Religious Leaders in the Aftermath of Atlanta's 1906 Race Riot Author(S): Harvey K

Georgia Historical Society

Religious Leaders in the Aftermath of Atlanta's 1906 Race Riot Author(s): Harvey K. Newman and Glenda Crunk Source: The Georgia Historical Quarterly, Vol. 92, No. 4 (Winter 2008), pp. 460-485 Published by: Georgia Historical Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40585087 Accessed: 16-05-2015 22:18 UTC

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This content downloaded from 141.211.4.224 on Sat, 16 May 2015 22:18:56 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions ReligiousLeaders in theAftermath of Atlanta's 1906Race Riot

ByHarvey K. Newmanand Glenda Crunk

advanceof the centennialof the 1906 Atlantarace riot, bothscholarly and popularwriters focused attention on the causesand resultsof the tragedy. These new publications provide a greatdeal ofinsight into the conditions within the city's African- Americancommunity preceding the disturbance, the deeply held prejudiceand fearsof white Atlanta residents, the socio-economic conditionsin thecity leading to theconflict, the incidents that oc- curredduring the four-day riot, and theimpact of the event on the cityand nation.1While mention is madein theseworks of the role ofthe city's clergy, there has notbeen a studyfocused specifically on theactions of Atlanta's religious leaders in theaftermath of the riot.These individuals- bothblack and white- steppedforward in thedays and weeksfollowing the violence to provideguidance withintheir segregated communities. The clergyalso soughta measureof cooperation between the races that would prevent fur- thertrouble. Within the context of the time and place,the clergy

'Some of the bestbooks on the topic include AllisonDorsey, To Build OurLives Together: CommunityFormation in BlackAtlanta, 1875-1906 (Athens,Ga., 2004); Mark Bauerlein, Ne- grophobia:A RaceRiot in Atlanta,1906 (San Francisco,Calif., 2001); GregoryL. Mixon, The AtlantaRiot: Race, Class,and Violencein a NewSouth City (Gainesville, Fla., 2005); Rebecca Burns,Rage in theGate City: The Story of the 1906 AtlantaRace Riot (Cincinnati,2006); and David FortGodshalk, VeiledVisions: The 1906 AtlantaRace Riot and theReshaping of American RaceRelations (Chapel Hill, N.C., 2005).

MR. NEWMANis a professorin the AndrewYoung School of PolicyStudies at Georgia State Universityand MS. CRUNK is a graduatestudent.

The Georgia Historical Quarterly Vol. XCII, No. 4, Winter 2008

This content downloaded from 141.211.4.224 on Sat, 16 May 2015 22:18:56 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Aftermathof Atlanta's 1906Race Riot 461 attemptedto addressthe causes.In an era and a regionwhere manyregarded the role of the clergy as spiritual,the leaders of var- iouscongregations joined to influencepublic policies at thelocal and statelevels. The patternsworked out by the city'sreligious leaderscontinued to shape theirrole in Atlantafor much of the twentiethcentury. Duringthe summerof 1906,residents found themselves in themidst of a fiercepolitical campaign to determinewho would be thenext governor of Georgia.Both candidates in the Demo- craticprimary made the disenfranchisement ofAfrican-American votersthe major issue in thecampaign. Against this backdrop, ri- val newspaperscompeted with sensational headlines in an effort to boostcirculation, mostly by running lurid stories about black menallegedly assaulting white women. In August,this "Negropho- bia" reacheda feverpitch with the lynching of an African-Ameri- can malein Atlanta,ostensibly for the rape of a fourteen-year-old whitegirl. On Saturdayevening, September 22, the papers stirred whitefears by reporting four attempted assaults "made by brutal Negroeson defenselesswhite women." The hysteriaturned physical laterthat night, as mobsof armedwhites attacked any blacks who happenedto be in the downtownarea. Exactlyhow many werekilled and wounded during the initial night of violence is un- certain.The citycoroner issued onlyten death certificatesfor blackvictims, but estimates from other sources range from twenty to forty-sevenAfrican-American deaths, one hundredfifty criti- callyinjured, and countlessothers who fled the city.2 On Sundaymorning, a relativecalm spread over Atlanta. As whitechurches held theirworship services, only a fewministers mentionedthe mayhemof the previousevening while the "vast majorityof the preachersremained silent." Meanwhile, their blackcounterparts helped care forthe woundedand provided comfortfor the members of theircongregations. One whitereli- giousleader who was neverat a lossfor words was theReverend Sam P.Jones,a nationallyknown evangelist whose newspaper col- umnsand sermonsmade himan influentialperson in Georgia. Speakingat a revivalmeeting in Cartersville, Jones's remarks were

^AtlantaConstitution, August 1, September 23, 1906; Bauerlin, Negrophobia,218-19; Mixon,Atlanta Riot, 1, 110.

This content downloaded from 141.211.4.224 on Sat, 16 May 2015 22:18:56 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 462 Georgia Historical Quarterly reportedin thenewspapers on Mondaymorning: "Of course, you maysay that the bloodshed in Atlanta last night was inevitable, but whiskey,yes, whiskey, was behind it. I wantto see thosedisgraceful DecaturStreet dives of debauchery and sinobliterated. . . . Liquor wasbehind all thoseatrocious deeds committedby the blacks in and aroundAtlanta and ifyou fellows will go to workand elimi- nate politicalchicanery and workin the interestof prohibition and accomplishthe destruction of the liquor traffic I will person- ally account for everyrape committedthereafter."3 Jones expressed no doubt about the guilt of the AfricanAmericans involved,and forhim the only solution was to restrictliquor sales byclosing the black saloons on DecaturStreet. His viewson race and religionreflected what many whites in Atlantabelieved. They regardedAfrican Americans as an inferiorrace whosemembers neededto be keptfrom the evil influences of drinking. These At- lantaresidents felt that blacks were to blamefor causing the riot. Theirreligious leaders joined withelected public officials in seek- ing to restoreorder and keep the peace byclosing the Decatur Streetdives. Jonesdid not addressthe violence of whitesin theirattacks againstAfrican Americans. According to historianDarren E. Grem,Jones disapproved of mob violence, including lynching, as it was "outsidethe system of courtsordained by God to exercise Hisjustice."4 Jones had a massfollowing in Atlanta as a resultof his revivalpreaching and sermonspublished in thenewspaper, but he wasnot a localpastor. He wasa travelingevangelist whose visits to Atlantafor revival meetings in 1896and 1897were considered major eventsin thecity's religious history. Jones represented a theo- logicalperspective that was comfortable for most of Atlanta's faith leaders.As an evangelist,he sawreligion in termsof an individ- ual's choice,a voluntarydecision to rejectpersonal sins such as drinking,gambling, prostitution, theater-going, and the obser- vanceof Sunday as theSabbath. The believerembraced a visionof personalpiety, which his biographer Kathleen Minnix suggested had muchin commonwith the fundamentalism that emerged in

* AtlantaConstitution, September 24, 1906. 4DarrenE. Grem,"Sam Jones, Sam Hose, and the Theologyof Racial Violence," Georgia HistoricalQuarterly 90 (Spring2006): 51 (hereinaftercited as GHQ).

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AmericanProtestantism two decades afterJones's death in mid- October1906.5 This emphasis on individualsin and salvationwas a continuationof the kind of camp meeting revivalism and biblical primitivismcharacteristic ofthe Baptists and Methodistschurches thatdominated the religious life of Atlanta and mostareas of the South.6The successof evangelism among both blacks and whites meantthat the religious leaders of the two races shared a theolog- ical perspectivebased on individualismat odds witha movement knownas social gospelthat saw sin and salvationin termsof a morecollective process reflective of societyas a whole.In theaf- termathof theriot, the few black and whiteministers in Atlanta whowere identified with the social gospel movement joined with theirmore evangelistic colleagues in lookingfor solutions to the causesof the uprising.7 The reconstructionin thedays following the riot was both an effortto imposelaw and orderand to repairthe damageto At- lanta'sreputation as a beacon of theNew South. White ministers ofall theologicalpositions united in theirbelief in thesuperiority ofthe white race and theneed forracial segregation. In theeffort to resuscitateAtlanta's image, black ministersemerged as the backboneof African-American leadership, but theyalso contributedto a growingclass division in theblack community. Many of theAfrican-American ministers joined in the campaignto close theDecatur Street dives where working-class black patrons were describedas "viciousrounders, loafers and grosslyignorant" crim- inalswho tooklessons in "bestiality,criminality, and deviltryand have theirunbridled passions stirred by mean liquor."In their minds,black criminals were the product of thebad influenceof idlenessand alcohol- bothplentiful on DecaturStreet - in con-

5KathleenMinnix, Laughter in theAmen Corner: The Life of Evangelist Sam Jones (Athens, Ga.,1993), 108, 123-25. 6HarveyK. Newman,"Vision of Order: White Protestant Christianity in Atlanta, 1865- 1906"(Ph.D. diss., Emory University, 1977), 2-11. 7SeeMartha Tovell Nesbitt, "The Social Gospelin Atlanta,1900-1920" (Ph.D. diss., GeorgiaState University, 1975), 154-56; and RalphE. Luker,The Social Gospel in Black and White:American Racial Reform, 1885-1912 (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1991), 1-7. Luker defined the termsocial gospel as a reformeffort by Christians in thelate nineteenth and early twentieth centuryto addressthe social problems of the age thatthey saw as functionsof urban and industrialgrowth. He arguedthat the kind of inter-racial cooperation between blacks and whitesthat emerged in theaftermath ofthe 1906 Atlanta race riot was an expressionof the socialgospel movement.

This content downloaded from 141.211.4.224 on Sat, 16 May 2015 22:18:56 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 464 Georgia Historical Quarterly trastto thepreachers, teachers, and editorswho were considered communityleaders.8 In thedays following the turmoil, white and blackministers provided leadership for their segregated communities.Many took a publicrole to influencelocal officialsto close theDecatur Street bars and promoteprohibition. Atthe time of the riot, the real issue was, and had longbeen, howto controlthe African Americans who had pouredinto the cityafter the Civil War. In 1860,African Americans comprised only 20 percentof Atlanta's population, but by 1866 the figure stood at 45 percent.9Whites viewed this increase with alarm as the older meansof social control by slavery or cityordinances no longerap- plied.White public officials searched for new measures that would enforcesegregation. After Reconstruction, separation of the races was enforcedby custom, but duringthe last decade of thenine- teenthcentury, new legal patternsof discriminationwere put in place to segregatewhites from blacks. In 1892,Georgia passed a lawrequiring separate seating on trains.Four years later, the U.S. SupremeCourt in Pkssyv. Ferguson made the doctrine of "separate butequal" thelaw of the land.10 White churches played their part in thispattern. Antebellum congregations that had slavesas mem- bersbecame segregatedafter the CivilWar; blacks left to form theirown churches and denominationalaffiliations. Local ordinancesfollowed, prohibiting African Americans fromusing the city's parks, the zoo in GrantPark, and thepublic library.Bars and restaurantswere also strictlysegregated (though therules were not enforced on DecaturStreet) . These businesses had to displaya sign indicatingwhich customerswould be served.11Jim Crow laws were part of a castesystem designed to keep blacksin an inferiorplace in society.This systemincluded votingrestrictions, segregated and substandardschools, and was

* AtlantaIndependent, September 22, 1906. 9UnitedStates Census Bureau, EighthCensus of the United States:Population Sched- ules, FultonCounty, Georgia, 1860, microfilm,Washington, D.C.; V. T. Barnwell,BarnwelVs AtlantaCity Directory and Strangers'Guide (Atlanta, Ga., 1867), 4. 10HowardN. Rabinowitz,Race Relations in theUrban South, 1865-1890 (New York,1978), 323-26; Ronald H. Bayor,Race and theShaping of Twentieth-CenturyAtlanta (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1996), 9-12; Leon F. Litwack,Trouble in Mind: BlackSoutherners in theAge of Jim Crow (New York,1998), 105-106,243-44. "David L. Lewis, W.E. B. DuBois: Biographyof a Race, 1868-1919(New York,1993), 344; JohnHammond Moore, "JimCrow in Georgia,"South Atlantic Quarterly 66 (Fall 1967): 554- 65.

This content downloaded from 141.211.4.224 on Sat, 16 May 2015 22:18:56 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Aftermathof Atlanta's 1906Race Riot 465 keptin place bypowerful all-white businesses, churches, and po- liticalinstitutions. Prior to the riot, places like Auburn Avenue and DecaturStreet had residentialand commercialareas occupied by membersof both races who lived and workedin close proximity. EvenPeachtree Street was the location of a barbershop owned by one of the city'sAfrican-American entrepreneurs, Alonzo Hern- don. The mostflagrant, though, was Decatur Street, where drinking,prostitution, gambling, and othervices flourished and some ofthe establishments were owned by whites who served black customers.12The proximityof whites and blacksin a sectionof a city such as Atlantahas been describedas a kind of "borderland" whereall kindsof social divisions involving race, gender, and class wereblurred.13 Seen withinthe context of theregion as a whole, the relationshipsbetween blacks and whitesin Atlantaformed partof a "precariousbalancing act" that depended on continual redefinitionwithin the Jim Crow era.14 Historian Leon F. Litwack describedthe challenges faced by ministers: on theone hand,they needed to please theircongregations, but on theother, they also had tooperate within the limits of relations between the races that constantlyshifted.15 For white and blackclergy, the challenges of leadershipwere somewhat different, but afterthe riot,Atlanta's religiousleaders played an importantpart in theredefinition of racerelations. Afterthe mayhemof September1906, as black Atlantans countedthe dead and injuredand surveyedthe damage done to theirbusinesses and homes,local whiteclergy supported Sam Jonesand echoed his callsfor shutting down saloons catering to AfricanAmericans. In the logicof white supremacy, the borderland area wherewhites and blacksmixed became the target of a campaignto close the"Decatur Street Dives" that were regarded as responsiblefor the wave of crime.The newspapersjoined this crusadewith the Atlanta Journal describing in luriddetails the area

12HarveyK. Newman,"Decatur Street: Atlanta's African American Paradise Lost," At- lantaHistory: A Journalof Georgia and theSouth 44 (Summer 2000): 5-20. 13GeorginaSusan Hickey, "Visibility, Politics, and UrbanDevelopment: Working-Class Womenin EarlyTwentieth-Century Atlanta" (Ph.D. diss.,University of Michigan,1995), 261. 14JaneDaily, Glenda Elizabeth Gilmore, and BryantSimon, eds.,Jumpin'Jim Crow: South- ernPolitics from Civil War to Civil Rights (Princeton, N.J., 2000) , 4. 15Litwack,Trouble in Mind,389.

