The Year 1906 Changed Atlanta,Ga. Forever

Some of the Most Prominent Black Men in America Were There

Graduates of Harvard, Yale, Brown, Boston University...the leading Black men of Atlanta included Civil War veteran Bishop Henry McNeal Turner, Dr. W.E.B. DuBois and frequent visits from the most well-known Black man in America, Booker T. Washington.

Skycrapers, automobiles, telephones, street cars and electric lights...1906 Atlanta was a thoroughly modern city in the mold of NY, Chicago and Boston.

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The 2nd Fastest Growing City in America

The trouble began when state gubernatorial candidate Hoke Smith brought Populist, and well-known racist, Tom Watson onto his campaign team. From that point, disenfranchisement of Black voters became a major part of his campaign.

Statewide, Black American leaders, male and female, held a convention in Macon to put forward Black American demands.

In July, a young Black man named Carmichael is shot to death by a mob of Whites. He was accused of the rape of a teenage White woman. After examination by a doctor, it was revealed that it was all a lie.

The Atlanta Evening News and the Atlanta Georgian newspapers began to relentlessly publish erroneous "extras" about Black men attacking White women. The Evening News began to call for the return of The Klan.

Black citizens secretly begin to have guns brought into their communities. Some have their friends or family members pass for White and buy guns locally.

Two White women are attacked and seriously injured by a Black man. He is never found.

On September 22, 1906, the last week of summer, the Atlanta Evening News publishes several "extras" that incite a riot of 10,000 White men and boys in downtown Atlanta. They attack every Black person they see, regardless of gender or age. They also vandalize and loot stores and shops throughout downtown, attacking anyone who resists them.

The next day, White mobs went into Black neighborhoods and were met with gunfire. For the next week, gunfights took place between Blacks and Whites and local police all over the city.

After the death of a Fulton County policeman in a gunfight with Black citizens, local city leaders formed a committee to meet with local Black community leaders to urge Black citizens to lay down their weapons and return to work.

December 10, 1906, four Black men are put on trial for the death of Fulton County police officer, Heard. The four men are acquitted. An uneasy peace settled over the city.