.

All throughout the downtown area for really over four hours, if you can imagine it, you had a pitched battle, thousands of White men and hundreds of Black men and women with pistols, knives, guns, ax handles anything people could get their hands on.

- My next stop is Decatur Street.

Decatur Street was a major target for assaults and attacks during the massacre.

Historically what was there were a series of bars and taverns, saloons.

They were hubs for Black working class and White working class to interact and engage.

And so, in order to put a divide, the White business elite began to criminalize any activities that took place in those saloons.

And of course, Black folk were at the other end of that criminalization, demonization, displacement and disenfranchising.

After visiting Decatur Street, I made my way to 66 Peachtree Street, which was the site of the Crystal Palace, one of the luxury barbershops owned by Alonzo Herndon, a wealthy and elite Black man that survived the 1906 massacre.

- [Cliff] Herndon's barbershop, fanciest barbershop in the region, a symbol of Black affluence during this time at a time when lots of White men frankly wanted to put the Black man back in quote, his place.

- Barbershops were among the many Black businesses attacked and destroyed during the massacre.

In fact, a barber and lame bootblack named Henry Welch was shot and killed.

The mob dragged their bodies along with another victim to the base of the Henry Grady statue, which stands at the intersection of Marietta Street and Forsyth Street.

And so, the fact that bodies were taken to the Grady statue, means that they saw Henry Grady as a proponent of the White supremacy that was being demonstrated during the Atlanta Race Massacre.

I can't imagine witnessing such horror at the young age of 13, but this was the case with a young Walter White.

He and his father witnessed many Blacks get attacked and lynched by the White mob.

- [Cliff] On the corner of Marietta and Forsyth, the mob tried to enter the post office during the the riot.

One of the letter carriers was a man named White whose son Walter White, experienced something of an epiphany that night.

For Walter White who was blonde haired and blue-eyed and who could pass for White, and sometimes in his later life did pass for White, this was the pivotal moment of his life.

This was when he kind of realized that he was a Negro, that he dedicated himself to working for improvement for the Black race.

- I ended my walking tour on Peachtree Street.

It's where the Western Peachtree Plaza currently stands.

However, it was once the site of the Georgia Governor's Mansion.

Governor Joseph Terrell was home during the massacre, but did not respond 'til midnight after many lives had already been lost.

He claimed he was asleep and did not hear the cries, screams and gunshots that were just a few blocks away.

Governor Joseph Terrell called State militia at approximately 12:20 the morning of Sunday, September 23rd.

Although the crowd of rioters finally dispersed due to rainfall around 2:00 a.m., they continued to spread terror in other Black communities around the city for the next two days.

It's sobering to know that the thriving businesses and lives that once occupied this area of the city were either destroyed or displaced due to the violence of 1906.

And yet, even with being displaced, those who resisted and survived demonstrated a resiliency that would ultimately posture Atlanta to be a beacon of civil rights.

I imagine that was a form of justice for those 25 confirmed victims and those still unknown.

But telling their story and shining a light on their humanity is even more justifying.

What do we know about their lives and how they died?

Were there other victims not reported?

To learn more about the lives of the victims, I'm heading over to Southview Cemetery to have a conversation with Ann Hill-Bond.

Hello.

- Hey Maurice, how are you?

- I'm fantastic.

- Nice to meet you.

- It's good to see you, good to see you.

- Absolutely, welcome to Southview.

- I hear that Southview is a very prominent cemetery for Black folk in the city of Atlanta.

- Absolutely, it's known as the African American city of the dead.

And it represents the influence of African Americans around the country.

We have everybody here that was anybody since the late 1800s up until modern day with John Lewis.

- Tell me about the work that you that you're doing.

- I am the Fulton County Remembrance Coalition Community Chair.

We're in partnership with EJI to commemorate the 36 lynching victims here in Fulton County.

And amongst the 36, 25 of them are from the 1906 Atlanta Race Massacre.

And a lot of them are buried here.