This content downloaded from 141.211.4.224 on Sat, 16 May 2015 22:18:56 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 466 Georgia Historical Quarterly as a "stinkingplace withbarrooms, restaurants serving beer and liquorto Negroes,and diveswhere people sleep for10 centsa night."The editorcalled upon the leadersto "CLOSE UP THE HELL BROTHELS ON DECATURSTREET" in orderto help reduce theassaults by blacks on whitewomen. The editorialadded: "Religion,law, morality, sentiment, and decencydemand the ces- sation(of theassaults) at once."This policy proposal gained the endorsementof "the best negroes in Atlanta." One ofthese was H. H. Proctor,pastor of FirstCongregational Church, who was de- scribedby theJournaFs editor as "an enlightenednegro minis- ter."16 Proctorwas not alone among the city'sAfrican-American clergyin callingfor the closingof the DecaturStreet bars. At a meetingof Baptist ministers before the riot, six pastors called on thecity to shutdown the saloons in thearea. In whatwould be- come a familiartheme, the ministers drew a distinctionbetween theleaders of the city'sblack community, the "preachers,teachers,and editors"and theuneducated "who were the unchurched and unreachedmembers of the race." The sixministers were the ReverendsPeter James Bryant of Wheat Street Baptist, E. R. Carter ofFriendship Baptist, E. P.Johnson of Reed StreetBaptist, H. R. Harrisonof Frazier Street Baptist, W. W. Floyd of Zion Hill Baptist, and A. P. Dunbarof Mt. Olive Baptist Church.17 OtherAfrican-American ministers remained busy in theafter- mathof thechaos with the pastoral duties of theiroffice. For example,the AtlantaIndependent reported that Dr. John A. Rush assistedby the ReverendWilliam Fountain officiated at the fu- neralof Frank Smith, a WesternUnion messenger stoned to death bythe mob of "poorwhite crackers" on Saturdaynight. The fu- neralservice on Monday,September 24, was held at the Central AvenueMethodist Church where Rush was pastor.18 The African- Americannewspaper laid the blame for the death on thecity's low- incomewhite residents. On theday of thefuneral, Atlanta's white ministers began to maketheir voices heard. A meetingof Methodistpreachers con-

™ AtlantaJournal, September 23, 1906. "AtlantaIndependent, September 22, 1906. ™Ibid.,September 29, 1906.

This content downloaded from 141.211.4.224 on Sat, 16 May 2015 22:18:56 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Aftermathof Atlanta's 1906Race Riot 467 demnedthe riotingand passed a unanimousresolution saying: "The crimeand violencethat were responsiblefor the rioting whichoccurred here Saturdaynight were denounced; sympathy forthe innocent women who have fallen victims to negroes was expressed;the excesses of the mob were deplored; and thetardy ac- tionof the civilauthorities in attemptingto restrainrioters was regretted."19 WhiteBaptist ministers also meton Mondayand expressed theirconcern over the rioting in thecity. The Baptistsappointed a committeeof six that included the Reverends W. W. Landrum of FirstBaptist; John E. Whiteof Second Baptist;John F. Purserof WestEnd Baptist;Julius W. Millard of Ponce de Leon AvenueBap- tist;Virgil Norcross of Western Heights Baptist; and W.W. Cowan of ImmanuelBaptist Church. Their taskwas to investigatethe causesof theviolence and "tosuggest if possible the adoption of measuresto prevent their reoccurrence."20 For the Baptist pastors, theanswer to thecauses of the riots was the same as forthe evan- gelistSam Jones- prohibition.The followingweek the Baptist newspaper,the Christian Index, reported in all capitalletters, "THE CLOSING OF ALL LIQUOR-SELLINGESTABLISHMENTS, IN OUR STATEWILL DO MORE THANANY OTHER ONE THING TO DIMINISH CRIME IN THE STATE So longas thewhite people allowliquor to be sold to Negroes,for the sake of the rev- enue it brings,they will be responsible,in partat least,for the crimesthat liquor-besotted Negroes commit." The call forprohi- bitionto remove liquor from the hands of "Negroes" was repeated in subsequentweeks in Georgia'sBaptist newspaper.21 Baptistleaders also tookthe message to local decision makers. Speakingat a citycouncil meeting on Tuesdayevening, Septem- ber 25,John White urged that the Decatur Street bars be closed becausethey were "[b]lots upon thecivilization of Atlanta, Breed- ersof vice and crime."In a newspapereditorial, White justified the proposalby suggesting that African Americans in theSouth were as irresponsiblewith alcohol as AmericanIndians out west. White concludedwith the familiarpaternalistic caveat that discrimina-

™ AtlantaJournal, September 24, 1906. «Ibid. 21 ChristianIndex, September 27, October 4, 11, 1906.

This content downloaded from 141.211.4.224 on Sat, 16 May 2015 22:18:56 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 468 Georgia Historical Quarterly tionagainst blacks was actuallyfor their own protection and for thepublic good.22 White'sracial views were considered among the more moderate of thoseheld byAtlanta's white clergy. Unlike White, conser- vativessuch as Dr. A. R. Holderbyof the Moore Memorial PresbyterianChurch appeared to supportlynching. The dayafter theriot, Holderby assessed its causes when he wrote:

The riotwas greatly to be deplored,but I am notat all surprisedat it.In fact,I wassatisfied itwas coming. Such a thingshows the weak- nessof the law and wherethe law does notprotect the people will takeit in theirown hands and see thatcrime is punishedproperly. One thingis sureand certain,and thatis thatthe people of the southwill protect their wives and daughtersand sisters,regardless ofthe consequences and at all hazards.I am ofcourse sorry it occurred,as is everylaw-abiding citizen, but we haveall been looking forit unless conditions changed. Raping must cease. A stopmust be put to it.We willnot stand for it anylonger, be resultswhat they may.. . . The lawis entirelyinadequate. Our courtsare too slow. Somemeans must be devisedfor remedying such a stateof affairs. I do notpreach against lynching, and neverwill as longas raping continuesand thelaw is in itspresent state. It wouldbe foolishto preachagainst it. I preachagainst crime and notagainst lynching as a resultof raping. Lynching will continue a longas rapingdoes.23

