Racism & Segregation Defined: Prince Edward County's Lost Classes of 1959 to 1964

May 1, 1959, is when the seeds were planted for a movement that today threatens America’s public schools. On this day the Prince Edward County School District closed their public schools. This was done with the help of the state legislature that had lifted a law mandating all children had to attend schools. 

The closing of the schools lasted for 5 years until the Supreme Court stepped in ruling that what Virginia was trying to do was illegal, especially in light of the Brown v. Board of Education Decision of 1954.

The Brown decision was a cultural earthquake that shattered “Whites Only” education across the South. For more than a decade after full integration had not come to all states, primarily because the states were trl district began sending White students to private schools. Also, the state and county offered tax credits and other indirect ways to make sure these private schools were fully funded and could operate. 

The private school provisions were only made for White students though as these private schools could still practice segregation in opened in demographic areas that were over 97% White.

These actions drew the attention of national politicians, media, and civil rights leaders. The spotlight began getting bright with protests and legal challenges initiated by the NAACP. Then came the documentary/news program “The Lost Class of 1959”. President Kennedy called Congress’ attention to the outlaw school district in his speech to them on Civil Rights in 1963. Robert Kennedy was also bothered by the actions of Prince Edward County saying in a 1963 speech:

“We may observe with much sadness and irony that, outside of Africa, south of the Sahara, where education is still a difficult challenge, the only places on earth known not to provide free public education are Communist China, North Vietnam, Sarawak, Singapore, British Honduras—and Prince Edward County, Virginia.”

The closing of the schools didn’t just damage education for Black children in the county but this last stand for segregation forced some families to make long-term decisions that often led to the separation from the support of extended family. In other cases it meant children leaving home and going to live with foster families. The Quaker American Friends placed 70 children in these foster homes in North Carolina and other states.

Some families just changed counties and several Prince Edward black women, including former public-school teachers, began grassroots schools in their homes and churches. All of this was a great balancing act because of the lawsuits working through the legal system. 

In 1961 a federal court launched the first salvo to wreck this ambition plan when they ruled that no public funds could be used for the White private academies. Still, the county refused to unlock the schools and so the academies continued. This did effect some of the rural White families as well because many could not afford the now-necessary tuition. Racism remained the driving force. This was shown even more in May of 1964 when the Supreme Court ruled in Griffin v. County Board of Prince Edward County that the schools had to reopen. In September, after a five-year hiatus, Prince Edward students returned to public schools.

The county and state refused to fund the schools as they had before This underfunding took years to repair but student strikes and the Civil Rights Act continued to pressure the county and they slowly changed, with the rest of the country. In the mid-1990s the Martha E. Forrester Council of Women, a group that included former Moton teachers and students. Bought the former Moton School and created a museum with a permanent exhibit: “The Moton School Story: Children of Courage,” which was designed to help provide closure and understanding for the students who lived through the school closings. 

Unfortunately, the ideas of using public funds and tax credits and other tricks to pay for private schools mostly used by White students were explored and altered and today there is a national movement that emulates the Prince Edward County model but in a way that passes laws and many states and school districts have altered their laws to permit these private schools recreating some level of segregation and class separation. trying tricks like the Prince Edward County School District.

Sources:

https://www.searchablemuseum.com/students-on-strike

https://legaltimelines.org/accessible-timeline/students-rights/

https://www.neh.gov/humanities/2013/septemberoctober/feature/massive-resistance-in-small-town

A Love Letter Is a Black Boy’s Death Sentance

 

On January 2, 1944, Willie James Howard was taken from his home by three White men because he dared to give a Christmas Card to a White girl he worked with.

Willie James Howard was a delivery boy at the Van Priest Dime Store in Live Oak, Florida. At Christmas 1943 he gave a card to everyone he worked with, including Cynthia Goff a White girl, inside the card he had given her Willie expressed hope for Black and White people to share the world peacefully. Willie was a friendly and polite 15-year-old and was his parent’s only child. I had a crush on 17-year-old Cynthia. Cynthia for her part was embarrassed and upset to receive the card and so Willie wrote a short letter to apologize

Willie wrote these few lines to the girl: 

“Dear friend, Just a few lines to let you hear from me I am well and hope you are the same. This is what I said on that Christmas card. From W.J.H. with L.  I hope you will understand what I mean.  That is what I said now please don’t get angry with me because you can never tell what may get in somebody I did  not put it in there myself God did I can’t help what he does can I.  I know you don’t think much of our kind of people but we don’t hate you all we want to be your all friends but you want let us please don’t let anybody see this. I hope I haven’t made you mad if I did tell me about it an I will forget about it.  I wish this was a northern state. I guess you call me fresh.  Write an tell me what you think of me good or bad.