Some that we will visit today and then some people that survived the massacre that went on to be prominent leaders in Atlanta.

- Well listen, I look forward to learning a lot from you.

- Yay, I look forward to teaching.

- All right, let's go for it.

(gentle music) Where are you taking me now?

- I'm taking you to one of the victims of the 1906 Atlanta Race Massacre.

His name was Frank Smith.

- Well, what do we know about Frank Smith?

- Well, we know that he was a messenger for Western Union and we also know that he died on the Forsyth Bridge.

There was said to be 10,000 White men that came into downtown in that Forsyth Five Points area.

And their message or their charge for that night was to kill the Negroes.

When you see a mob essentially coming to towards you to lynch you, so many of 'em jumped, and Frank Smith was one of them that was documented as jumping.

- At the end of the day, it was a lynching.

- It was a lynching.

We have another person from 1906, but he wasn't a victim.

Luther Price, who is just up the hill here.

If you wanna go see him.

- Sure, let's do it.

- Okay, all right.

(gentle music) - We are at the grave site of Luther Judson Price and his wife, Minnie, They were prominent residents of Brownsville.

He was actually the first African American postmaster in the city of Atlanta.

Even though Brownsville was a predominantly African American suburb or sub-town or sub-community, he served both African American and White people, 'cause he was in charge of the mail.

The urban legend has it that he was the one that armed Brownsville with the weapons to defend themselves on the third, fourth night of the massacre.

But we get to that part of history where we're like, well, how did he get so many firearms at a time when African Americans were not supposed to have any firearms?

But he was also very fair-skinned, he was also of the creme de la creme of the African Americans in Atlanta at the time.

And so, they said that once the word got out that this was happening to African Americans south and north of the city, people the Pullmans actually played a major role.

They said that African Americans started putting any weaponry that they had into coffins and sending them on the railroad.

And because he was the postmaster, he had access to getting those off the railroads and into the hands of the citizens that need them to defend themselves against the mob.

- I got you.

- Tell me about Brownsville though.

Put it in full.

- Absolutely.

- Put it in the cross hairs.

- I love Brownsville.

Brownsville was the epicenter of political growth and economic growth and education.

We had Clark College and Clark University at the time, and Gammon Theological.

Brownsville is a representative of resilience.

And its resilience shows up in the third night when the mob was essentially ascending on Brownsville, on this Black mecca, this Black epicenter of leadership of Black thought of Black excellence.

Brownsville showed resilience by arming themselves by defending their property, by defending their family.

They got together and that collision happened on the corner of Jonesboro and McDonough.

Brownsville is where it ended, because African Americans said, "Not today, not now, not ever," right?

And Officer Heard was killed.

And in the killing of Officer Heard, 256 Black men from Brownsville was rounded up and taken downtown to face charges for this one police officer's murder.

And out of the 256, Alex Walker is the one that was convicted.

Alex Walker was a Brownsville resident as well.

There's several other graves that marked the time of 1906 that were living, that lived through it, but also the ones that were tragically killed, like Annie Shepard, she's buried in the unmarked section of the non-perpetual care that is located a few feet away from here, but it's covered by trees and debris.

And so, that is where a lot more 1906 Atlanta Race Massacre victims are set to be buried.

During the massacre, people were just dropping off bodies.

- So even though they're unmarked, do you think that there are any records, any primary sources that will give us some kind of insight on who's buried here?

- [Ann] Ms. Winni the director here, they kept amazing records.

So they have a beautiful book up front that shows the records of who is actually buried back here.

- [Winni] So this is September of 1906.

- Yep, and the massacre started on the 22nd.

- Right, and so this is the date I believe of burial.

- Okay, and there's Annie Shepard.

She's one of the victims of 1906.

- And is this the age right here?

- [Winni] The age as it was reported by the family at that time.

- You see 55, you see 18, 17.

There's a vast range of age.

- Because Annie Shepherd is listed as 15.

- So what we understand as the 11 unknown are possibly here.

This amplifies their own personhood.