Holderbylater expressed regret for the extremeviews pub- lishedin theimmediate aftermath of the riot. The nextweek, he madea "correction"in orderto clarify his remarks about lynching. Holderbystated that he did notmention the strife in hissermon on themorning after the episode began because "the people were verynervous and excited,and thatI thoughtit would do no good to preachagainst mob lawor lynchlaw under the present condi- tionof affairs,that as long as assaultswere made upon our de- fenselesswomen the mob lawwould prevail, and thatwe would haveto strike at thecause of the trouble before we could put a stop tothe mob." Once quiethad returnedto the city, Holderby wished to "preachagainst mob law or lynchlaw as I believeall moblaw is contraryto thelaw of God."24

22 AtlantaConstitution, September 26, 28, 1906. 2Hbid.,September 24, 1906. ™ AtlantaJournal, October 1, 1906.

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Severalother white ministers expressed their concern over theadverse effects of therioting on citybusinesses. These minis- tersurged Christians who stood for order and decencyto pray that somegood couldcome out of the turmoil. The mayorresponded byordering all saloonsin thecity closed until they could reapply fora businesslicense. Each bar wouldbe reviewedby a special committeethat would examinethe "characterof the business transactedby every licensed barroom in Atlanta."No one missed thepoint of the mayor's order since it did notapply to hotelcafes thatserved only white customers. The editorof the Constitution made the intentof the policyperfectly clear: "Under no condi- tionsshould licenses be grantedto saloonscatering wholly or in partto Negroes,"adding that it was the duty of white Atlantans to keepliquor away from "inferior races."25 The citycouncil hastily approved the reopeningof barsand restaurantsthat catered to whitecustomers, but thirty-six saloons servingblacks in thearea ofDecatur Street had theirlicenses de- niedand closedpermanently. In theentire city, only eighteen res- taurantsand tavernsfor African Americans reopened. During the deliberationsthat led to theclosing of these establishments, Afri- can-Americanchurch leaders were by no meanssilent. Attending the publichearings were several prominent black ministersin- cludingE. R. Carter,Bishop Lucius H. Holseyof the Butler Street ColoredMethodist Episcopal Church, John Rush, and Jim Reeves, chaplainof the citystockade. Speaking for the group,Rush re- mindedthe audience that black dives were not the only culprits in causingthe riot. White establishments were just as eviland these divesalso nurturedcriminals and serveda degeneratewhite clientele thatwas just as prone to criminalbehavior as poor African Americans.26The presenceof theblack ministers at thehearings wasan exerciseof their leadership within their community. While mostof the violence had been causedby whites in an effortto as- serttheir superiority over blacks, these African-American church leaderswillingly accepted that some blame lay on lower-classmem- bersof their race as wellas lower-classwhites. Such reasoningdid notchange the city council's decision, however, and white-owned

25 AtlantaConstitution, September 28, 1906. 26Ibid.,October 3-6,1906; AtlantaJournal, September 25, 1906.

This content downloaded from 141.211.4.224 on Sat, 16 May 2015 22:18:56 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 470 Georgia Historical Quarterly businessescontinued to reopen whilemany black-owned busi- nessesremained closed. In thecity where most African Americans werepoor, the ministers emerged from the riot as themost prom- inentspokesmen for their race. Mosteconomic activity remained paralyzed in thedays following the violence.Ray Stannard Baker, a nationaljournalist, de- scribedAtlanta after the turmoil: "Factories were closed, railroad carswere left unloaded in theyards, the streetcar system was crip- pled,and therewas no cab-service. . . hundredsof servantsde- sertedtheir places, the bank clearingsslumped by hundreds of thousandsof dollars,the state fair, then just opening,was a fail- ure."27 Equallydevastating to cityleaders was the unfavorablena- tionalpublicity resulting from the turmoil. A largeconvention of the NationalAssociation of RetailDruggists was to beginin At- lantaon October1, withmore than two thousand delegates ex- pectedfor the first meeting of theorganization ever held in the region.The pushto restorelaw and orderled to theformation of a Committeeof Ten, made up ofwhite business leaders who effec- tivelytook control of the city. One ofits first acts was to organizea meetingwith African-American leaders. Included among them wereProctor, E. P.Johnson, E. R. Carter,John Rush, and Lucius Holsey,as wellas BenjaminJ. Davis, editor of the Atlanta Indepen- dent,the city's leading African-American newspaper. Baker called thisthe "first important occasion in theSouth upon whichan at- temptwas made to getthe two races together for any serious con- siderationof theirdifferences."28 While this may have been an exaggerationof the importance of the meeting, Baker was proba- blycorrect in hisassessment of the novelty of the event within the city. The menwho represented the African-American community wereall prominentblack ministers. There were twenty-four Na- tionalBaptist congregations in thecity in 1906reporting a mem- bershipof approximatelytwelve thousand. While therewere twenty-eightAfrican Methodist Episcopal Churches in Atlanta,

27RayStannard Baker, Following the Color Line: American Negro Citizenship in theProgressive Era (New York,1908), 17. ™Ibid, 20.

This content downloaded from 141.211.4.224 on Sat, 16 May 2015 22:18:56 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Aftermathof Atlanta's 1906Race Riot 471 theircongregations reported only fifty-five hundred.29 Status differences among African-Americancongregations had also emergedby the time of therace riot.According to a 1903survey conductedby Atlanta University students of ProfessorW. E. B. DuBois,more than half of the Baptistchurches in Atlantawere "verysmall, with very small memberships, and veryignorant or il- literatepastors."30 In contrast, the pastors of older "first churches," such as FriendshipBaptist, Wheat Baptist, and BethelAfrican MethodistEpiscopal, were knownfor theireducational attain- mentand therelatively higher economic status of theirmember- ship.E. R. Carterwas typical of these church leaders and notable forhis 1894 book, TheBlack Side, that highlighted the achieve- mentsof Atlanta's African-American business leaders, educators, and ministers.31The wealthiestblack church in thecity, however, was Proctor'sFirst Congregational. Educated at FiskUniversity and Yale DivinitySchool, Proctor was the firstAfrican-American pastor of the congregationfounded in 1867 by the white representativesof the AmericanMissionary Association. This grouphad come southafter the end of the CivilWar to teach formerslaves (the schooleventually became Atlanta University). In 1903,Proctor's congregation numbered almost five hundred, had no debt,and ownedmore valuable real estate than any other African-Americanchurch in the city. First Congregational Church'smembers were described as businessand professional menand theirwives, whose pastor led worshipservices noted for theirlack of emotionalism and appeal to theintellect.32 The leaders of the most prominentAfrican-American churchesplayed three critical roles that helped to definetheir po- sitionin the communityin the decades thatfollowed the riot. First,they were the leading spokesmen for their race and proved willingto put aside denominationaldifferences with their fellow pastors.Historian Andrew James Reisinger summarized the ideals of fourof the city'sleading African-American pastors as follows:

29U.S.Department of Commerce and Labor, Bureau of the Census, SpecialReports, Reli- giousBodies: 1906 (Washington,D.C., 1910), Table 7, 412 (hereinaftercited as SpecialRe- ports,Religious Bodies: 1906). S0W.E. B. DuBois, ed., TheNegro Church . . . 1903 (1902-1906;rpt, NewYork, 1968), 73. 31EdwardR. Carter,The Black Side: A PartialHistory of the Business, Religious, and Educa- tionalSide of the Negro in Atlanta,Ga. (1894; rpt.,Freeport, N.Y., 1971), ix, 243-50,266-67. 32DuBois,ed., TheNegro Church, 73.

