Columbia Race Riot of 1946

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The Columbia Race Riot[1] of 1946 was a violent civil disturbance occurred from February 25-28, 1946 in Columbia, Tennessee.

Nashville Banner front page, Feb. 26, 1946 (source: newspapers.com).

Prior Incidents of Racial Violence

Lynchings - the killing of often-innocent people by armed vigilantes, usually as a means to assert white racial supremacy - were an unfortunately common phenomenon in the Southern United States during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, with more than 214 lynchings in Tennessee between 1882 and 1930.[2] Maury County gained national notoriety for the lynchings of two young African-American men, both accused (with little or no evidence) of having attacked young white women, in 1927 and again in 1933.[3]

Across the South, there were numerous incidents of white-on-black violence during and immediately World War II, perhaps resulting from pent-up frustrations of recently-discharged soldiers and sailors.[4] At the same time, African-American (black) veterans of World War II felt empowered to seek a "double victory" in ending racial segregation at home after defeating fascism abroad.[5] This new attitude of resistance triggered fears of black insurrection (perhaps aligned with Communist revolution) among some whites.[6]

Events of February 25-26, 1946

On February 25, 1946, a disagreement over a radio repair led to a street brawl outside of the Castner-Knott department store in Columbia involving Billy Fleming, a white radio repairman and World War II veteran; Gladys Stephenson, a black native of Columbia who was visiting town; and Stephenson's son James, who was a competitive boxer during his service in the United States Navy during World War II.[7][8][9] Though the Stephensons were arrested and initially charged with disturbing the peace, their warrants were changed to "attempted murder" after the intervention of Fleming's father.[10]Fearing that the Stephensons would be lynched if they remained in the county jail. local black businessmen led by Julius Blair posted bail (which had been raised from $50 to $3,500) and the Stephensons were released.[11][12] Later that evening, James Stephenson was later escorted out of the county for his own safety.[13][14]

A mob of white citizens began forming that afternoon in downtown Columbia, and some of the town's black citizens began arriving, armed, to the area then known as the "Mink Slide" (part of a larger area known as "The Bottom" between East 8th and 9th Streets south of the county courthouse) to defend the black-owned businesses there.[15][16][17]

Hearing gun fire coming from the "Mink Slide," Columbia Police Chief Walter Griffin and three officers (nearly half of the town's entire police force at the time) walked down to East 8th Street at about 9 p.m. to investigate and break up the black crowd. Behind the officers was a mob of whites. In the darkness of that night, and with confused shouts from the crowd of "halt!" and "fire!", the entrenched blacks shot and wounded the police officers.[18][19]

At about about the same time as the four officers were shot in Columbia, Governor James McCord called Public Safety Commissioner Lynn Bomar (who had command of the | Tennessee Highway Patrol) and ordered him to Columbia.[20][21] Commissioner Bomar assessed the situation on his arrival and concluded that the main threat came from the armed blacks in the Bottom and sought to deputize the white civilian mob and arm them with weapons from the Tennessee State Guard armory -- a move that the State Guardsmen strongly, and successfully, objected to.[22][23]

Meanwhile, Bomar ordered his Highway Patrolmen to Columbia and the State Guard mobilized; the Highway Patrol and State Guard agreed, due to the time needed for their patrolmen and troops to arrive, to a plan to cordon off the area but not to advance into the Bottom until daybreak; this delay afforded many of the black citizens of the area to leave the neighborhood in the night.[24][25].

During the night, members of the white mob heckled the state authorities for their inaction; two young white men (James Beard and Claude Bogie) tried to sneak into the Bottom themselves (allegedly with the intent to set the "Mink Slide" ablaze) and were fired upon by one of the black men holed-up nearby.[26] During the early morning (before the agreed-upon time of daybreak) Bomar and a small group of his patrolmen into James Morton's home without a warrant, arresting about a dozen people, ransacking the place and confiscating guns, as well alcohol and Morton's wife's jewelry.[27][28]

The Highway Patrol troopers (with local lawmen, but without coordinating with the State Guard) advanced in force at 6 a.m., wantonly vandalizing local businesses in the Bottom (most notoriously, scrawling "KKK" on caskets in Morton's funeral home) and arresting and beating blacks found in the area.[29][30] A gunfight occurred at Saul Blair's barbershop, where "Rooster Bill" Pillow and "Papa" Kennedy exchanged shots with some of the patrolmen; but otherwise the Highway Patrol's sweep met no resistance.[31] The State Guardsmen nearby struggled to keep white civilians out of the area to prevent vigilantes from joining in on the fracas.[32] About 31 people were arrested during the early hours of February 26.[33]

Later on February 26, Bomar obtained warrants and had the sheriff deputize his men and Guardsmen to do a city-wide search of black homes for guns and ammunition. Over the next several days, dozens of black men and women were rounded up, often on flimsy pretexts.[34]

