A deadly 1906 racial massacre in Atlanta, Georgia, killed at least 25 African Americans and exposed deep systemic racial violence in the post-Reconstruction South.
Key Facts
- Start date
- September 22, 1906
- Duration
- 3 days (Sept 22–24, 1906)
- Official African American deaths
- At least 25
- Official white deaths
- 2
- Unofficial black death toll range
- 10 to 100
- Public commemoration
- First marked publicly in 2006 (100th anniversary)
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Sensationalist newspaper reports of alleged rapes of four white women by black men, published on September 22, 1906, inflamed racial tensions in Atlanta. Underlying pressures included economic competition for jobs and housing, as well as political rivalry in a rapidly changing city already riven by deep racial inequality.
Armed white mobs attacked African Americans across Atlanta over three days, killing at least 25 black residents. Victims were pulled from streetcars, beaten on streets, and attacked in their neighborhoods; homes and businesses were destroyed. Governor Joseph M. Terrell deployed the Georgia National Guard to restore order, though African Americans alleged that police and some Guardsmen joined in the violence.
The massacre was largely suppressed in white local histories for decades and was not officially commemorated until its centennial in 2006. The following year, it was incorporated into Georgia's public school curriculum. The event highlighted failures of law enforcement and the press, and became a landmark case study in American racial violence.
Political Outcome
White mob violence was suppressed by the Georgia National Guard after three days; at least 25 African Americans killed; no significant legal accountability for perpetrators; event suppressed in public memory for decades.
Rapidly growing Atlanta with escalating racial and economic tensions between white and black residents
Reinforced white supremacist political and social order; African American community traumatized and politically marginalized