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HenryHugh Proctor was the pastor of First Congregational Church in 1906.He emerged in theaftermath of therace riot as a leaderand spokesmanfor African Americans in the city.Courtesy of William B. MatthewsCollection, Archives Division, Auburn Avenue Research Li- braryon African American Culture and History,Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System.

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E. R. Carterwas generally anxious to promoteinterracial cooperation;Henry McNeal Turner was a bishopin theAfrican Method- istEpiscopal Church and a promoterof blacks returning to Africa; LuciusHolsey advocated ideas of racialseparation; and Proctor wasa friendof Booker T. Washington.33 Second,even thoughthe fourleaders represented differing denominationsand ideologicalpoints of view, when faced with the magnitudeof the crisis, they put aside their differences in orderto provideleadership for the African-American community and pro- motedpolicy changes that would contribute to reducingviolence in thefuture. The majorchange advocated by the blackpastors was the promotionof temperanceand closingdown the lower- classsaloons in theDecatur Street area in an effortto preventfur- thertrouble. Finally,in theirrole as communityleaders the pastors of the eliteblack churches participated in an interracialdialogue with whitecivic leaders. Historian David Fort Godshalk suggested that thisinterracial cooperation to closethe saloons isolated the black ministersfrom other African Americans in thecity thus weakening the racial solidaritythat might have achievedmore important goals forall blackresidents. Godshalk regarded the continuing participationof black elites, including pastors, and whitebusiness leadersduring the negotiated settlements of the civil rights era as partof thepattern established by Proctor and otherleading pas- torsfollowing the riot.34 In contrast,historian Allison Dorsey saw theleadership of the pastors as partof the process of community formationamong the city'sAfrican Americans that would con- tinuein the face of segregationand whiterepression. She describedthe role of the black pastors as contributingto racialuplift and solidarityas moresignificant in thelong run than the efforts to reachacross lines of power and race.35 The turmoildid providean opportunityfor dialogue between blacksand whites.As theCommittee of Ten white civic leaders as-

33 AndrewJames Reisinger,"Clerical Trailblazers:A Study of the Cooperation of At- lanta's AfricanAmerican Clergy in the Era of the 1906 AtlantaRace Riot" (Honors thesis, Georgia State University,1999), 30-34;and Paul Harvey,Freedom's Coming: Religions Culture and theShaping of the South from the Civil War through the Civil Rights Era (Chapel Hill, N.C., 2005), 60-67. 34Godshalk,Veiled Visions, 161, 269. 35Dorsey,To Build OurLives Together, 170.

This content downloaded from 141.211.4.224 on Sat, 16 May 2015 22:18:56 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 474 Georgia Historical Quarterly sumedcontrol of the city, they reached out to prominent blacks in an effortto promotelaw and order.Among the ten African-Amer- icanleaders who met with their white counterparts, five were ministers.This shows something of the relative status of the clergy in theirrespective communities. Whilewhite ministers supported the civic leaders who formed theCommittee of Ten,it is importantthat the businessmen and professionalswho comprisedthe spokesmenfor the white com- munitydid not includeany pastors. White ministers shared the viewsof mostwhite civic leaders but were not numberedamong themost powerful of the city's white elite. It is nota coincidence thatthe clergyshared the views of prosperousbusiness leaders. The majorityof Atlanta's white preachers were born in theregion, educatedat universitiessuch as Emory,Mercer, or Oglethorpe, and occupied an economicstatus in totalestate and property holdingsthat was below otherlocal professionalsand business ownersbut well above skilled laborers.36 The Committeeof Ten and itsAfrican-American counterpart developeda proposalto improvecommunication between the races.The plan came to fruitionin the creationof theAtlanta CivicLeague, which eventually included one thousandfive hun- dredwhite members, and theColored Co-operative Civic League, whichconsisted of an equal numberof blacks.This expanded groupof whiteleaders in the CivicLeague did boastof several prominentmembers of the clergy such as Episcopalminister Cary B. Wilmer.The executivecommittee of the black Civic League in- cludedProctor, E. R. Carter,Peter James Bryant, Henry McNeal Turner,Lucius Holsey, and RichardT. Weatherby,secretary of the blackYMCA. In theweeks following the riot, these groups kept dis- cussionsgoing between whites and blacksin an effortto promote orderand preventfurther outbreaks of violence.37 Anotherimportant biracial meeting occurred on September 30,1906, at theWheat Street Baptist Church with pastor Peter Bry- ant servingas host.According to the AtlantaIndependent, one of thespeakers at theevent was "Dr. [David] Marks (Marx), pastor of

36Newman,"Vision of Order,"81-87. 37Reisinger,"Clerical Trailblazers," 66-70; Godshalk, VeiledVisions, 136-37, 140-44; and Baker,Following the Color Line, 18-22.

This content downloaded from 141.211.4.224 on Sat, 16 May 2015 22:18:56 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Aftermathof Atlanta's 1906Race Riot 475 theJewish Synagogue, who advisedthe coloredpeople to take freshcourage and outlivethe fearful disaster which visited our city duringthe past week." Marx added thatAtlanta's residents should forgetthe hell to come and striveto preventsuch hellsas were 38 seen on thecity's streets on September22. The city'smajor Afri- can-Americannewspaper was the onlysource to reportthe in- volvementof Marx, who was the leader of Atlanta'soldest synagogue(a Reformcongregation comprised primarily ofJews of Germanancestry that was officiallynamed the HebrewBenevo- lentCongregation, but known as theTemple). Jewsin Atlanta occupied a smallniche in thecity's population. Immigrantsseldom came to Atlanta,and as a consequence,the citynever had morethan 5 percentforeign-born in the early twentiethcentury. In theperiod following the Civil War, the presence ofa smallnumber of mostly German-born Jews in Atlantawas re- gardedas an indicationof the city'sgrowing prosperity, and the whitegentile majority had tendedto showlittle hostility toward themduring the nineteenth century.39 Marxwas selectedto lead the Templein 1896,when he became thefirst American-born rabbi of thecongregation. For the nextfifty-two years he servedas the"ambassador to theGentiles," movingthe largely German Jews of theTemple into the Reform traditionwith its emphasis on assimilationinto local culture.40To accomplishthis, Marx stripped the Temple of vestiges of "foreign- ism,"held Sundayservices, cultivated close relationshipswith Protestantclergy in Atlanta,and frequentlylectured to church and civicgroups. But by 1906,a majorityof Jews in Atlantabe- longed to one of the three Orthodoxsynagogues composed largelyof recentlyarrived Russian immigrants. Marx had fewties to thesecongregations, preferring to promoteacceptance by the gentilecommunity.41

