NorthStar's Week in Black History

May 3 through May 9

May 3

1866 ----- The three-day Memphis Riot of 1866, which left the city’s black community in ruins, ended on this date. The shocking incident increased the political power of the Radical Reconstructionists, discredited President Andrew Johnson's ability to lead the country and led to greater support for the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution.

Racial tension was a fact of life in the South during Reconstruction (1863-1877). Those tensions erupted in Memphis on May 1, 1866, when a shooting altercation occurred between white policemen and black soldiers recently discharged from the Union Army after serving in the Civil War.

Following the shooting, mobs of white civilians and white police officers rampaged through Memphis’ black neighborhoods, forcibly entering the homes of black citizens, most of whom were freed slaves. Federal troops were sent to Memphis to quell the rioting. The troops gained control of the situation and peace in the city was restored on the third day of unrest.

A Congressional committee investigated the riot and later issued a report, detailing the three-day incident and its aftermath. The report revealed that 46 black citizens and two white residents of Memphis were killed during the rioting. Seventy-five individuals were wounded or injured, more than 100 persons were robbed, five women were raped and 91 homes, eight schools and four churches were burned.

Racial tensions had become more intense when Union forces captured Memphis in 1862 and the face and character of the city began to change significantly. Memphis soon became a haven for freed slaves, increasing the black population from 3,000 in 1860 to 20,000 by 1865.  

During Reconstruction, black Union soldiers were hired to patrol Memphis.  White residents of Memphis were unaccustomed to seeing black men in positions of relative power and authority, and many were uncomfortable with this new development.  

White policemen, the vast majority of whom were Irish immigrants, were resentful of black soldiers providing security to the city.  They expressed their feelings of displeasure and threat by challenging black soldiers and instigating conflicts, often arresting the soldiers for minor infractions and treating them with cruelty.  Officials of the Freedman’s Bureau investigated many such incidents of false accusation and brutality on the part of white policemen, citing the police for questionable practices.

Though accounts vary, the Memphis Riot may have ignited when white policemen arrested several recently discharged black soldiers for disorderly conduct.  The soldiers’ cohorts interfered with the arrest process, feeding the ire of the white policemen. The situation was complicated further by rampant rumors, fanned by white segregationists, that the majority of black residents of Memphis were armed and planned an insurrection in an attempt to gain control of the city.

As a result of the Memphis Riot, the police force in Memphis was reorganized and modernized. At the national level, Radical Republicans, supporters of Radical Reconstruction, won most congressional seats in 1866, and unsuccessful efforts were made to impeach President Andrew Johnson. The Fourteenth Amendment, which guaranteed citizenship, equal protection under the law, and due process for slaves, was proposed and passed.

May 4

1880 ----- Richard S. Roberts, a self-taught photographer who created in painstaking detail a photographic record of the lives of African Americans in Columbia, SC, was born in Columbia on this date.

As a young man, Roberts worked as a stevedore and a fireman laborer and studied photography during his spare time. He opened a small studio in Ferdinand, Fla., where he made photographic portraits, perfecting techniques to produce better quality photographs.

In 1922, he returned to Columbia and established a studio, though he worked as a custodian in the post office from 4 a.m. until noon, six days a week. For 14 years, when he was not on duty as a custodian, he took thousands of photographs of the citizens of Columbia, particularly African-Americans and their surroundings, creating a visual history of the city and its people.

During this period of intense productivity, Roberts developed many techniques for manipulating various lighting conditions to produce quality photographs.  In a brochure he created to advertise his studio and his work, he wrote, “No other gift causes so much real and lasting joy as the gift of your photograph,” adding that owning a “true likeness” of oneself “is a necessity of life.”

After Roberts died in 1936 at 56, his children stored the negatives of many of his photographs in the family home. The negatives were all but forgotten until his children unearthed them in 1977 and catalogued them with the assistance of researchers from the University of South Carolina’s library. More than 3,000 negatives were rescued, protected and added to the university’s historical photography collection.

An exhibition of Roberts’ photographs, sponsored by the University of South Carolina, was held in 1986 as part of Columbia’s bicentennial celebration. Many of Roberts’ photographic portraits were collected and published as a book, A True Likeness:  The Black South of Richard Samuel Roberts, 1920-1936.  Originally published in hardcover in 1936, the collection was released in 1994 in a paper bound edition, published by Writers and Readers Publishing.

Dinah Johnson published a collection of Richard Roberts’ photographs and wrote text to accompany them.  The book, published originally in 1998 by Henry Holt and Co., is intended for children five years old and older and is titled, All Around Town: The Photographs of Richard Samuel Roberts.

Largely due to the efforts of his children and a few other family members, Richard Roberts now has a proper place in African-American history and his exceptional photographic work has been saved from obscurity, providing a rich visual record of the American South of the 1920s and 1930s.

1887 ----- Inventor Joseph H. Smith of Washington, DC, received U. S. patent number 581,785 for an improved lawn sprinkler he developed.

Smith’s design was an early example of a water-propelled, rotating sprinkler, variations of which are widely used today.  Smith worked to perfect the design of his sprinkler and was issued another patent for his sprinkler, U. S. patent number 601,065, on March 22, 1898.

May 5

1865 ----- Adam Clayton Powell, Sr., born to former slaves on this date in Franklin County, Va., would become one of the most influential clergymen and community and civil rights activists of his time.

Though he originally studied law and political science, Powell, who attended Virginia Union University, changed course and studied theology instead. Following graduation in 1892, he served in several churches before entering Yale Divinity School.  In 1908, he was named pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York City.

