Fulton County has established official remembrance days for the 1906 Atlanta Race Massacre, in which at least 25 Black Atlantans were killed during four days of attacks, Sept. 22–25. Commissioner Doug Barrett announced the proclamation on Sept. 16.
The article links the violence partly to sensational coverage by The Atlanta Journal, The Atlanta Constitution and the Atlanta News, including false allegations that Black men had assaulted white women. It says the coverage stoked white fears amid Black Atlantans’ growing political and economic influence.
Mobs of thousands attacked Black residents, beat and dragged people from streetcars, vandalized businesses and entered Black neighborhoods. A shootout in Brownsville killed one white police officer; more than 250 Black men were arrested. The Journal and The Constitution called the event a “riot,” while the Black press called it a massacre. The event was later included in Georgia’s social studies curriculum.