38 AtlantaIndependent, October 6, 1906. 39StevenHertzberg, "The JewishCommunity of Atlantafrom the End of the CivilWar untilthe Eve of the FrankCase," AmericanJewish Historical Quarterly 62 (March 1973): 251. 40JaniceRothschild Blumberg, "Jacob M. Rothschild:His LegacyTwenty Years After"in Mark K. Bauman and BerkleyKalin, eds., The QuietVoices: Southern Rabbis and Black Civil Rights,1880s to1990s (Tuscaloosa, Ala. 1997), 263. 41 SpecialReports, Religious Bodies: 1906, Table 7, 412; StevenHertzberg, Strangers within the GateCity (Philadelphia, 1978), 185-89.

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Manyof the Russian Jews came to Atlanta as impoverishedref- ugeesand enteredthe retail business at thelowest and moststig- matizedlevel. They owned businesses and livedalong Decatur Street,often sharing occupancy of two-story buildings with African Americans.Most of thegentile white majority in Atlantadid not approveof thisresidential integration, providing more reason to lookdown on theDecatur Street area. The relationshipsbetween theRussian Jews and theirAfrican-American clientele and neigh- borswere complex. In spiteof thepersecution suffered by both groups,often the attitude of Russianstoward blacks included an increasinghostility. Yet many Russian Jews in Atlantawere differ- entfrom most gentile whites in theirtreatment of African Ameri- cansas customersand in theirwillingness to be a partof life along DecaturStreet.42 In theaftermath of the race riot, many of the De- caturStreet dives run by Russian Jews became targeted for closing in an effortto punish the white proprietors of restaurants and bars servinga blackclientele. Other African-American establishments in thearea also contributedto thedisreputable image of Decatur Street.43 In his appearancebefore the biracialgathering at Wheat StreetBaptist Church, Marx joined hiswhite Protestant colleagues in addressingthe blacks in theaudience with an appeal forcalm and there-establishment oforder. Marx's apparent acceptance by the gentilewhite ministers in 1906 wouldnot preventviolence againsta memberof his owncongregation, however, when anti- Semitismflared in Atlantaseven years later during the trialand subsequentlynching of Leo Frank. Anotheroutcome of themeeting at theWheat Street Baptist Churchwas the formation of the Christian Civic League, a group thatbelieved worship and thepractice of fundamental Christian principalswould bring about positive race relations.In practice,

42Hertzberg,Strangers within the Gate City, 191. For additional discussion of relations be- tweenJews and African Americans in Atlanta, see MarkK. Bauman,"Factionalism and Eth- nicPolitics in Atlanta:The GermanJews from the Civil War through the Progressive Era," G//Q82(Fall 1998):550-51. This theme is also addressedon a regionallevel by David R. Goldfield,"Jews, Blacks, and SouthernWhites" in Region,Race, and Cities: Interpreting theUr- banSouth (Baton Rouge, La., 1997),145-62. 43Thecity council seriously considered a proposalto improvethe image of Decatur Streetby renaming it EastMain. Many older residents defended the original name even whileexpressing distaste for the reputation of the area. See Newman,"Decatur Street," 8.

This content downloaded from 141.211.4.224 on Sat, 16 May 2015 22:18:56 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Aftermathof Atlanta's 1906Race Riot 477 the ChristianCivic League promotedweekly prayer meetings at theblack YMCA and monthlylectures on theneed forobedience tothe law as a wayof bringing communal harmony. Even the racist editorof the Georgian, John Templeton Graves, whose newspaper's sensationalismhad helpedprecipitate the riot, praised the accom- plishmentsof theCivic League and theChristian League, saying theorganizations were "working from the highest possible motives and applyingthe soundest practical principles to one ofthe most hopefulexperiments, and theheart of the South and ofthe repub- lic cordiallywishes them success."44 Onlyone whiteminister in Atlanta,Cary B. Wilmer,rector of thenewly formed St. Luke's Episcopal Church, willingly admitted in printthat members of his race had to shoulderat leastsome of theblame for the recent violence. He toldthe Atlanta Constitution: "Beforewe can successfullycontrol the negro,we mustlearn to controlourselves; before we can Christianizethe negro, we must repentof our sins."45His assumptionthat whites needed to "controlthe negro" reflected a longstandingobjective of mostwhites in Atlantasince the end of the CivilWar. Even religiousinstitu- tionsparticipated in therigid segregation of the city's social structure.He stoodalone in acknowledgingthe actions of thewhites and urgedresidents to work to preventfuture violence and to live moreChristian lives. Editor Benjamin Davis reprintedWilmer's letterto the Constitutionin its entirety on thefront page ofthe At- lantaIndependent. Unlike his white Baptist and Methodistcounter- parts,Wilmer did not call for prohibition.While Wilmer acknowledgedthe familiararguments connecting liquor and crime,he added,"it is quitepossible to be led astrayand makea scapegoatof liquor as ifthat were the sole or eventhe chief cause ofthe late riot." Instead, Wilmer saw the cause within the human heartand "notinside a jug."46 Meanwhile,agreeing with his white counterparts that African Americansshould be blamed forthe violence,black ministers suchas Proctorappealed to whiteelites and theentire city for fi- nancialsupport so thathis churchcould provideuplift for those

44Bauerlein,Negrophobia, 271. 45Atlanta Constitution, October 4, 1906. 46 AtlantaIndependent, October 6, 1906.

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CaryB. Wilmerwas the pastor of St. Luke's Episcopal Church at thetime of the race riot. He wasamong the most moderate of white clergy in Atlanta and was willing to admit that whiteshad some blame forthe violence. Courtesyof St. Luke'sEpiscopal Church, Atlanta.

