Critical Race Theory and Forgotten History: Louis Wright Lynched For Standing Up For Himself And Fellow Performers

Feb. 16, 1902, entertaining while Black in the early 20^th Century was always a risk, American minstrel shows often faced racialized, hateful crowds that couldn’t always be overcome.

Louis Wright was a 19-year-old performer with the traveling Richard and Pringle’s famous Georgia Minstrels. He was primarily a singer but had to also act, be a comedian, and dancer, physical ability was a necessity in these shows, and being acrobatic was a major asset. Wright was from Ottawa Kansas and had been with the show for about two years, his fame was growing.

The show arrived in town by train the day before meeting snow and cold in the morning but as per custom, they did a street parade in their full performance wear of tuxedos and top hats. The combination of fresh snow and the inevitable racism, and machoism of the young white men led to several of the performers getting hit with snowballs. They did not break from their performance though. However, when Wright and two other men were walking back to the opera house two white toughs again started throwing packed ice and slush at them. Wright cursed at them but the town marshal was on the scene quickly to make sure there was no violence.

While violence was prevented then there was tension in the town and in the crowded opera house that night when the performance began. Several White men took up the seats in the front two rows and called insults to the performers and of course more snowballs. These men had heard of the earlier meeting between Wright and the two White toughs, they repeatedly said asked where “that nigger was who dared to curse a White man.”

This went on throughout the show with some of the older White men trying to calm the tempers of the younger men and remind them these were performers and would soon be out of town. The younger men would have none of it and be angry about the disrespect they felt they had received from all the performers.

As the show closed several of these young men rushed the stage, some of them flashing pistols and shooting into the curtain or air. As they were going through the narrow passageway from the stage, one of the members of the minstrel company opened fire with a revolver. In a moment, half a dozen pistols were being fired at random by both companies. Panic ensued in the hall, and men, women, and children rushed pell-mell from the building, screaming and crying.

At least one of the performers and one white man received minor wounds. The minstrels escaped out a side door and took refuge in their railroad car, which was parked on a sidetrack nearby. Local law officers arrived and placed five of the performers under arrest, including Wright. Taken to jail, they all denied firing any shots or knowing who did, and no weapon was found on any of them. They spent the night crammed into a damp cell with standing room only.

Things kind of calmed down around town, except many of the young White men were congregating around and talking about the shooting and earlier disrespect they felt they had received. Meanwhile, throughout the day on Sunday, the prisoners were taken one by one from the jail to the courthouse across the yard for interrogation before a special jury, composed of thirty of the town’s “best citizens,” which had been called to investigate the shooting.
Under an intense “sweating,” one or more of the minstrels revealed that Louis Wright was the person who had cursed the white boys on Saturday afternoon. Most newspaper accounts said Wright was also identified as the man who fired from the stage, but the performers all denied this.

This of course to White supremacists already agitated this was enough proof and identification. They had already been discussing vigilante activities, but this sent them over the top. Late Sunday night five men went to the jail and overpowered the night watch and took Wright, they joined several other men nearby and took Wright to a grove of trees and hung him.

Wright’s crime was cursing at immature White men and potentially defending himself and his friends from people shooting at them. As was so often the case during this era it didn’t matter, they had to kill someone for the perceived crime. Several of the regional papers did report that the minstrel performers did not commit any crime but the worst that could be said was they were defending themselves.

A promising young entertainer was slain for doing nothing more than standing up for himself and as always there were no charges pressed against any of the white citizens of Madrid and no investigation.