Sincerely yours, with L from Y.K.W.

To Cynthia Goff

I love your name.

I love your voice.

For a S.H. you are my choice.”

At some point, although it isn’t clear if she gave it to him or if he found it, Cynthia’s father read the letter and became enraged. The idea that a Black boy dared to write a White girl, the daughter of a former state representative galled him.

On the night of January 2nd Philip Goff and two other White men went to Willie’s home and demanded to see him. Willie’s mother knew because of the history of the South that if Willie went with these men she would never see him again; she begged and pleaded and apologized for Willie to Goff but he wouldn’t relent and they drug Willie from his home, they also kidnapped his father from where he worked. They bound both father and son and parked on an embankment of the Suwanee River. 

There they told Willie to either jump or be shot. The frightened young man decided to risk the possible escape by jumping into the river, unfortunately, he was not able to free himself and drowned. His father tragically watched. The father was given a moment to speak to his son before the murderers committed their heinous act. Willie’s father apologized to his son; “Willie, I cannot do anything for you now.  I’m glad I have belonged to the Church and prayed for you.”

Willie’s body was pulled from the river the next day by the Suwanee County Sheriff. The White men told the story that they had picked up Williw and his father and expected the father to discipline him while they watched, they tried to say they did not harm the boy and tried to save him when his father would not. 

The murder was typical business in the South for White men who felt disrespected by Black men and if it hadn’t been for a local Black lawyer Elbert C. Robinson who contacted the NAACP who sent Thurgood Marshall to investigate.

The NAACP wrote to Florida Governor Spessard Holland and with that influence, he assigned a special investigator, David Lanier to quietly make a report and advise on what the state should do.

Lanier interviewed the sheriff and Mr. and Mrs. Howard regarding Willie’s death. The Howards had fled Live Oak and moved to Orlando immediately following their son’s murder. 

Lanier determined the three White men had murdered Willie and the state prosecutor brought a grand jury. However, the prosecutor failed to introduce Lulu Howard’s statement and only asked James Howard if Willie had delivered his letter to Cynthia. The grand jury brought no indictment and despite the NAACP’s involvement nothing ever happened to Willie James Howard’s murderers.

Sources:

https://www.pbs.org/harrymoore/terror/lula2.html

https://dunnhistory.com/the-lynching-of-willie-james-howard-1944/

White Mob Enjoys Night of Savage Brutality When Lynching Disabled Black Laborer

 

October 18, 1933 The night could only be described as a berserk frenzy. Two thousand people gathered to, “save the state $1,000, we did this for 75 cents.” 

Two days before a 71-year-old woman named Mary Denston was assaulted on her way home from the post office in Princess Anne, Maryland.  When she reported the assault to the police she identified a known local man named George Armwood. Armwood was well known by locals for being a very hard worker but also as “feeble-minded”; today we recognize this as an intellectual disability. Black newspapers at the time were already reporting on how whites were taking advantage of individuals such as Armwood by working them incredible hours at starvation wages.

The police put together a search party which wasn’t a good idea as those involved were already spreading misinformation and becoming angry. After a search of a few hours, they found Armwood hiding in the cellar of a white friend. The arresting officers were reported by Armwood’s friends and mother of nearly beating him to death.

Because of the growing community anger and the national bad press of the last reported Maryland lynching in 1931; after the arrest police took him to Salisbury 10 miles north, and then Cecil County, and finally Baltimore City. Despite the police concern over the obvious growing tension in Princess Anne, Somerset County Judge Robert F. Duer and, State Attorney John Robins felt it more important to respond to their local constituents and requested Armwood’s return to the city. The two men had discussed the concerns over violence with the Governor and had made promises that no mobs were forming. Governor Albert C. Ritchie then assented and ordered the transport of Armwood back to Princess Anne and he was returned on the morning of Oct. 17.

All through the day white residents began to gather in the square near the courthouse & jail. Police tried to disperse the crowd and Judge Duer spoke to them asking them to make an oath of honor not to lynch Armwood. The crowd didn’t so Deputy Norman Dryden ordered tear gas to be fired into the crowd, the crowd responded by attacking the police and found two timbers to use as battering rams. They injured the deputy and state police Captain Edward McKim Johnson in the process of breaking into the jail and forced Dryden into giving them the keys.

Armwood tried to hide under his mattress but the mob grabbed him and pulled him out of the cell. Before he was even taken from jail his ear was cut off and he was stabbed and beaten. A noose was put around his neck and he was dragged by a truck to a nearby tree and hung. The violence that was being done to Armwood probably killed him before he was even pulled into the tree. 

This did not satisfy the bloodlust of the mob and they pulled Armwood down and drug the body back to the courthouse where they hung it from a telephone pole and set it afire. After burning the body the mob pulled it down and threw it in the back of a local lumberyard for the police to gather up.

