In TV, movies, and in books, the era of the 1920s era is portrayed as a glamorous, jubilant time filled with flappers, new inventions, wealth, and jazz.
When looking back on the 1920s, most Americans hold a romanticized view of this period, and, given the chance, they would wish to travel back in time and experience it. However, African Americans, view that era in a completely different way.
For them the 1920s were the height of racial violence in America and the height of the power of the Ku Klux Klan. We in return need to ask our school systems and educators a variety of questions.
The questions include: why do students not learn about this in school? Why are students taught that the KKK's influence and atrocities were mostly committed in a brief period of time during the Civil Rights Era? Why are students taught that the crimes only took place in the South? Why does the school system downplay and erase the exact events that made our history?
It is disrespectful to the African American community as a nation to act like their ancestors were not the target of an attempted genocide. It is disrespectful to not acknowledge that the perpetrators were American citizens such as the town doctors, lawyers, policemen, and politicians. It is also disrespectful to all Americans to sugarcoat this history.
By not accepting the full and true history of our country, and instead, painting over the ugly parts, we are enabling the country as a whole to never learn from past horrific behaviors, which, in turn, creates the potential for them occur again. The truth about the 1920s is that for a vast majority of Americans it was the time of race riots, lynchings and sole terrorism.
Race riots dominated the roaring 20s and is defined as a public outbreak of violence in a community between two racial groups.
However, the term race riot is almost a euphemism. Typically riots conjure an image of marching with picket signs and destruction of property. But race riots of the 1920s were much more than that. They were extremely violent and murderous.
Although it did not occur in the 1920s, there is an infamous precursor for what would soon become the norm during the years of the 1920s. This was the East St. Louis Massacre. In 1917 an African American neighborhood in East St. Louis was invaded by a mob of people. This is known to be one of the bloodiest race riots in American history.
The mob barricaded all exits of the homes, cut off the water hoses to the local fire station, then proceeded to set homes on fire. The mob then shoot the inhabitants as they tried escaping their homes. Innocent people were being targeted because of the color of their skin, and there was nothing they could do to escape the victimization due to the commonplace of these events. This was an act of attempted genocide of a minority. This was an act of terrorism.
Lynchings were also very common and most people to this day can recall learning about lynchings but most believe they are synonymous with the term hanging.
A lynching is actually defined as a murder by an organized mob which is often done through hanging or burning. During the 20s lynchings were made exceptionally public. Groups of people would gather around to witness burning bodies or ones hanging from trees.
Amongst those attending were even children brought to these gruesome displays by their parents. Lynchings were not just treated like a social event, it was a social event. They were such a spectacle that the press was notified in order to take pictures and have them published in the newspaper for more people to see.
Because the perpetrators were never sought after, this led the domino effect of continued murders and violence for years. No one was being held accountable, no justice was being served, people were dying every day all because the murders were committed by the same citizens who ran the towns.
African Americans lived their lives in fear of not living another day during this time period. They lived their lives in fear of seeing their family, friends, or neighbors dead in the town square or on the weekly newspaper.
Race riots and lynchings were definitively acts of terrorism. But when it comes to misinformation, a lot of Americans are unaware of just how terroristic a specific group of people rising to power were during this time.
Terrorism is the intimidation and violence against civilians through an unlawful approach with the goal of propagating a political agenda, therefore by that definition, the KKK should be acknowledged as a terrorist organization.
They were at their most prominent and powerful during the 1920s. The KKK, contrary to popular belief, was not solely a few estranged southern racists during the Civil Rights Era, but instead was a national organization that gained so much traction that 50,000 members marched on Washington in 1925. The KKK was comprised of both Northerners and Southerns, politicians, doctors, lawyers, policemen, and ordinary, everyday citizens.
The KKK murdered people. Hundreds of people. The KKK posed as a Christian organization while burning down churches and burning people alive. The KKK used intimidation to instill fear into the entire African American community to make sure they remained fearful their whole lives. The KKK took part in race riots and lynchings. The KKK had reached immense popularity and power during the 1920s.
Race riots, lynchings, and terrorism were more frequent than what most realize. I believe it is extremely crucial to be educated about our history in its complete context. We as a country owe it to our fellow Americans to learn the truth about our history, about how it has affected them, how it affects us, and how to make sure it never makes a reappearance again.