At Abyssinian, he delivered strong sermons in a strong style and emphasized worshiping in joyful and emotionally expressive ways. He drew attention to the church, and the congregation grew rapidly under his leadership.

In 1920, Powell purchased land in Harlem and oversaw the construction of a new church. The new church, built on West 138th Street, was completed in 1923.  Powell didn’t stop there.  He also raised funds for the construction of one of the first community recreation centers in Harlem.  He worked both in the church and in the recreation center, linking the church to the community and providing needed services.

By 1930, the Abyssinian Baptist Church boasted a congregation of more than 14,000 members and was one of the largest and most powerful churches in the country.  Throughout the Depression, Powell’s church provided food for those in the community who did not have adequate basic resources.  The church also referred members of the community to city services and helped many unemployed people to find jobs.

An early civil rights activist, Powell used his pulpit and his position in the community to speak out against racism and injustice.  He also taught courses on racism and race relations at the City College of New York and Union Theological Seminary.

Powell was also a co-founder of the National Urban League and an early member and leader of the NAACP. He was one of the organizers of the Silent Protest Parade of 1928 in which an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 blacks marched in absolute silence down Fifth Avenue to protest violence against African Americans.

After serving Abyssinian Baptist Church for 29 years, Powell retired in 1937, relinquishing his post to his son, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.

May 6

1960 ----- President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act of 1960, which established federal inspection of local voter registration rolls and introduced penalties for anyone who obstructed a person's right to vote.

The act was designed to end the duplicity of registrars in southern states who would resign on the eve of a federal lawsuit so there would be no party to sue, according The Encyclopedia of Black America.

The law required state election officials to preserve records for at least 22 months so they could be viewed by the U.S. Attorney General. The Civil Rights Act also authorized the U.S. Department of Justice to sue in federal court on behalf of persons denied the right to vote. The law, however, was considered by many to be ineffective because it did not provide stringent measures of enforcement.  In addition, court delays also devitalized the act, according to the encyclopedia.
 
Congress passed the act despite strong resistance from Southern Democrats in the U.S. Senate who opposed any civil rights legislation. 
 
The law was written to close the loop holes in the Civil Rights Act of 1957, which created a Commission on Civil Rights to study racial conditions in the United States.
 
The Civil Rights Act of 1957 was the first major piece of civil rights legislation since the Civil Rights Act of 1866. African Americans were declared citizens and were granted equal rights to contracts, suits, access to trials, purchases and properties, according to the Civil Rights Act of 1866.

1886 ----- Black inventor M. A. Cherry patents the tricycle, a three-wheeled vehicle that is used for transportation by pre-schoolers and some adults.

Tricycles have many different purposes in different countries. In Asia and Africa, they are typically used for
commercial transportation and deliveries.  In the United States and Canada, they are used mostly for shopping and exercise.


1787 ----- Prince Hall and 14 other African Americans, who had joined a British lodge of Freemasons 1775, received their own charter, becoming the African Lodge No. 459 in Boston.

Hall, who migrated from Barbados and was a minister, believed a separate lodge would provide a specific camaraderie needed for African-American members.

May 7

1878 ----- Joseph R. Winters receives the first of two patents for an improved fire escape ladder. Winters' ladder replaced the wooden ladder with a metal frame and parallel steps.  The fire escape ladder was mounted on a wagon for the Chambersburg, Pa., fire department.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted Winters U.S. patent No. 203,517 on May 7, 1878, according to the website Inventions and Patents. Winters received a second patent, 214,224, for an improvement to the fire escape ladder on April 8, 1879.

May 8

1915 ---- Henry McNeal Turner, the nation's first African American U.S. Army Chaplain, died on this day while traveling on business for the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Windsor, Canada.

In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln had appointed Turner, a chaplain of the Union Army, attached to the !st Regiment,
U.S. Colored Troops, a unit he was instrumental in organizing in his own churchyard. The 1st Regiment fought numerous battles in Virginia, according to The New Georgia Encyclopedia.

After the Civil War, Turner, who was a bishop in the AME Church, played a key role in implementing Reconstruction policies in the South. In 1876, he became president of Morris Brown College, a position he held for 12 years, according to The Schomburg Center African American Desk Reference.

Later, Turner, convinced that African Americans could not achieve justice in the United States, became an advocate for blacks returning to Africa.
 
Turner is buried in Atlanta and his portrait hangs in the Georgia Capitol.

1925 ----- Asa Philip Randolph founded the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, a groundbreaking black union.

The organization was instrumental in securing better wages and hours for porters who worked for the Pullman Palace Car Company, which was based in Chicago. The union also played an integral role in fair-employment practices.
Pullman paid black porters less than it did white porters, and the black porters were only allowed to sleep in three-hour shifts in noisy, smoke-filled rooms.

Randolph addressed a meeting of porters in 1925, urging them to form a union. They agreed, but only if Randolph would lead the organization, according to Africana: The Encyclopedia of African and African-American Experience.

Only 1,900 of the 10,000 black porters joined the union. Many felt they owed their allegiance to the company, not the union. The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters achieved its largest membership in 1928 with 4,623 members.  In 1934, the Railway Labor Act forced the Pullman Company to recognize the union.

May 9

1899 ----- John Albert Burr received a patent in 1899 for an improved rotary lawn mower, according to About.com Inventors.

Burr designed a lawn mower with traction wheels and a rotary blade so that it would not easily get plugged with lawn clippings. Burr’s design also made it possible to mow closer to building and wall edges.


NorthStar's Week in Black History is compiled and written
by Frederick H. Lowe and Susan M. Miller.