September 25 is the anniversary of the end of the Atlanta Race Massacre of 1906. For days now, mobs of white Americans were roaming the streets of Atlanta, burning black homes and businesses, and lynching whoever they could catch.

The problem was that black people had started to receive some of the same rights as white people. They were voting, some of them were even starting to have enough money to live comfortably. This bred resentment in the white populace. In the leadup to the elections that year, the “free press” had been pushing the narrative that black people were dangerous criminals. Eventually they printed the claim that 4 black men assaulted a white woman. Despite no evidence ever being found of the veracity of this claim, it was enough to convince the white populace that the black residents needed to be exterminated.

At least 5000 white men participated in the massacre, but it’s thought that the number was over 10,000. They killed every black man, woman, and child that they could get their hands on. They burnt down a not-insignificant portion of the city, and killed at least 25 people. It’s commonly thought that the number is over 100, but both sides sought to hide the true number afterward. Black people feared reprisal, and white people feared that people might think they went too far.

Eventually, the damage started to affect white owned businesses and the military had to be called in to stop the mob and arrest the black people who had set up a defensive line.

The immediate aftermath of this saw the black people blamed for the massacre. But eventually the blame also included the newspapers and they were given a slap on the wrist. The murders went unpunished. The governor elected that year saw through his campaign promises and made it harder for black people to vote. The days of terror were swept under the rug and quickly forgotten about. It wasn’t until 100 years later that the city of Atlanta even recognised it ever happened at all.