Aftermath: Jailings, Litigation, and Investigations

By February 28, over 100 black citizens had been arrested and held without bail or legal representation for days.[35]Two black men, James "Digger" Johnson and Willie Gordon, were shot and killed by lawmen after being interrogated; the two allegedly grabbed some of the guns confiscated during the February 26 raid that had been stacked nearby in the jail in an attempt to escape.[36]<O'Brien at 31-32.</ref>[37] Some of the prisoners were transferred to Nashville to relieve overcrowding after the deaths of Johnson and Gordon; all of the prisoners were eventually released on bail or without charges by the second week of March.[38]

The Columbia Riot became a cause for liberal, leftist and black civil rights organizations nationwide; and black newspapers sent reporters to follow the cases.[39] Lawyers for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) - Thurgood Marshall (later the first African-American Supreme Court Justice), Z. Alexander Looby (an immigrant from Antigua and lawyer in Nashville), and Maurice Weaver (a white lawyer from Chattanooga) - arrived following the mass arrests on February 26.[40][41][42] Though the black defendants were initially skeptical of the NAACP outsiders, the persistence and enthusiasm of Weaver and Looby persuaded many of them to seek their assistance.[43] Other NAACP lawyers later joined the defense team. [44]

The Federal Government also became involved in the aftermath of the Columbia Race Riot, after U.S. Attorney Horace Frierson requested the FBI to investigate in March.[45] A Nashville-based federal grand jury issued a report during the summer of 1946 concluding that there was no evidence of any violation of federal laws.[46]

Cases were brought before the Maury County grand jury by District Attorney Paul Bumpus on March 22.[47] After challenging Maury County's practices which effectively excluded blacks from serving on juries, the NAACP legal team sought a change in venue for the most substantial of the cases (accusing the Saul and Julius Blair, James Morton, and others of inciting the shooting of the four Columbia police officers on the evening of February 25; as well as a second count charging all 25 with attempted murder); instead of the hoped for change to Davidson County, however, Judge Joe Ingram transferred the cases to Marshall County instead.[48] After six weeks of jury selection, a jury of twelve white men was selected, and the trial in State of Tennessee v. Sol (Saul) Blair started.[49] The prosecution team (led by District Attorney Bumpus) called numerous witnesses; many of whom were artfully cross-examined by Weaver, Looby and Howard Law professor Leon Ransom (Marshall was unable to participate in this trial due to illness).[50][51]In closing arguments, Ransom argued that the black defendants were reasonably afraid of a white mob. Weaver argued that his defendants were standing for democratic values against authoritarianism. Looby's argument was lawyerly, arguing that there was no evidence of a conspiracy by his defendants to murder anyone, and that his defendants were scapegoats for racism and governmental incompetence. District Attorney Bumpus's closing argument cast the white community as victims and assailed outsider agitators and "anarchists."[52]After a two week trial, 23 of the 25 black defendants were acquitted (finding guilt on the attempted murder charge only for Robert Gentry and John McGivens); this result stunned many locals in Marshall and Maury counties.[53] The verdict was explained as being the result of conflicting and incomplete evidence as to which defendants were actually involved in the shooting.[54] The charges against Gentry and McGivens (as well as two other pending case against the Stephensons and whites who were accused of attempting to grab the Stephensons from the jail) were later dropped for lack of evidence.[55]

A second trial began in Columbia for Papa Kennedy and Rooster Bill Pillow (both charged with wounding police officers during the gunfight at Saul Blair's barbership on the morning of February 26) on November 15.[56] Looby, Weaver, and Marshall defended the two in this second trial, which lasted four days; the trial ended with a split verdict, finding Kennedy (who acted surly during his testimony) guilty of attempted murder in the second degree, but acquitting Pillow.[57][58][59] Kennedy ended up being the only person to be punished for the events of February 25-26, serving nine months in state prison.[60]

Local law enforcement was shocked and sulking by the results of the trials.[61] As Looby, Marshall, Weaver, and a press reporter left town in Looby's automobile on the night of November 18, they were pulled over by three cars, including local police, county sheriff's deputies, and Highway Patrolmen. The law enforcement officers searched the car and found nothing and let them proceed. Marshall (who had been driving) switched seats with Looby. Moments later, the lawyers were pulled over again, and the officers arrested Marshall on the pretext of "drunk driving" even though (by this point) Marshall was a passenger.[62][63] Marshall was put in an unmarked car and Looby was told not to follow, which he did anyway out of the fear that Marshall would be lynched.[64][65][66]. Marshall was presented before a local magistrate, who found no probable cause for his arrest and ordered him released.[67][68] The lawyers left again for Nashville using a different car to avoid further harassment.[69]

Legacy

Some of have argued that the Columbia Race Riot of 1946 helped to improve race relations in Maury County, with African-Americans gaining more respect from their white peers.[70][71]

