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The Impact of the Atlanta Race Riot of 1906 on the Discourse on Womanhood

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The Impact of the Atlanta Race Riot of 1906 on the Discourse on Womanhood Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University English Theses Department of English 5-9-2015 The Impact of the Atlanta Race Riot of 1906 on the Discourse on Womanhood Pamela Logan Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/english_theses Recommended Citation Logan, Pamela, "The Impact of the Atlanta Race Riot of 1906 on the Discourse on Womanhood." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2015. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/english_theses/182 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of English at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in English Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 1 THE IMPACT OF THE ATLANTA RACE RIOT OF 1906 ON THE DISCOURSE ON WOMANHOOD By PAMELA LOGAN Under the Direction of Reiner Smolinski, PhD ABSTRACT At the beginning of the twentieth century, traditional discourses on Southern womanhood were being challenged by the women ’s movement, industrialization that increased female employment, and many other social forces. The increased agency of women and burgeoning black financial autonomy challenged white male paternalism, and in response, Southern white men filled newspapers with rhetoric that accused black males of raping white women and instigated racial violence. Such rhetoric, which encouraged white women to fear black men and depend on white men for protection, was used to initiate the Atlanta riot of 1906. However, instead of retreating to their homes for protection, many women published confident and coherent responses to the riot. After the riot, newspapers were reprimanded for publishing incendiary editorials, and they instead presented new images of Southern women with greater agency. This more stratified representation suggests that the riot had a subtle impact on the discourse on Southern white womanhood. INDEX WORDS: Atlanta riot, Female agency, Womanhood, Female autonomy, 1906, Atlanta 2 THE IMPACT OF THE ATLANTA RACE RIOT OF 1906 ON THE DISCOURSE ON WOMANHOOD by PAMELA LOGAN A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in the College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University 2015 3 Copyright by Pamela Logan 2015 1 THE IMPACT OF THE ATLANTA RACE RIOT OF 1906 ON THE DISCOURSE ON WOMANHOOD by PAMELA LOGAN Committee Chair: Reiner Smolinski Committee: Malinda Snow Elizabeth West Electronic Version Approved: Office of Graduate Studies College of Arts and Sciences Georgia State University May 2015 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................. 1 2 SECTION 1......................................................................................................................... 2 3 SECTION 2....................................................................................................................... 27 4 SECTION 3....................................................................................................................... 49 5 CONCLUSIONS .............................................................................................................. 56 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................ 58 APPENDICES ............................................................................................................................. 67 Appendix A-Works Consulted for Responses of Women ........................................ 67 Appendix B-Responses of Women to the Atlanta Riot ............................................ 69 Appendix C-Newspaper Clippings ............................................................................ 71 1 1 INTRODUCTION The beginning of the twentieth century marked a time of great change in the social status and perceptions of women in the United States. Traditional discourses that relegated women to subservient roles in the home and in society were being challenged by the women ’s movement, industrialization that increased female employment, and many other social forces. These societal changes also challenged the white male-dominated society in the South. In response to growing female autonomy and African-American financial independence, Southern white gentlemen developed lynching rhetoric that accused black males of raping white women and suggested that without violence to subdue blacks such episodes would continue. The rhetoric also encouraged white women to fear black men and depend on white men for protection. Lynching rhetoric was used to initiate the Atlanta riot of 1906. In response, many white women were afraid, and they retreated to their homes and the protection of men. Others, however, were unwilling to return to a life filled only with domestic concerns and service to men. These women, because of their experiences with labor disputes, the women’s movement, and other social endeavors were able to respond to the violence of the riot instead of allowing it to crush their burgeoning independence. African-American women, many of whom were victims of violence during the riot, also responded. After the riot, a Fulton County Grand Jury admonished newspapers in Atlanta for their incendiary reporting, and images of weak, defenseless women were removed from news reports. Instead, women were depicted in a more confident and independent manner, suggesting a change in the discourse on Southern womanhood. In my thesis, I will explore the changing discourse on Southern womanhood and responses of black and white women to the Atlanta riot of 1906. To argue that the rhetoric of lynching advocates that incited the riot presented new ideals and 2 promoted a change in the accepted discourse on Southern white womanhood, the first section will begin with a discussion of the discourses on Southern womanhood prevalent during the Atlanta riot of 1906. To assert that these movements increased the independence of women and promoted their ability to respond in a confident manner to the violence of the Atlanta riot, the second section will continue with a discussion of the impact of the women’s movement and industrialization in the South on female agency. The thesis will conclude with an examination of the responses of women to the Atlanta riot of 1906. 2 SECTION 1 Many social forces during the early twentieth century challenged traditional discourses on female behavior. Chief among those forces was the rhetoric developed by lynching advocates to instigate race riots and lynchings of African-American males in response to accusations of rape of white women. In the rhetoric, white men presented white male readers with a moral challenge to protect Southern white women who were compared with goddesses, and white men encouraged white women to fear black men and depend on white men for protection. Typically, before a riot or lynching, the inflammatory rhetoric had its greatest impact as it filled local newspapers, sermons, and popular literature and the public was continually exposed to it. Before the Atlanta riot of 1906, like most violent riots of the era, newspapers printed numerous accusations of rape that intensified racial concerns in the city. As rioters in Atlanta and other Southern cities responded to moral imperatives to harm and kill blacks and protect white women, the importance of white women in Southern society increased. Southern women of color, however, were completely excluded from the rhetoric of lynching advocates. These women were typically sexualized in newspapers and literature of the era, and the efforts of upper-class blacks to change perceptions were largely unsuccessful. During the Atlanta riot, instead of being compared with goddesses and protected like their white 3 peers, black women were targeted for violence. In this section of my thesis, I will discuss the discourses on Southern womanhood prevalent during the Atlanta riot of 1906 to argue that the rhetoric of lynching advocates promoted a change in the accepted discourse on Southern white womanhood. The Atlanta riot began on September 22, 1906, and lasted three days. It resulted in at least 26 deaths and hundreds of injuries. Property damage and the loss of productivity was also a major burden for the city. Businesses owned by African Americans and neighborhoods of African-American upper-class citizens bore a disproportionate burden of the destruction. Historians have argued that many factors encouraged the riot, including economic tensions between working-class whites and middle-class African Americans, a gubernatorial campaign in which candidates used the disenfranchisement of blacks as part of their platform, and an anti-vice and prohibition campaign which targeted Negro bars as centralized locations for prostitution and other vices that violated Southern codes of conduct. However, scholars agree that a series of special edition newspaper reports that suggested racial violence in response to alleged sexual attacks of white women by African American males were a major instigating factor. On September 22, the first day of the riot, two newspapers, The Atlanta Georgian and The Atlanta Evening News, produced multiple reports detailing numerous alleged rapes, indicating that mobs were forming, and suggesting that others join the violence. 1 For example, on the front page of the Atlanta Georgian Sporting Extra , an article with the following inflammatory
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