It's not hard for me to believe that the vast range of people listed in the burial book just may be some of the 11 unknown victims of the massacre, because the massacre was an indiscriminate killing spree on Black people.

The 14 known victims also reflect an array of all walks of life.

Their ages range from 15 to 70, a carpenter, grocery store owner, civil war veteran, everyday people who were criminalized and brutally murdered.

The aftermath of a massacre makes me think of the third step of the Truth and Transformation, Truth Telling model.

How is the omitted truth that we discovered relevant in present day?

Well, the economic and social landscape of the Atlanta we know and love today was shaped by the 1906 massacre.

A great deal of Black wealth was diminished in Atlanta due to the massacre.

Some historians, including myself, argue that the destruction of Black businesses and the mass exodus of middle class Black families after the massacre may have a direct connection to federal policies that led to Atlanta's present day economic disparities.

The following year in 1907 the newly elected governor Hoke Smith swiftly fulfilled his campaign promise to disempower the Black vote.

He did so by signing a Constitutional amendment that would impose a literacy test as a requirement for voting.

That amendment disenfranchised the Black vote for the next 50 years.

Due to newly implemented segregation laws, Black Atlantans were forced out of the central business district in downtown Atlanta.

However, the newly migrated Black businesses and middle class families regrouped into the Sweet Auburn neighborhood.

Sweet Auburn continued to grow in success, becoming a beacon of wealth, leadership and civil rights in Atlanta.

Additionally, the massacre sparked the life and legacy of Walter White, who after witnessing the massacre went on to dedicate his life to investigating lynching as the chief secretary of the NAACP.

(car whooshes) Today, I'm meeting with Rose Palmer the niece of the late Walter White.

I wanted to learn more about how that experience inspired him to bring change and justice in his lifetime.

Do you think that the Race Massacre pushed your Uncle Walter into full-scale civil rights?

- Yes, 13 years old is a very impressionable age.

But on that Saturday, it was September 22nd, 1906, Uncle Walter wanted to go and see what the excitement was all about.

He got in the cart and when they reached Peach Street he saw the little bootblack from the Herndon Barbershop probably checking out for the evening and the mob beat him, massacred him and left him sitting in a pool of blood.

I think Uncle Walter saw five or six other killings at that evening.

And apparently his father was trying to get away from Peach Street and back down the back way and they found a cook trying to outrun the mob and they scooped her up in their truck and then turned off of Peach Street.

And he said that this was the eye opener for him to realize that what it was to be a Negro and that he never wanted to be a part of a race that hated people.

If he had a choice, which being fair he did, it could've gone off into the White race.

He chose to stay and fight for the rights of people.

- Do you have any pictures that we can see of your family?

- Oh yes.

I have pictures here in the book.

- Can you show us?

Considering his complexion, was he able I'm sure that there were always questions around whether or not you all were Black or if he was passing.

How was he able to use his platform as a fair-skinned Black man to investigate lynchings to do the NAACP work?

- Well, he is described as having led a double life with NAACP, because he was able to infiltrate the communities where there were lynchings and find out who did the crime and go back and publish it in the "Crisis Magazine" and bring it to the attention of congressmans and presidents.

He investigated, I think, about 41 lynchings during his lifetime and about 12 race riots.

When he became head of the NAACP, he was so popular and so well-known at that time that it was more difficult to go undercover.

- Wow.

Mr. White on Washington picket line, 1938.

- This is when he was on the cover of "Time Magazine".

because he was becoming well-known for his work in the investigation of lynchings.

The NAACP exists today really because of Walter White.

He lived and breathed that organization for 40 years.

I think there were only 26 chapters in 1918, and when he died, there were 500 chapters.

(suspenseful music) - [Mo] The damage was brutal and long-lasting, but also an opportunity to rebound in ways that would impact not only Atlanta but the nation.

In this dark chapter of Atlanta's story we witnessed the contrast and examples of one's personal power to either bring racial division or healing.

It is now our turn to continue in the work to have hard conversations about our past.