Governor Ritchie blamed Judge Duer and State Attorney Robins and ordered an investigation. The was even pressure from the Department of Justice. A grand jury heard testimony from 42 witnesses to the Armwood lynching, including twelve black men who were held in the jail and had heard, and seen, Armwood dragged to his death. All white witnesses claimed they weren’t involved and that it had to be strangers from out of town. Mobs warned prosecutors and investigators to get out of town. State police did identify nine men who led the mob to action but the grand jury refused to issue any indictments. Maryland Attorney General Preston Lane also ordered the National Guard to Salisbury and arrest suspected lynchers. This led to clashes between residents of both Princess Anne and Salisbury and the National Guard. Crowds started gathering and chanting, “Lynch Lane” which led to Lane leaving town and dismissing the guard. 

After two years of investigations and arrests everyone charged had their cases dismissed. No one was ever penalized for the brutal death of George Armwood. Rather the consequences were for both Governor Ritchie and Judge Duer whose political careers were ended. 

Armwood’s body was buried in a Potter’s Field and the location is now unknown. His murder was the last lynching in Maryland, however racial animus continued to exist for decades and white residents continued to argue that, “lynching is a civic duty when the machine of justice is too slow,” and that “lynching is the best perhaps only deterrent to rape.”

Sources: 

https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc3500/sc3520/013700/013750/html/13750bio.html

https://boundarystones.weta.org/2022/03/01/lynching-george-armwood

https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/maryland/why-the-noose-is-no-joke-marylands-history-of-lynching/65-439980391

1619: The Year The Troubles Began

 On August 20 1619 America’s original sin took place. The English privateer White Lion arrived at Point Comfort, Virginia with a cargo of 30 Africans.

These men and women were stolen from a Portuguese ship by the privateers and then when they landed in Virginia the Africans were traded primarily for goods. They went into immediate indentured servitude.

A few days later the White Lion’s companion ship the Treasurer did the same. The first Africans were sold for food as Virginia Governor George Yeardly and his head of trade Abraham Piersey made the deal. 

This initial group of Africans were part of a group of 50,000 war prisoners from the Kingdom of Portuguese’s war with the African Kingdom of Ndongo in what is modern Angola. The Portuguese had already begun using these captured Africans as slaves in their territories in the Americas

These Africans were not the first in what would become the US but they were the first to be used by the English and northern European settlers that would form the majority of Americans. There were Spanish slaves in Florida. 

From this point forward things began to snowball and by 1661 Virginia set the standard for African chattel slavery. In 1661 the laws stated a free white man can own Negro slaves and that a child born to a woman is also a slave.

Strange Fruit: The Indiana Lynching That Inspired The Billie Holiday Classic

 

In 1930 there were some 250 “Sundown Towns” in Indiana a reflection of deep-seated, continuing prejudice. These were towns where law enforcement and town government agreed to laws to remove anyone who was black from the town. Historically there had been 21 previous lynchings in the state, so there was fertile ground for racial violence by the night of August 7, 1930.

On the night of Aug 6th, a 23rd-year-old man named Claude Deeter and his fiancée Mary Bell had been attacked. Deeter was shot and he died at the hospital in the early morning. Ball reported that she had been raped and said it was four Black men who did the heinous crime. By afternoon Grant County Sheriff Jacob Campbell had arrested four young African American men and had them in jail. 

Word of the crime and the arrests had been spreading among local communities and by late evening the lawn of the jail and courthouse in Marion a mob estimated at 10,000 to 15,000 angry white people had gathered. Word had spread that there would be a hanging that night and apparently, people wanted to be there for the spectacle.

Although there was great menace oozing from the crowd Sheriff Campbell and all his men stayed at the jail to protect the men in lock up. What the crowd did not know was that Ball had recanted when asked to identify the men. It probably wouldn’t have mattered because the mob was heated and looking for blood.

First, they attempted to break in and steal the men from their cells. The sheriff and his men repelled the first attack. The mob redirected themselves and got crowbars and sledgehammers and quickly made a hole in the wall where the mob pulled out a man named Thomas Shipp. The crowd pulled Shipp screaming his innocence to a tree on the courthouse lawn, as they beat him and drug him to the tree where they strung him up. They turned their attention to Abram Smith, Smith tried to fight back and at one point was able to remove the noose but the crowd further beat him and broke both his arms. 

Finally, the mob pulled James Cameron out and they were taking him to the same offending tree, however, someone in the crowd called out, “Take this boy back. He had nothing to do with any raping or killing.” With blood lust sated the mob allowed Cameron to return to jail, where he was evacuated by the sheriff to a neighboring county.