References and Footnotes

  1. ↑ Dr. Ikard notes in the preface to his book that some, particularly in the African-American community, have objected to referring to the events of February 1946 as a "riot." Ikard, Robert W. No More Social Lynchings. Franklin, Hillsboro Press, 1997, p. x. Web (hathitrust.org). 1 Feb. 2021.
  2. ↑ Approximately one person - usually but not always African-American men - was lynched each week on average in the Southern United States between 1882 and 1930. Bennett, Kathy. "Lynching." Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture. Tennessee Historical Society, 1 Mar. 2018, Web. Accessed 1 Feb. 2021.
  3. ↑ Ikard, cited supra, at pp. 8-9. 118-19.
  4. ↑ Ikard at pp. 115-116.
  5. ↑ Ikard at p. 117.
  6. ↑ Ikard at pp. 120-122.
  7. ↑ Van West, Carroll. "Columbia Race Riot, 1946." Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture. Tennessee Historical Society, 1 Mar. 2018. Web. 2 Feb. 2021.
  8. ↑ Ikard, cited supra at pp. 13-15.
  9. ↑ O'Brien, Gail Williams. The Color of the Law: Race, Violence, and Justice in the Post-World War II South. Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 1999, pp. 9-11.
  10. ↑ Ikard at pp. 15-16.
  11. ↑ O'Brien at pp. 11-12
  12. ↑ Ikard at pp. 15-16.
  13. ↑ Ikard at pp. 23-24.
  14. ↑ O'Brien at 13-15.
  15. ↑ O'Brien at pp. 15-17.
  16. ↑ Ikard at pp. 20-23.
  17. ↑ Van West, cited supra.
  18. ↑ Ikard at pp. 27-28.
  19. ↑ O'Brien at pp. 17-18.
  20. ↑ Ikard at p. 47. Note that Ikard gives the time of this phone call as 8:30 p.m, and that Commissioner Bomar was in Nashville for this phone call.
  21. ↑ O'Brien at p. 18. Note that O'Brien states that there was a phone call after the officers were shot, or after 9 p.m., and that Commissioner Bomar was already near Spring Hill.
  22. ↑ Ikard at p. 32.
  23. ↑ O'Brien at pp. 18-19.
  24. ↑ Ikard at p.34
  25. ↑ O'Brien at p. 20.
  26. ↑ Ikard at pp. 33-34.
  27. ↑ Ikard at pp. 35-36.
  28. ↑ O'Brien at p. 21.
  29. ↑ Ikard at pp. 37-40.
  30. ↑ O'Brien at pp. 23-27.
  31. ↑ Ikard at pp. 38-40.
  32. ↑ Ikard at p. 39.
  33. ↑ Ikard at p. 41.
  34. ↑ Ikard at p. 42.
  35. ↑ Ikard at 45-47.
  36. ↑ Ikard at 47-48.
  37. ↑ King, Gilbert. Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America. New York, Harper Perennial, 2012. p. 13.
  38. ↑ Ikard at p. 50.
  39. ↑ Ikard at pp. 54-58.
  40. ↑ Ikard at pp. 51-52.
  41. ↑ King at pp. 8-10.
  42. ↑ Hudson, David. "Thurgood Marshall in Tennessee: His Defense of Accused Rioters, His Near-Miss With a Lynch Mob." Tennessee Bar Journal. vol. 56. no. 8 (Sept-Oct. 2020), pp. 16-21. Web (tba.org). 8 Feb. 2021.
  43. ↑ Ikard at p. 53.
  44. ↑ Ikard at p. 60.
  45. ↑ Ikard at pp. 50, 59.
  46. ↑ Ikard at 76.
  47. ↑ Ikard at p. 60.
  48. ↑ Ikard at pp. 60-62.
  49. ↑ Ikard at pp. 84-85.
  50. ↑ Ikard at pp. 84-101 presents a detailed account of the witness testimony and arguments of counsel.
  51. ↑ Hudson at p. 20.
  52. ↑ Ikard at pp. 97-101.
  53. ↑ Ikard at p. 102.
  54. ↑ Ikard at pp. 103-104.
  55. ↑ Ikard at p. 104.
  56. ↑ Ikard at p. 108.
  57. ↑ King at pp. 7-20.
  58. ↑ Hudson at p. 20.
  59. ↑ Ikard at pp. 108-111.
  60. ↑ Ikard at p. 113.
  61. ↑ Ikard at p. 111.
  62. ↑ Ikard at pp. 110-111.
  63. ↑ King at pp.14-16.
  64. ↑ Ikard at p. 112.
  65. ↑ King at pp. 17-19.
  66. ↑ Hudson at pp. 20-21
  67. ↑ Ikard at p. 111.
  68. ↑ King at pp. 18-19.
  69. ↑ Ikard at pp. 111-112.
  70. ↑ Ikard at pp. 128-130.
  71. ↑ Wood, Tim. "Fight to End Racial Prejudice - 1946 race riots." January 2014. Web. 8 Feb. 2021. Wood cites O'Brien, cited supra, at 247-248.

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