- They always say history repeats itself, but let's not let it repeat, let's try to change it.

- [Mo] That is how we can bring Truth and Transformation to our city.

Seek out the unknown and reflect on the forgotten.

- The responsibility is on the people that are aware to enlighten the unaware.

- [Mo] We are all called to explore the stories of our past.

We are all called to redefine the history that defines us.

- Many of you all know the Tulsa Race Massacre that took place in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1921, but did you know that in the summer of 1906, the Atlanta Race Massacre took its unfortunate ranking among the countless number of other horrific massacres in U.S. history?

In this episode, we will discuss the Atlanta Race Massacre of 1906 and how the social, political and cultural implications are in black and white and sets Atlanta up to be a major battleground to where Black Atlantans produce resistance and resiliency in the face of White terror.

(dramatic music) As a historian, author and professor I've witnessed the timeless power of history, the way we understand the people, places and events of the past shape our future.

So join me as we dare to look deeply and differently at the world behind and before us.

You never know what you'll find, while "re-Defining History" (ambient music) Many Atlantans don't know about the Atlanta Race Massacre formally known as the Atlanta Race Riot, yet they unknowingly engage in the sacred spaces where it all unfolded.

On September 22nd, 1906, a violent rampage erupted in the Five Points area of downtown Atlanta.

On that day, a riotous mob of White men gathered to destroy Black-owned businesses and brutally attack any person of color in sight.

The violence occurred over a string of four days as the mob dispersed throughout downtown and surrounding areas.

If you're like me, you may be wondering why did all of this violence happen?

What was the social climate of Atlanta in 1906?

And what were some of the political influences of that time?

To find out more, I decided to take a trip to the National Center for Civil and Human Rights.

I'm meeting up with Dr. Clarissa Myrick-Harris to review a few archival materials from that time period.

I am on a quest in a journey to find as much as I possibly can from the ground up on the Atlanta Race Massacre.

Can you tell me some things about what we have here?

You ladies have assembled real primary sources that discuss the Atlanta Race Massacre.

But can you tell me what's going on?

- In 1906, September 22nd, 1906, to be exact, the city exploded when a mob of thousands of White, primarily men, but I believe there were some women in there too, began to attack Black citizens and Black businesses and Black residential areas.

It started in the central business district and that's where the Black and White businesses were located and in competition.

And so, it started there.

It was September 22nd, that Saturday, the 23rd, the Sunday, the 24th, that Monday and September 25th, that fourth day.

And that was the day that it was centered primarily in Brownsville, where there was really an armed confrontation.

They duped it out.

They battled it out the Black- - So that's south side.

- That's south side.

The documentation says that there were 25 African Americans killed and maybe two Whites.

We know the numbers were greater.

- Absolutely.

- Especially when it came to the Black victims of this assault.

The catalyst for this was really a result of media, a result of articles that were in newspapers.

- Oh wow.

- In the city, during this timeframe, they published articles that essentially categorized all Black people as criminals.

And so, there're saying that White safety and White power was in jeopardy by Black citizens.

This is actually from the Atlanta Constitution, 1951.

And so, you'll notice that they say, "Possibly Atlanta's most tragic period was the four bitter days in September, 1906 when hatred and death rode rapid through the normally quiet peace-loving city.

Following a series of attacks on White women by Negroes, tension had grown to an extremely dangerous point."

So, they're validating, and they're saying there were attacks on White women by Black men.

- Wow.

- So in telling the story, they're perpetuating a lie about what really occurred.

This was a period of the gubernatorial elections, the campaigns.

And so, the papers were in competition, really.

The papers were actually the tools of the two candidates for the Democratic nomination for governor.

The Atlanta Constitution was the paper that was affiliated with Clark Howell, okay?

One of the two gubernatorial candidates, Democratic, gubernatorial candidates.

The Atlanta Journal was affiliated with Hoke Smith.

There was fear that Black male voters had too much power and of course, Black men were in a majority in the Republican party.

About 75%- - Absolutely.

- Of the Republican party was comprised of Black men.

- So this is Lincoln's Republican party.

- Exactly, exactly.

- So, now with that being said, so what you're articulating here is that this is organized from the top.

- Yes.

- I mean, if we have two gubernatorial candidates that are using some kind of demagoguery to really strike fear into White Atlanta, this is orchestrated at a very high level.

Why do you both believe that this story is not told?

Why is it not taught in our schools?

Why is it not really marked in particular ways in our community?

Or are there efforts to do so?

- Yeah, I think a reason is because this history is not consistent with the image that Atlanta wants to project.

- Ah, of course.

- As a progressive city, a city too busy to hate.

- Of course.

- Fortunately, and Autumn you can talk about the efforts of the National Center for Civil and Human Rights.

- Yes, so we have a Truth and Transformation initiative which I am a program coordinator with.

And so, we want to focus on telling truths to transform the future.

- Absolutely.

- And we would love for you to come and meet our team and learn more about our Truth and Transformation initiative.

- Hi.

- Hey.

- I wanna introduce you all to Mo Hobson.

He's on a journey to learn about the 1906 Atlanta Massacre.

- Nice, it's a pleasure to meet you.

- Nice to meet you.

- I understand what the National Center for Civil and Human Rights is doing in the community, but I would like to know what Truth and Transformation is doing in the community from the ground up.

- So a lot of the work that we do is around telling the truth.

We focus on history in Atlanta history that people don't know about, like 1906, and the ways in which we can engage our community or keep our communities engaged.

That's a lot of work in the community that's happened around 1906 that has happened, and part of our work is uplifting network, uplifting those stories and finding a way to push it forward.

I really hope engaging people in the community, engaging decendants will shine a light on all the many people who were impacted and bring their voice back to the forefront.

- [Mo] I'm looking for hidden histories.

What are some of the things that you would suggest for me?

- Well, I definitely think you could use our truth tell model and it is something that we preach by and we teach on.

So the first thing is figure out what history is hidden?

What is the omission that exists?

And next will be to understand why is it hidden?

Why is the omission there?

Is it intentional, by who?

And then the next phase would be to insert the hidden history into the modern day era.

How could this connect with people today?

Where does it still show up today?

And then the last step is to give it to the community.

What's happening in the community around this issue?

And what are ways in which we could galvanize our community, our families, around this issue.

And using that model we're able to move the issue forward or bring it back to the light.

- Well, thank you so much for this.

I will certainly use your Truth Telling model in my quest in my journey to understand what it is that we're doing with the Atlanta Race Massacre, because I feel like we've just scratching the surface.

There's so much more that I need to learn and uncover.

So thank you so much.

- Please do, and let's stay connected.

- All right, sounds good, pleasure.

I think it's safe to say, that I've already completed the first step of the Truth Telling model.

The Atlanta Race Massacre was a planned effort by White power structures to politically disempower Black Atlantans and impede future social progress.

This was done under the guise of a race riot sparked by alleged Black criminality.

But there's still so many more parts of the story to uncover and there's no better way to understand history other than immersing yourself in the actual places where it unfolded.

That's why I'm going on a walking tour.

I'm hitting up some of the key locations in downtown Atlanta impacted by the massacre.

While researching, I discovered that the late historian in Georgia State, Professor Cliff Kuhn, was known for his monthly 1906 Race Riot walking tours and previously recorded a version before his passing.

Let's let his voice guide the way as we dive into this tour.

- [Cliff] Right, we start right down at Five Points.

It was the heart of Atlanta and it was where the riot began.

All throughout the downtown area for really over four hours, if you can imagine it, you had a pitched battle, thousands of White men and hundreds of Black men and women with pistols, knives, guns, ax handles anything people could get their hands on.

- My next stop is Decatur Street.

Decatur Street was a major target for assaults and attacks during the massacre.

Historically what was there were a series of bars and taverns, saloons.

They were hubs for Black working class and White working class to interact and engage.

And so, in order to put a divide, the White business elite began to criminalize any activities that took place in those saloons.

And of course, Black folk were at the other end of that criminalization, demonization, displacement and disenfranchising.

After visiting Decatur Street, I made my way to 66 Peachtree Street, which was the site of the Crystal Palace, one of the luxury barbershops owned by Alonzo Herndon, a wealthy and elite Black man that survived the 1906 massacre.

- [Cliff] Herndon's barbershop, fanciest barbershop in the region, a symbol of Black affluence during this time at a time when lots of White men frankly wanted to put the Black man back in quote, his place.

- Barbershops were among the many Black businesses attacked and destroyed during the massacre.

In fact, a barber and lame bootblack named Henry Welch was shot and killed.

The mob dragged their bodies along with another victim to the base of the Henry Grady statue, which stands at the intersection of Marietta Street and Forsyth Street.

And so, the fact that bodies were taken to the Grady statue, means that they saw Henry Grady as a proponent of the White supremacy that was being demonstrated during the Atlanta Race Massacre.

I can't imagine witnessing such horror at the young age of 13, but this was the case with a young Walter White.

He and his father witnessed many Blacks get attacked and lynched by the White mob.

- [Cliff] On the corner of Marietta and Forsyth, the mob tried to enter the post office during the the riot.

One of the letter carriers was a man named White whose son Walter White, experienced something of an epiphany that night.

For Walter White who was blonde haired and blue-eyed and who could pass for White, and sometimes in his later life did pass for White, this was the pivotal moment of his life.

This was when he kind of realized that he was a Negro, that he dedicated himself to working for improvement for the Black race.

- I ended my walking tour on Peachtree Street.

It's where the Western Peachtree Plaza currently stands.

However, it was once the site of the Georgia Governor's Mansion.

Governor Joseph Terrell was home during the massacre, but did not respond 'til midnight after many lives had already been lost.

He claimed he was asleep and did not hear the cries, screams and gunshots that were just a few blocks away.

Governor Joseph Terrell called State militia at approximately 12:20 the morning of Sunday, September 23rd.

Although the crowd of rioters finally dispersed due to rainfall around 2:00 a.m., they continued to spread terror in other Black communities around the city for the next two days.

It's sobering to know that the thriving businesses and lives that once occupied this area of the city were either destroyed or displaced due to the violence of 1906.

And yet, even with being displaced, those who resisted and survived demonstrated a resiliency that would ultimately posture Atlanta to be a beacon of civil rights.

I imagine that was a form of justice for those 25 confirmed victims and those still unknown.

But telling their story and shining a light on their humanity is even more justifying.

What do we know about their lives and how they died?

Were there other victims not reported?

To learn more about the lives of the victims, I'm heading over to Southview Cemetery to have a conversation with Ann Hill-Bond.

Hello.

- Hey Maurice, how are you?

- I'm fantastic.

- Nice to meet you.

- It's good to see you, good to see you.

- Absolutely, welcome to Southview.

- I hear that Southview is a very prominent cemetery for Black folk in the city of Atlanta.

- Absolutely, it's known as the African American city of the dead.

And it represents the influence of African Americans around the country.

We have everybody here that was anybody since the late 1800s up until modern day with John Lewis.

- Tell me about the work that you that you're doing.

- I am the Fulton County Remembrance Coalition Community Chair.

We're in partnership with EJI to commemorate the 36 lynching victims here in Fulton County.

And amongst the 36, 25 of them are from the 1906 Atlanta Race Massacre.

And a lot of them are buried here.

Some that we will visit today and then some people that survived the massacre that went on to be prominent leaders in Atlanta.

- Well listen, I look forward to learning a lot from you.

- Yay, I look forward to teaching.

- All right, let's go for it.

(gentle music) Where are you taking me now?

- I'm taking you to one of the victims of the 1906 Atlanta Race Massacre.

His name was Frank Smith.

- Well, what do we know about Frank Smith?