This content downloaded from 141.211.4.224 on Sat, 16 May 2015 22:18:56 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Aftermathof Atlanta's 1906Race Riot 479 who had been taintedby the bad influencesof alcohol and saloons.Proctor outlined his strategy: "For ten years, I had saton my porchnear the church and seen thepeople ofmy race go bythe churchdown to the dive, into the prison, up tothe gallows. I asked myselfwhy it was that the people passed by my church and wentto thedive. The answerwas simple. My church was locked and barred and dark,while the dive was wide open, illuminated,and attrac- tive.Then I said: 'God helpingme, I willopen mychurch and makeit as attractiveas thedive.'"47 His plan requiredmoney, and Proctorraised ten thousand dollarsfrom his congregation, two thousand five hundred dollars fromother black churches, and twenty-fivethousand dollars from whitesin Atlanta.Using his connection to BookerT. Washington, Proctoralso solicitedfunding in otherparts of the country for the constructionof a newbuilding for First Congregational Church. The model was the "industrialchurch," a structurecentered arounda gymnasium,Sunday school facilities, a library and read- ingroom, as wellas a kitchen,showers, and lavatories.Proctor also directedthe building of a homefor poor blackworking girls lo- catednext door to thechurch and parsonage.Church-sponsored programswere not merely for recreation, but also included an em- ploymentbureau and a prisonministry for men "at thevery bot- tom"of society.White congregations such as TrinityMethodist Churchhad used thismodel as a wayof reaching out to poorand working-classwhite women in Atlanta as earlyas 1882,but their ac- tivitieshad been limitedto sewinginstruction and evangelism. Proctor'svision of a morecomprehensive role for his church and hisenergetic fundraising in themonths following the riot enabled thechurch to dedicateits new building in 1909with a speechby Washington.48 Therewere limits to white generosity when it came to amelio- ratingpoverty and addressingthe inadequate schools in Atlanta's blackcommunity, however. First and foremost,the entire premise thatblacks should be blamedfor white mob violencewas deeply flawed,but black leaders were in no positionto criticizewhite At-

47HenryHugh Proctor,Between Black and White:Autobiographical Sketches (1925; rpt.,Free- port,N.Y., 1971), 99. 4SIbid.,107; Newman,"Vision of Order," 104-107.

This content downloaded from 141.211.4.224 on Sat, 16 May 2015 22:18:56 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 480 Georgia Historical Quarterly lantansin public.Consequently, any genuine attempts to reach theroot of thereal problem - unrestrainedand unpunishedvio- lenceagainst African Americans - weresimply not possible in the contextof theJim Crow South. Moreover, white and blackelites pointedtheir fingers at ignorantlower-class blacks, yet no whites supportedpublic policies that would improve educational or em- ploymentopportunities for African Americans. Blacks who paid localtaxes were not provided with a publichigh school until 1924, althoughthe first two public high schools for whites had opened in 1872.Likewise, African Americans could notuse thepublic library,and all blackcitizens endured segregation in mostpublic places.The appeal forcharity in theaftermath of theriot lay on thewidely held paternalistic ideal ofnoblesse oblige. The purposeof the riot, like other forms of southern white vi- olenceagainst African Americans during this period, was to keep blacksin "theirplace." By this measure, it was successful. To take just one example,in 1890 AuburnAvenue had been a racially mixedarea thatincluded five black-owned businesses; by 1907, thatnumber had increasedto twenty-nine.After the riot,more thantwo-thirds ofall blackbusinesses in Atlantarelocated to pre- dominantlyAfrican-American areas likeSweet Auburn.49 In fact, from1907 until the passage of civil rights legislation in 1964,black commercialactivity inAtlanta was concentrated in theareas of Au- burnAvenue and DecaturStreet on theeast side of downtown and on thewest side nearthe campuses of theinstitutions that would eventuallymake up theAtlanta University Center. The majorpolicy reform effort in thepost-riot period was the statewideprohibition law passed by the Georgia General Assembly in 1907.Most members of the clergy of both races gave it their sup- port.Among white ministers, Len G. Broughton,pastor of the BaptistTabernacle, revived the Anti-SaloonLeague in orderto pressthe statelegislature to votefor prohibition. Among black clergy,Proctor organized efforts within the African-American communityto backthe legislation.50 When the law took effect on NewYear's Day 1908, one hundredthirty-two businesses in Atlanta

49DwightFennell, "A Demographic Studyof Black Businesses,1905-1908, with Respect to the Race Riot of 1906" (M.A. thesis,Atlanta University, 1977), 32-45. 50Mixon,The Atlanta Riot, 125.

This content downloaded from 141.211.4.224 on Sat, 16 May 2015 22:18:56 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Aftermathof Atlanta's 1906Race Riot 481 had to close,including twenty-five whiskey saloons and six beer parlorsserving African Americans. The legislationwas clearly aimedat theDecatur Street establishments that had allegedlycon- tributedto blackmoral degradation. Many Baptist and Methodist ministersof both races led theircongregations in NewYear's Eve celebrationsto welcome the new prohibition law. As in manyother aspects of lifein Atlanta,race and class deeplyinfluenced Georgia's prohibition law. Elite whites and Afri- canAmericans agreed that restricting the sale ofalcohol would di- minishdisorderly and criminalbehavior - among the poor of bothraces. Whites especially failed to acknowledgethe hypocrisy in theirown brand of alcohol consumption,which usually took place in unregulatedprivate clubs. Not surprisingly, after prohibition,these white clubs remained open and weresoon joined byil- legalbars operating as "lockerclubs" in theupstairs of office and commercialbuildings. For blacks and lower-classwhites, a fewsa- loonscontinued to sellsoft drinks and "nearbeer," which had an alcoholcontent of less than 3 percentand was regarded as non-in- toxicating.Moonshine whiskey was also made and sold to both blacksand whitesthroughout the city. Even though most saloons closed,ministers' attempts to reduce alcohol sales failed; the prac- ticesimply went underground, and thenet effect was to reduce tax revenuesavailable to Atlantaand to turncitizens and business ownersinto evaders, if not breakers, of the law.51 Justas manyblack and whiteclergy supported prohibition, theyalso sharedthe desire to work with Atlanta's business and po- liticalleaders to restorethe capital'simage. Civicleaders had workedhard to portrayAtlanta as modernand progressive,striv- ing to be like New YorkCity and Chicago. But businesshad slumpeddramatically in theaftermath of the violence. For its part, theAtlanta Constitution tried to reassureits readers that the riot had been thework of a "mobof irresponsibles" - not the industri- ous,upstanding citizens of Atlanta. Prospective businessmen visit- ing the city heard promises that "the lawlessnessof the comparativelyfew did not in anyway represent the enterprising

51HarveyK. Newman,Southern Hospitality: Tourism and theGrowth of Atlanta (Tuscaloosa, Ala., 1999), 71-72.

