Newman O'Neal was the mayor of

Hobson City Hobson City is a town in Calhoun County, Alabama, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 759. It is included in the Anniston-Oxford Metropolitan Statistical Area. Hobson City was Alabama's first self-governed all-black municipalit ...

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

, until he faced death threats and was assaulted forcing him to flee.

Hobson City

To prevent a large population of Black voters from swaying the election of

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, Mayor Whitehead of Oxford went to the state capitol and had the corporate boundaries of Oxford redrawn to exclude what is now

. The town was incorporated on August 16, 1899. Records from a contemporary Alabama newspaper, ''The Peoples' Journal'', described the municipality as "the only municipality controlled and governed entirely by colored people anywhere in the United States." The newspaper further commented: "The whole country will doubtless be interested in the result of this experiment." Under the leadership of the first mayor, S. L. Davis, and the first police chief, James Duran, police protection was restored to the area. The town was named after

Richmond P. Hobson Richmond Pearson Hobson (August 17, 1870 – March 16, 1937) was a United States Navy rear admiral who served from 1907–1915 as a United States House of Representatives, U.S. Representative from Alabama. A veteran of the Spanish–American Wa ...

, a white

naval A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

hero in the then-recent Spanish-American War and member of Congress.

Death Threats

In the summer of 1919, the mayor of

, Alabama, was Newman O'Neal. He served his community until he received death threats in the form of a " black hand letter surmounted by a skull and crossbones." He ignored the letter but he was assaulted by unknown aggressors and seriously injured forcing him north into exile in late July 1919. The acting Mayor J. D. Kirksey also received an unsigned death threat letter. Author Cameron McWhirter says this was a typical tactic of the

Ku Klux Klan 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 ...

Aftermath

This uprising was one of several incidents of civil unrest that began in the so-called American Red Summer, of 1919. The Summer consisted of terrorist attacks on black communities, and white oppression in over three dozen cities and counties. In most cases, white mobs attacked African American neighborhoods. In some cases, black community groups resisted the attacks, especially in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

Most deaths occurred in rural areas during events like the

Elaine Race Riot The Elaine massacre occurred on September 30–October 2, 1919 at Hoop Spur in the vicinity of Elaine in rural Phillips County, Arkansas. As many as several hundred African Americans and five white men were killed. Estimates of deaths made in ...

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

, where an estimated 100 to 240 black people and 5 white people were killed. Also occurring in 1919 were the Chicago Race Riot and Washington D.C. race riot which killed 38 and 39 people respectively, and with both having many more non-fatal injuries and extensive property damage reaching up into the millions of dollars.

Bibliography

Notes References * * - Total pages: 277 * * - Total pages: 368 * * {{Lynching in the United States 1919 in Alabama July 1919 events African-American history between emancipation and the civil rights movement History of racism in Alabama Racially motivated violence against African Americans Red Summer Riots and civil disorder in Alabama Year of birth missing Year of death missing

Hobson City

Death Threats

Aftermath

See also

Bibliography