- Well, we know that he was a messenger for Western Union and we also know that he died on the Forsyth Bridge.

There was said to be 10,000 White men that came into downtown in that Forsyth Five Points area.

And their message or their charge for that night was to kill the Negroes.

When you see a mob essentially coming to towards you to lynch you, so many of 'em jumped, and Frank Smith was one of them that was documented as jumping.

- At the end of the day, it was a lynching.

- It was a lynching.

We have another person from 1906, but he wasn't a victim.

Luther Price, who is just up the hill here.

If you wanna go see him.

- Sure, let's do it.

- Okay, all right.

(gentle music) - We are at the grave site of Luther Judson Price and his wife, Minnie, They were prominent residents of Brownsville.

He was actually the first African American postmaster in the city of Atlanta.

Even though Brownsville was a predominantly African American suburb or sub-town or sub-community, he served both African American and White people, 'cause he was in charge of the mail.

The urban legend has it that he was the one that armed Brownsville with the weapons to defend themselves on the third, fourth night of the massacre.

But we get to that part of history where we're like, well, how did he get so many firearms at a time when African Americans were not supposed to have any firearms?

But he was also very fair-skinned, he was also of the creme de la creme of the African Americans in Atlanta at the time.

And so, they said that once the word got out that this was happening to African Americans south and north of the city, people the Pullmans actually played a major role.

They said that African Americans started putting any weaponry that they had into coffins and sending them on the railroad.

And because he was the postmaster, he had access to getting those off the railroads and into the hands of the citizens that need them to defend themselves against the mob.

- I got you.

- Tell me about Brownsville though.

Put it in full.

- Absolutely.

- Put it in the cross hairs.

- I love Brownsville.

Brownsville was the epicenter of political growth and economic growth and education.

We had Clark College and Clark University at the time, and Gammon Theological.

Brownsville is a representative of resilience.

And its resilience shows up in the third night when the mob was essentially ascending on Brownsville, on this Black mecca, this Black epicenter of leadership of Black thought of Black excellence.

Brownsville showed resilience by arming themselves by defending their property, by defending their family.

They got together and that collision happened on the corner of Jonesboro and McDonough.

Brownsville is where it ended, because African Americans said, "Not today, not now, not ever," right?

And Officer Heard was killed.

And in the killing of Officer Heard, 256 Black men from Brownsville was rounded up and taken downtown to face charges for this one police officer's murder.

And out of the 256, Alex Walker is the one that was convicted.

Alex Walker was a Brownsville resident as well.

There's several other graves that marked the time of 1906 that were living, that lived through it, but also the ones that were tragically killed, like Annie Shepard, she's buried in the unmarked section of the non-perpetual care that is located a few feet away from here, but it's covered by trees and debris.

And so, that is where a lot more 1906 Atlanta Race Massacre victims are set to be buried.

During the massacre, people were just dropping off bodies.

- So even though they're unmarked, do you think that there are any records, any primary sources that will give us some kind of insight on who's buried here?

- [Ann] Ms. Winni the director here, they kept amazing records.

So they have a beautiful book up front that shows the records of who is actually buried back here.

- [Winni] So this is September of 1906.

- Yep, and the massacre started on the 22nd.

- Right, and so this is the date I believe of burial.

- Okay, and there's Annie Shepard.

She's one of the victims of 1906.

- And is this the age right here?

- [Winni] The age as it was reported by the family at that time.

- You see 55, you see 18, 17.

There's a vast range of age.

- Because Annie Shepherd is listed as 15.

- So what we understand as the 11 unknown are possibly here.

This amplifies their own personhood.

It's not hard for me to believe that the vast range of people listed in the burial book just may be some of the 11 unknown victims of the massacre, because the massacre was an indiscriminate killing spree on Black people.

The 14 known victims also reflect an array of all walks of life.

Their ages range from 15 to 70, a carpenter, grocery store owner, civil war veteran, everyday people who were criminalized and brutally murdered.