The mob had moved the body of Shipp to the same tree as Smith and had tried to burn them but were unable to. It took hours for the massive crowd to disperse, some of them taking souvenirs

James Cameron was convicted for participating in the killing of Claude Deeter and spent four years in prison. He left prison at the age of twenty-one determined, "to pick up the loose threads of my life, weave them into something beautiful, worthwhile and God-like.” He went on to become an important Civil Rights activist. He founded several NAACP chapters and worked for voting rights. His memoir, “A  Time of Terror: A Survivor's Story” was published in 1982, and in 1988 he founded America’s Black Holocaust Museum. He was pardoned by the state of Indiana in 1991 for his participation in the Deeter murder.

Even with multiple photographs taken of the lynching, primarily by local photographer and eye witness statements, Flossie Bailey, a local NAACP official in Marion, and Attorney General James M. Ogden worked to gain indictments but could not. The grand jury refused to examine the testimony and brought no charges. 

The iconic photograph of the two swaying bodies taken by Lawrence Beitler was sold several 1,000 times in the next week and it inspired Abel Meeropol to write the poem “Bitter Fruit” which he later put to music and renamed “Strange Fruit” which became a signature song of Billie Holiday and has been covered by Nina Simone, UB40, Annie Lennox and others. Strange Fruit became the anthem for the anti-lynching movement and an important part of the Civil Rights movement.

Sources:

https://www.abhmuseum.org/an-iconic-lynching-in-the-north/

https://www.abhmuseum.org/about/dr-cameron-founder-lynching-survivor/

https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/marion-indiana-lynching-1930/

Detail of photo by Lawrence Beitler, Fair use image

Officials Allow Lynching And Blacks Questioning The Action Are Run Out Of Town

In the Jim Crow period of the South Lynching was so common and so condoned by authorities and others in the dominant white society that often reports were bareboned and lacking in details as to when, why or how an African American was murdered by the mob.

Such was the case on August 5, 1907, when a Black man named Thomas Hall was killed by a mob. News reports appeared all over the country and were all identical from Houston to Honolulu to New York City.

The story was that Hall was in jail after being arrested for attempted assault on two young White girls. The story didn’t say when, who, or even where. What they did report was that Hall attempted to assault the two girls and said lewd things to them. Then the story reported he had been arrested at 9:00 p.m. then was found dead hanging from a tree near the jail two hours later.

The story made no mention of how he was taken from the jail, or if there were attempts to settle the mob. All that is reported is that Hall’s body was found and the order was returned to the town of Runge in Texas. 

What was unexplained is how Hall was taken from jail or if law enforcement was a causal supporter of the mob. No details about Hall’s life are given or if there had been a court date or if there was going to be an inquest into the young man’s death.

What is stated is that any black person questioning the lynching, the failure of law enforcement to protect Hall was asked to leave town and not return. So both the hanging of a man and the creation of a “Sundown Town” in Runge went unquestioned by anyone working for a newspaper and was just another fact of life in the segregated South.

Labor Violence Turns Into Racial Violence In Arkansas Causing Black Exodus

Even though the White laborers had suspicions and even dislike of European immigrants there was one thing they could agree upon; they hated the Black workers who were also working for the Kansas City, Pittsburgh, and Gulf Railway. The railroad was building a line in Polk and Sevier County in Arkansas. When a group of approximately 30 Black laborers arrived to begin work on Aug 5th, 1896 they were attacked by a group of White laborers with the tools being used for the railroad.

Of the 30, three were killed, another eight were severely injured, and all were forced into railroad cars and out of Polk County. Soon reports began to trickle out of Polk County regarding the incident and citizens of the county didn’t deny it. They celebrated the incident and the violence. A quote, unattributed, appeared in several stories stating, “The natives have served notice that Sambo must move on, as it is against their religion to permit them to desecrate their soil with pick and shovel or otherwise.”

What is critical to understand is that Italian, Hungarian, and Swedish immigrants took part in this violence and forced Negros out of Polk County, immigrants that otherwise would themselves face prejudice for their skin tone and religion. However as both a labor attack and a racial one workers for the railroad and other Polk County companies such as the Canfield lumber mill and Hawthorne Mills. The fierce labor competition allowed racial extremists to manipulate emotions and rally mobs even to the point that both local law enforcement and the railroad bulls didn’t have an opportunity to stop the mob from driving the Black workers away.

The town of Mena, the county seat, became what was known as a “Sundown Town” at this time with posted warnings that anyone of Negro ancestry must be out of town and out of Polk County by the time the sun went down. This practice lasted well into the 1940s in many Arkansas locations. 

Sources:

https://www.jstor.org/stable/23188017?read-now=1&seq=5#page_scan_tab_contents

https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/polk-county-race-war-of-1896-7390/