This content downloaded from 141.211.4.224 on Sat, 16 May 2015 22:18:56 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 482 Georgia Historical Quarterly and progressive'Atlanta Spirit.'"52 Part of this spirit required that Atlantansmove quickly to putthe incident behind them. On Sunday,December 9, 1906,the Christian League and the BusinessMen's Gospel Union declared the observance of Law and OrderDay. On thatday and thesecond Sunday of every month in thefollowing year, ministers were urged to preachon civicduty and lawfulness.As one newspaperdescribed it: "The daywill be a remarkableone in thehistory of theAtlanta churches. The 180 sermonsupon the same subject,delivered with special earnest- ness,will of necessity be powerfulin theireffect."53 AtFriendship BaptistChurch, the city's oldest African-American Baptist church, an estimatedcrowd of more than twelve hundred filled the sanc- tuaryto hearBooker T. Washingtonand formergovernor William Northern,a promoter of the white Christian Civic League, as well as thepastor of the church, E. R. Carter,a prominentmember of theColored Civic League.54 Eventslike thesefostered a sense of cooperationbetween racesthat would come to definethe Atlanta approach to white- blackrelations. The interracialdialogue, for the most part, would be conductedfrom segregated organizations, but it did help give Atlantathe appearance,in thewords of one of itslater mayors, WilliamB. Hartsfield,of a "citytoo busy to hate." Clearly, the harsh realityof white supremacy that insisted upon segregationfor an- othersixty years gave lie to such slogans.Yet the city'sboosters, coupledwith some genuine (if sporadic and grudging)reform ef- fortsover the years, saw to it thatAtlanta maintained a veneerof racialcooperation. Fewrioters were ever convicted of a crime;Atlantans were too eagerto put the episode behind them and moveon. The raceriot of 1906received little attention from historians and eventuallyit fadedfrom memory almost entirely. Yet, there are a numberof les- sonsimbedded in theevent, including the role playedby ministers. First,the 1906 riot in Atlantawas but one ofa numberof sim- ilarracially motivated riots across the country. All were repressive

52 AtlantaConstitution, September 30, 1906. 53 AtlantaEvening News, December 9, 1906. 54Bauerlein,Negrophobia, 257.

This content downloaded from 141.211.4.224 on Sat, 16 May 2015 22:18:56 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Aftermathof Atlanta's 1906Race Riot 483 violencedesigned to assertthe supremacy of whites over blacks by keepingAfrican Americans segregated in society.In Atlanta,and elsewhere,part of thatlegacy of violence was the physical separationof AfricanAmericans into neighborhoodsand commercial areassuch as AuburnAvenue and DecaturStreet. The legacybe- camemore than physical patterns of separate neighborhoods for whitesand blacks.One observernoted in 2006:"Every city that has had racialviolence like this is stillaffected by it. You see it in the patternsof segregation, in theattitudes, in thefears people feel on bothsides. Something like this riot slips out ofmemory, and people assumethings have always been theway they are. But there are reasons."55The 1906race riot defined relationships between races based on prejudiceand fear,two emotions that are difficultto overcome. The roleof Atlanta's religious leaders in theaftermath of the riotis also an importantpart of the legacy. As the Constitutionde- scribedthe Sunday services at manyof the city's white churches on themorning after the violence began, most ministers remained si- lenton thesubject. In thedays that followed, many white preachers used theirvoices to promoteorder in supportof Atlanta's morepowerful economic leaders. In thisrole as communicators, thewhite ministers articulated a widelyheld beliefthat religion, especiallyChristianity, could reduce problemsof disorderand bringstability to the citybased on a visionof the supremacyof theirrace. The whiteclergy did not agree on howthat could be achieved. Some ofthe more extreme urged lynching and illegalviolence to keepblacks in theirplace. Most used theirvoices to restoreorder throughpublic policies that would close saloons selling alcohol to AfricanAmericans and promotedpassage of prohibitionlaws. Whilea fewpastors argued that the clergy should stay out ofpoli- tics,most supported the city's civic elite, who were usually membersof theircongregations. They condemned the riotingfor its adverseeffects on business,but took no noticeof its cause - white racism.For the nextfifty years after the riot,most white clergy wouldremain supporters of the racial status quo thatkept African Americansin theirseparate and unequal place in Atlanta.As

55 AtlantaJournal-Constitution, January 14, 2006.

This content downloaded from 141.211.4.224 on Sat, 16 May 2015 22:18:56 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 484 Georgia Historical Quarterly skilledorators the city's white preachers helped to mold the segre- gatedsociety that denied fullrights of citizenship,educational and economicopportunity, and dignityto Atlanta's African-Amer- icanresidents. While not always at thecenter of the civic elite, the whiteclergy were by no meansapolitical. They used theirtalent to supportsegregation and whatthey regarded as moralcrusades suchas prohibition,anti-gambling legislation, and restrictionson othervices. Withinwhat E. R. Carterdescribed as the "BlackSide ofAt- lanta,"African-American ministers continued their roles as lead- ersin an increasinglysegregated social structure.56 The positionof pastorin a twentieth-centuryblack churchmight not convey wealth,but it providedthe ministerwith a highstatus position withinthe community. As theyhad in thedays after the riot, many blackministers served several roles in thecity. First, they were pow- erfulleaders within the black community who would provide the racialuplift needed by those at thebottom of society who would benefitfrom the spiritual and physicalassistance provided within thechurches. H. H. Proctorwas an exampleof this kind of leader whosechurch provided the black community with access to books, employmenttraining, and a widearray of other necessities such as a drinkingfountain. With other African-American churches, First Congregationalalso providedan "instrumentfor reforming the race."For former slaves, the churches were places where men and womencould learnproper moral values, becoming sober, indus- triouscitizens.57 Black clergyprovided more than upliftwithin their segre- gatedcommunity. They also remained as spokesmenfor their race in thevariety of organizations formed before the First World War. Fromthe group that met with the Committeeof Ten to the Co- louredCo-operative Civic League and theChristian Civic League, African-Americanpastors were prominentleaders of the black communityin negotiationswith whites to restoreorder and pro- motecommunication between the races. Such conversations con-

56Carter,The Black Side, 1-2. 57Dorsey,To Build OurLives Together, 74.

This content downloaded from 141.211.4.224 on Sat, 16 May 2015 22:18:56 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Aftermathof Atlanta's 1906Race Riot 485 tinuedthrough other organizations such as the Commissionon InterracialCooperation and theChristian Council.58 Scholarssuch as DavidGodshalk and AllisonDorsey, who see differentmeaning in theoutcome of the 1906 race riot, agree that thedialogue between the races took place within a "mantleof pa- ternalism"that black leaders willingly accepted. Both concur that theroles of the pastors were part of a separationof the city's black communityinto an elitegroup that was willing to negotiatewith whitecivic leaders on lessthan terms of equality. For Dorsey, however,the black leaders, including the ministers, became an importantpart of the processof racialuplift that would improve the social,economic, and civiclives of African Americans in thecity. In theface of white racism, these leaders were part of the solidarity ofthe black community.59 The leadershipexperience of black pastors contributed to the uniqueability of Atlanta to resolvemuch of its interracial strife in subsequentyears without violence. The processof interracial com- municationthat followed the riothad importantconsequences. The cooperationof the black and whiteCommittees of Ten led to policychanges resulting in theimmediate closing of many of the establishmentsalong Decatur Street and in thesuccessful temper- ance campaignthe following year. Thus, two critical roles of the blackclergy in theyears after the race riot were active leadership in politicsand thepromotion of interracial communication. The aftermathof the riot helped black and white clergy solidify the dif- ferentroles they would play in Atlantathroughout much of the twentiethcentury. Understanding this aspect of the legacy of that eventmay help all thosewho seek to providecivic leadership in thefuture.

58Nesbitt,"The Social Gospel in Atlanta,"80, 166. 59Godshalk,Veiled Visions, 161-62; Dorsey, To Build OurLives Together, 170.

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