The aftermath of a massacre makes me think of the third step of the Truth and Transformation, Truth Telling model.

How is the omitted truth that we discovered relevant in present day?

Well, the economic and social landscape of the Atlanta we know and love today was shaped by the 1906 massacre.

A great deal of Black wealth was diminished in Atlanta due to the massacre.

Some historians, including myself, argue that the destruction of Black businesses and the mass exodus of middle class Black families after the massacre may have a direct connection to federal policies that led to Atlanta's present day economic disparities.

The following year in 1907 the newly elected governor Hoke Smith swiftly fulfilled his campaign promise to disempower the Black vote.

He did so by signing a Constitutional amendment that would impose a literacy test as a requirement for voting.

That amendment disenfranchised the Black vote for the next 50 years.

Due to newly implemented segregation laws, Black Atlantans were forced out of the central business district in downtown Atlanta.

However, the newly migrated Black businesses and middle class families regrouped into the Sweet Auburn neighborhood.

Sweet Auburn continued to grow in success, becoming a beacon of wealth, leadership and civil rights in Atlanta.

Additionally, the massacre sparked the life and legacy of Walter White, who after witnessing the massacre went on to dedicate his life to investigating lynching as the chief secretary of the NAACP.

(car whooshes) Today, I'm meeting with Rose Palmer the niece of the late Walter White.

I wanted to learn more about how that experience inspired him to bring change and justice in his lifetime.

Do you think that the Race Massacre pushed your Uncle Walter into full-scale civil rights?

- Yes, 13 years old is a very impressionable age.

But on that Saturday, it was September 22nd, 1906, Uncle Walter wanted to go and see what the excitement was all about.

He got in the cart and when they reached Peach Street he saw the little bootblack from the Herndon Barbershop probably checking out for the evening and the mob beat him, massacred him and left him sitting in a pool of blood.

I think Uncle Walter saw five or six other killings at that evening.

And apparently his father was trying to get away from Peach Street and back down the back way and they found a cook trying to outrun the mob and they scooped her up in their truck and then turned off of Peach Street.

And he said that this was the eye opener for him to realize that what it was to be a Negro and that he never wanted to be a part of a race that hated people.

If he had a choice, which being fair he did, it could've gone off into the White race.

He chose to stay and fight for the rights of people.

- Do you have any pictures that we can see of your family?

- Oh yes.

I have pictures here in the book.

- Can you show us?

Considering his complexion, was he able I'm sure that there were always questions around whether or not you all were Black or if he was passing.

How was he able to use his platform as a fair-skinned Black man to investigate lynchings to do the NAACP work?

- Well, he is described as having led a double life with NAACP, because he was able to infiltrate the communities where there were lynchings and find out who did the crime and go back and publish it in the "Crisis Magazine" and bring it to the attention of congressmans and presidents.

He investigated, I think, about 41 lynchings during his lifetime and about 12 race riots.

When he became head of the NAACP, he was so popular and so well-known at that time that it was more difficult to go undercover.

- Wow.

Mr. White on Washington picket line, 1938.

- This is when he was on the cover of "Time Magazine".

because he was becoming well-known for his work in the investigation of lynchings.

The NAACP exists today really because of Walter White.

He lived and breathed that organization for 40 years.

I think there were only 26 chapters in 1918, and when he died, there were 500 chapters.

(suspenseful music) - [Mo] The damage was brutal and long-lasting, but also an opportunity to rebound in ways that would impact not only Atlanta but the nation.

In this dark chapter of Atlanta's story we witnessed the contrast and examples of one's personal power to either bring racial division or healing.

It is now our turn to continue in the work to have hard conversations about our past.

- They always say history repeats itself, but let's not let it repeat, let's try to change it.

- [Mo] That is how we can bring Truth and Transformation to our city.

Seek out the unknown and reflect on the forgotten.

- The responsibility is on the people that are aware to enlighten the unaware.

- [Mo] We are all called to explore the stories of our past.

We are all called to redefine the history that defines us.