Mass Lynching in New Orleans / Racial Violence in America

Marker Text: July 24 to 27, 1900, White mobs unleashed a campaign of racial terror throughout the city of New Orleans that resulted in the lynching of at least seven Black people. Violence began after police tried to arrest Robert Charles, a 35-year old Black man. During this era, Black people carried a heavy presumption of guilt and faced hostile suspicion, whether evidence implicated them or not. On July 23, White policemen confronted Mr. Charles while he was seated peacefully on a doorstep. Mr. Charles objected, struggled, and ultimately fled after multiple exchanges of gunfire, leaving two officers dead on July 24. In response, thousands of armed white people, shouting “kill the negroes,” gathered at (once) Robert E. Lee Circle seeking to attack Black people. Over several days, White mobs shot, beat, and killed Black people in a terror crusade to maintain White supremacy. In the first 48-hours of the attack, police failed to intervene as the mobs abducted, killed and maimed Black people. and destroyed the Thomy Lafon School, leaving no public education for Black children in New Orleans after the fifth grade for nearly 20 years. On July 27, policemen and deputized civilian militia discovered Mr. Charles at 1208 Saratoga Street and brutally killed him after hours of gunfire exchange. In the four day massacre, White mobs lynched several Black people, including Hannah Mabry, a wife and mother. No one was ever convicted for their deaths.