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Katherine Johnson’s mathematical calculations helped guide some of America’s most important early space missions while she confronted the racial and gender barriers faced by Black women in twentieth-century America.
MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
Berry Washington | |
|---|---|
 News Coverage of Berry Washington Lynching over Milan, Georgia Map | |
| Born | c. 1847 |
| Died | May 26, 1919 (72 years old) |
Body discovered | Milan, Georgia |
Berry Washington (c. 1847 – May 26, 1919) was a 72-year-old black man who was lynched in Milan, Georgia, in 1919. He was in jail after killing a white man who was attacking two young girls. He was taken from jail and lynched by a mob.
At 1:00 on the morning of May 24, 1919, two white men, John Dowdy and Levi Evans, went into the black section of Milan. They first tried to get into the home of Emma McCollers who had two young daughters.[1] When the family refused to open the door Dowdy fired his gun. This caused the girls to flee to another house, the home of widow Emma Tisber. The two men followed and invaded the Tisber home and attempted to assault two young black girls.[1] When the two girls attempted to hide under the porch, Dowdy and Evans began ripping up the floor to get to them.[2] Washington, a black man, attempted to defend the girls and get the men to leave. Dowdy fired at Washington and after a struggle, Washington, who was 72 years old, shot and killed Dowdy, "He fell with his pistol in his right hand and a cigarette in the other, and a flask of liquor fell out of his pocket."[1]
Washington went uptown and woke up the chief of police, Mr. Stuckey, who sent Washington to the McRae jail at 2:00 am May 24, 1919. There he stayed in jail until the 25th, at 12 o'clock, when a crowd of white men, led by a Baptist minister,[3][1] removed Washington from the jail with the support a sympathetic police officer, Deputy Sheriff Dave McRanie.[4] To hide their crimes all black residents of Milan were rounded up and ordered out of the town on the night of May 25.[1] At 2:00 am on May 26 the lynch mob hanged him from a post and shot him repeatedly until his body fell in pieces from the post. White residents rioted in the city, damaging and burning many black homes. They threatened black citizens, lest they dare to speak out about the events in public.[5][6]
Local authorities attempted to cover up the incident, but a local preacher, Reverend Judson Dinkins, sent a letter to Monroe Work at the Tuskegee Institute, who in turn passed the letter to John Shillady of the NAACP. When Governor of Georgia Hugh Dorsey (term 1917–1921) became aware of the incident, he offered a $1,000 reward for the arrest and conviction of the mob.[7][8] Dr. Floyd McRae offered an additional $500 reward, for a total of $1,500 ($27,900 in 2025).[9] Although the perpetrators were well known in the community, no one claimed the reward, and no one was ever charged for the murder.[10] Washington's corpse was left there for a full day.[11]
In September 1919, it was reported that Georgia Judge E. D. Graham ordered the city of McRae, Georgia, to take action and possibly remove Sheriff Williams as a result of the lynching. It was also alleged that one of the McRae deputies was a ringleader in the killing.[12]
This was not the only incident of racial violence in Georgia in 1919. There were a number of riots, some of which are listed below:
| Date | Place | Event | Death toll | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 8 | Blakeley, Georgia | Race Riot | 4 killed | |
| April 13–15 | Jenkins County, Georgia | Race Riot | 6 killed | 3 black Masonic lodges and 7 black churches burned down |
| May 10 | Sylvester, Georgia | Race Riot | 1 killed | |
| May 27–29 | Putnam County, Georgia | Arson attack | 2 black Masonic lodges and 5 black churches burned down | |
| July 6 | Dublin, Georgia | Black protection group prevents lynching | ||
| August 27–29 | Laurens County, Georgia | Race Riot | 1 killed | 1 black Masonic lodges and 3 black churches burned down |
These race riots were one of several incidents of civil unrest that began in the so-called American Red Summer of 1919. Terrorist attacks on black communities and white oppression in over three dozen cities and counties. In most cases, white mobs attacked African American neighborhoods. In some cases, black community groups resisted the attacks, especially in Chicago and Washington, D.C. Most deaths occurred in rural areas during events like the Elaine massacre in Arkansas, where an estimated 100 to 240 black people and 5 white people were killed. Also in 1919 were the Chicago Race Riot and Washington D.C. race riot which killed 38 and 39 people respectively. Both had many more non-fatal injuries and extensive property damage reaching into the millions of dollars.[13]
Notes
References
Source: Wikipedia. Article content is retrieved live through the MediaWiki API.
Berry Washington (c. 1847 – May 26, 1919) was a 72-year-old black man who was lynched in Milan, Georgia, in 1919. He was in jail after killing a white man who was attacking two young girls. He was taken from jail and lynched by a mob.
The George Berry Washington Memorial is a monumental funerary sculpture located on Arkansas Highway 149 north of Earle, Arkansas. It is the only major funerary sculpture in Crittenden County, and it commemorates the life and accomplishments of the Rev. George Berry Washington (1864-1928), an African American who was probably born into slavery, but ended his life as one of the county's largest landowners. Washington's grave site is on a low mound in an open field on the east side Highway 149. Two elaborately carved stone piers, 3 feet (0.91 m) in height, flank wide steps leading up to the monument. The monument is a marble statue of an angel 5 feet (1.5 m) in height, mounted on a column of marble blocks 6 feet (1.8 m) high. The memorial was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.
Lawrence Berry Washington (November 26, 1811 – September 21, 1856) was an American lawyer, military officer, author, Forty-niner, border ruffian, and a member of the Washington family. Washington was born on his family's Cedar Lawn plantation near Charles Town, Virginia (present-day West Virginia) and was the eldest of 13 children. He practiced law, then served as a second lieutenant in the Virginia Volunteers during the Mexican–American War. During his service in the war, Washington reportedly wore the sword of his great-granduncle George Washington. Following the Mexican–American War, Washington traveled to California in 1849 as a Forty-niner in the California Gold Rush and authored the novel, A Tale to be Told Some Fifty Years Hence. Washington then relocated east to Missouri in the 1850s, where he remained for a few years and fought as a Border Ruffian during the Bleeding Kansas confrontations over slavery along the border between Kansas Territory and Missouri. While under the command of Captain Henry Clay Pate, Washington was present at the June 1856 Free-Stater attack known as Battle of Black Jack, where he sustained minor injuries. Washington died by drowning after falling overboard from a steamboat on the Missouri River in September 1856. His family's descendants claim Washington was murdered by Jayhawkers. Washington was a great-grandson of Samuel Washington, a great-grandnephew of first President of the United States George Washington, a great-grandson of Robert Rutherford, a United States House Representative from Virginia, and a nephew of Henry Bedinger III, also a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Laurence or Lawrence Washington may refer to: Laurence Washington (MP for Maidstone) (1546–1619), Member of Parliament (MP) for Maidstone Lawrence Washington (1622–1662), MP for Malmesbury Lawrence Washington (1565–1616), mayor of Northampton, great-great-great-grandfather of George Washington Lawrence Washington (1602–1652), great-great-grandfather of George Washington Lawrence Washington (1659–1698), grandfather of George Washington Lawrence Washington (1718–1752), George Washington's half-brother and mentor Lawrence Augustine Washington (1774–1824), nephew of George Washington Lawrence Berry Washington (1811–1856), great-grandnephew of George Washington Lawrence C. Washington (born 1951), American mathematician Lawrence Washington (actor) (born 1982), American actor and singer
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →Mae Jemison, aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1992.
