The Memphis Race Riots of 1866

The Memphis Race Riots of 1866 immediately stemmed from policeman brutality towards African Americans on the night of April 30th, 1866. The policemen involved reportedly forced a party of men off of the sidewalk and in the process one of them officers tripped over one of the black men after he had fallen. As a result of this accident, the policemen then engaged in brutally beating the men they had forced off of the sidewalk with their revolvers. The volume of the fight attracted the attention of onlookers and more policemen became involved in the altercation. In the squabble, one officer injured his finger and another was hit with accidental discharge from the pistol of another officer. As a result of these injuries, the policemen began firing their weapons on the party of black men who had done nothing wrong. After the original group of black men had fled the scene the officers opened fire on anyone in the vicinity, including men, women, and children. More officers arrived and then they too joined in the attack on defenseless black people. These horrific events lasted, in a discontinuous fashion, until the fourth of May. In total, the number of people killed was forty-six, seventy people were injured, and five women raped. In addition to these crimes twelve churches and fourth schools were burned over the course of the riots.

In the aftermath of the riots, there were no consequences imposed upon the offending officers, as was the norm in the South. This lack of punishment, despite the identification of the perpetrators, was like what happened legally in regards to the lynchings that took place all over the South. With the government employees in favor of white supremacy, any white person essentially had free will to do whatever they wanted to any black person they encountered. All they had to do was accuse the black person of a crime and the town, or police force would come in to help harm the black person.  An important note is that all that had to happen was an accusation by a white person and harm upon the black person would commence. The black population was never privy to the right of a trial and were frequently, "conveniently", broken out of jail by the angry mob and then lynched. Similar to what happened with the lynchings previously mentioned, the officers involved in the Memphis Race Riots, simply accused the black men they attacked of not getting off of the sidewalk and then when he fell trying to get out of their way, for falling on the officer. In this time, a simple accusation, despite the lack of just cause would result in support from fellow white people and the party of black people involved would receive the short end of the stick almost every time.

The reason why these events took place and why they were allowed to happen by the civil authorities was the desire to keep the black population morally down. The pictures and significant amounts of knowledge the public possessed about these events and how nothing was done to punish the offending officers or lynchers demonstrated to the black community in the South that they were powerless. They hoped that this lack of power would keep them from coming up in society and seeing themselves as equal as whites. Unfortunately, these events continued for a long time after 1866 and those who harmed others in the name of racial superiority were never or rarely convicted, adding fuel to the issue of race and racial equality in America that is still prevelant today.

Bibliography
1. http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/the-freedmens-bureau-report-on-the-memphis-race-riots-of-1866/
2. https://www.britannica.com/event/Memphis-Race-Riot