(AURN News) — On Sept. 22, 1906, 120 years ago today, the Atlanta Race Massacre began.
Atlanta newspapers published sensational, unverified and in some cases fabricated reports claiming Black men had assaulted white women. The stories fueled racial hysteria and helped incite white mobs to descend on Black neighborhoods and businesses.
Over several days, mobs beat and murdered Black residents, destroyed property and terrorized a thriving Black community. Estimates of the death toll vary, but historians generally place the number of Black people killed between 25 and 40, along with two white people.
The violence exposed how white-owned newspapers, political leaders and racist propaganda could turn fabricated accusations into deadly mob violence…