ePub The Civil War in North Carolina by John G. Barrett in History

Description

On February 25; 1946; African Americans in Columbia; Tennessee; averted the lynching of James Stephenson; a nineteen-year-old; black Navy veteran accused of attacking a white radio repairman at a local department store. That night; after Stephenson was safely out of town; four of Columbia's police officers were shot and wounded when they tried to enter the town's black business district. The next morning; the Tennessee Highway Patrol invaded the district; wrecking establishments and beating men as they arrested them. By day's end; more than one hundred African Americans had been jailed. Two days later; highway patrolmen killed two of the arrestees while they were awaiting release from jail.Drawing on oral interviews and a rich array of written sources; Gail Williams O'Brien tells the dramatic story of the Columbia "race riot;" the national attention it drew; and its surprising legal aftermath. In the process; she illuminates the effects of World War II on race relations and the criminal justice system in the United States. O'Brien argues that the Columbia events are emblematic of a nationwide shift during the 1940s from mob violence against African Americans to increased confrontations between blacks and the police and courts. As such; they reveal the history behind such contemporary conflicts as the Rodney King and O. J. Simpson cases.