Anyone traveling through downtown Atlanta today often unknowingly passes places where black men and women have been slaughtered by white people. The race riots of 1906 shaped the city at all levels, in its structure and geography, but also mentalities.
“When we talk regarding what happened in 1906, we find that many things are still similar today; it is those at the top of the hierarchy in the public and private sectors who dictate the rules of the city. A lot of people don’t like that. It really doesn’t paint an image of the Atlanta we present ourselves as the “city on the hill“”, says journalist King Williams.
The Atlanta Massacre lasted three days, September 22-24, 1906 and was spawned by the publication of newspaper articles reporting rumors of attacks on white women by African Americans. Thousands of the city’s white residents then flew into a destructive rage.
“On the third day of the Atlanta Race Massacre, a white mob numbering up to 10,000 looted, invaded homes and abducted men, women and children“, recount Ann Hill Bondcommunity organizer of the demonstrations to commemorate the 1906 riots.
Various events to commemorate this massacre are planned for next September, such as a play for example. Trace the history and the facts so as not to forget.
Tell the truth
“It is important for us to use the right language when talking regarding, remembering and honoring the lives lost. It was a massacre. people have been killed“, added Ann Hill Bond.
For activists, the 1906 massacre does not fit easily into Atlanta’s “cradle of the civil rights movement” narrative. They do everything for the truth to be told, while some politicians try, according to them, to ignore the racial violence that sticks to the history of the United States.
“There’s this effort to recognize that Atlanta has the same history as a lot of other American cities, and even though we’re a majority black city, and there’s this idea that it’s the kingdom of Wakanda or something thing like that, our city has the same history as many others in the South or even just in the United States“, that Allison Bantimbaan activist with the Fulton County Remembrance Coalition.
In 2021, the city of Atlanta commemorated the 115th anniversary of the Atlanta Race Massacre of 1906.
Like the Red Summer of 1919 and the 1921 massacre in Tulsa, Oklahoma, violence between whites and blacks in Atlanta shattered dreams of living together and forced thousands from their homes.
