Modern Democrats
The Modern Democrats were a political organization in Tampa, Florida. In 1935, members were arrested at a meeting and interrogated by police. Members of the group were then kidnapped outside the police station, beaten, tarred and feathered. Joseph Shoemaker died as a result of his wounds. The attack and death made national news. Six Tampa policemen were indicted and accused of being klansmen and taking part in the murder. The police chief was charged as an accessory for blocking the investigation. Five policemen were convicted in a trial held in Polk County. Patrick Crisp Whitacker, a former Senator and the brother-in-law of Tampa's mayor R.E.L. Chancey, served as the leading defense attorney.Lynching and Establishment Violence in Tampa, 1858-1935 pages 636-638 Journal o ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tampa
Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough County. With a population of 384,959 according to the 2020 census, Tampa is the third-most populated city in Florida after Jacksonville and Miami and is the 52nd most populated city in the United States. Tampa functioned as a military center during the 19th century with the establishment of Fort Brooke. The cigar industry was also brought to the city by Vincente Martinez Ybor, after whom Ybor City is named. Tampa was formally reincorporated as a city in 1887, following the Civil War. Today, Tampa's economy is driven by tourism, health care, finance, insurance, technology, construction, and the maritime industry. The bay's port is the largest in the state, responsible for over $15 billion in economic impact. The city is part of the Tampa-St. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tarred And Feathered
Tarring and feathering is a form of public torture and punishment used to enforce unofficial justice or revenge. It was used in feudal Europe and its colonies in the early modern period, as well as the early American frontier, mostly as a type of mob vengeance. The victim would be stripped naked, or stripped to the waist. Wood tar (sometimes hot) was then either poured or painted onto the person while they were immobilized. Then the victim either had feathers thrown on them or was rolled around on a pile of feathers so that they stuck to the tar. The image of a tarred-and-feathered outlaw remains a metaphor for severe public criticism. Early history The earliest mention of the punishment appears in orders that Richard I of England issued to his navy on starting for the Holy Land in 1189. "Concerning the lawes and ordinances appointed by King Richard for his navie the forme thereof was this ... item, a thiefe or felon that hath stolen, being lawfully convicted, shal have ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Klansmen
The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and Catholics, as well as immigrants, leftists, homosexuals, Muslims,and abortion providers The Klan has existed in three distinct eras. Each has advocated extremist reactionary positions such as white nationalism, anti-immigration and—especially in later iterations—Nordicism, antisemitism, anti-Catholicism, Prohibition, right-wing populism, anti-communism, homophobia, Islamophobia, and anti-progressivism. The first Klan used terrorism—both physical assault and murder—against politically active Black people and their allies in the Southern United States in the late 1860s. The third Klan used murders and bombings from the late 1940s to the early 1960s to achieve its aims. All three movements have called for the "purification" of Ame ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Polk County, Florida
Polk County is located in the central portion of the U.S. state of Florida. The county population was 725,046, as of the 2020 census. Its county seat is Bartow, and its largest city is Lakeland. Polk County comprises the Lakeland–Winter Haven Metropolitan Statistical Area. This MSA is the 81st-most populous metropolitan statistical area and the 89th-most populous primary statistical area of the United States as of July 1, 2012. The center of population of Florida is located in Polk County, near the city of Lake Wales. Polk County is home to one public university, one state college, and four private universities. History Early history The first people to inhabit the area now called Polk County were the Paleoindians who arrived in Florida at least 12,000 years ago, late in the last ice age. With large amounts of water locked up in continental ice caps, the sea level was more than lower than at present. The Florida peninsula was twice as wide as it is today, and Flor ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Patrick Crisp Whitacker
Patrick Crisp Whitaker (June 29, 1894 – 1965) was an American defense attorney who served in the Florida House of Representatives and Florida Senate including as Senate President. He led the defense of six Tampa policemen and the police chief accused of involvement in a deadly 1935 attack on a political group known as the Modern Democrats. His brother-in-law, R.E.L. Chancey was the Mayor of Tampa. His grandson is a lawyer in Sanford, Florida. He was born in Franklin, Georgia, the eldest of five siblings born to Georgia state legislator Daniel Brittain Whitaker. He graduated with a law degree from Georgetown University in 1915. He set up a law firm in Tampa in 1917. Whitaker was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 1924 and the State Senate in 1926. He was re-elected in 1930 and served as Senate president from 1931 to 1933. He lost his re-election campaign in 1934, but won again in 1938. Whitaker argued the case Hale v. Bimco Trading, Inc. before the Supreme ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Red Squad
In the United States, Red Squads were police intelligence units that specialized in infiltrating, conducting counter-measures and gathering intelligence on political and social groups during the 20th century. Dating as far back as the Haymarket Riot in 1886, Red Squads became common in larger cities such as Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles during the First Red Scare of the 1920s. They were set up as specialized units of city police departments, as a weapon against labor unions, communists, anarchists, and other dissidents. History In New York, former City Police Commissioner Patrick Murphy traced their origin there to an "Italian Squad" formed in 1904 to monitor a group of Italian immigrants under suspicion. However, it is their association with fighting communism which provides the basis for the name "Red Squad." They became more commonplace in the 1930s, often conceived of as a countermeasure to Communist organizers who were charged with executing a policy of dual unioni ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |