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Page 12, Louisville The Courier-Journal, July 29, 1916
July 28, 1916 – Louisville, Kentucky:
After three arrests in 24 hours Chief of Police H. Watson Lindsey of Louisville
announced that his department would spare no effort to enforce and keep Kentucky’s
miscegenation laws upheld.
Miscegenation is the legal term
for interracial marriage or even just sex. The term was first used in a political
pamphlet by David G. Croly, managing editor of the New York World, and one of
his reporters George Wakeman. The pamphlet titled “Miscegenation: The
Theory of the Blending of the Races, Applied to the American White Man and
Negro.” Was attributed to an anonymous abolitionist and anatomist. Published in
1863 this pamphlet was intended to slander Republicans and President Lincoln,
as supporters of the intermixing, something that many people feared not only in
the South. One of the core beliefs of Jim Crow was that Black men were sexual
animals and White women needed constant protection from them.
Kentucky’s first miscegenation
laws were passed right after the Civil War in 1866, these laws were expanded in
1893, 1894, and 1908. If convicted a person engaged in an interracial
relationship could face up to a year in prison at hard labor and a $5,000 fine.
Chief Lindsey was also on the city’s vice commission and so this was something
of a concern for him and he placed one of his most decorated men, Corporal John
Sullivan in charge of dealing with this.
First arrested was a Black man
named Harry Jenkins, a 34-year-old man who was charged with violating the 1908 miscegenation
laws. Arrested at the same time was Alice Shumaker, a 30-year-old woman who
self-identified as Negro, but who was forced to take a blood test to prove she
wasn’t white. The laws in Kentucky called miscegenation anyone who was dubbed a
quadroon for having one-quarter African American blood.
Also arrested by the same
officers at a different location was 16-year-old George Eaton, his was for
possession of three White girls photos. The photos were taken from Eaton and Lindsey
ordered his men to find out who the girls were.
The fears around miscegenation
had been increased with the conviction of heavyweight boxing champion Jack
Johnson. Johnson faced multiple charges of violating the Mann Act for taking
white women across state lines. Johnson was a very proud Black man who because
of his pride was considered “Uppity” and stepping out of line.
Other than Johnson there was the
case of Buchanan v. Warley that was before the Supreme Court in 1916. This case
was regarding the segregation laws in Louisville. Charles Buchanan, a White
property owner had sold a home to William Warley a Black journalist and an
attorney for the NAACP, the home was in what Louisville had zoned as a “White”
section. When Warley backed out of the sale due to the laws Buchanan sued him,
and in front of the court argued all men had a right to live anywhere.
While newspapers of the time
tried hard to say the court would rule in favor of the segregation laws, it was
far from certain. For Whites in the Jim Crow era, any threat to the racist status
quo was considered an open threat to their way of life.
While miscegenation and
segregation were huge concerns for both Whites and Blacks in Louisville, there
is no historical record of what happened to the three Blacks arrested on July
28, 1916. H. Watson Lindsey left his position 18 months later. He later became the
director of safety in Louisville. He died Feb 7, 1941. There is no record of
the lives of Harry Jenkins, Alice Shumaker, or George Eaton. While the Supreme
Court ruled criminalizing interracial
marriage unconstitutional in 1967, Kentucky did not repeal its
anti-miscegenation statute until 1974.
Sources:
https://www.newspapers.com/image/119072904/?match=1&terms=%22Harry%20Jenkins%22
https://americansall.org/legacy-story-group/jim-crow-laws-kansas-and-kentucky
https://mixedracestudies.org/wp/?tag=david-goodman-croly
Page
12, Louisville The Courier-Journal, July 29, 1916
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