“THEY CAN ONLY BE INFLUENCED BY THEIR FEARS”: REDEFINING WHITE MOB VIOLENCE AGAINST BLACKS, 1898 – 1917, RIOTS OR POGROMS?

Author

DeRoy C. Gordon, University of Massachusetts AmherstFollow

Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9531-9182

AccessType

Open Access Dissertation

Document Type

dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Degree Program

Afro-American Studies

Year Degree Awarded

2022

Month Degree Awarded

May

First Advisor

John H. Bracey, Jr.

Second Advisor

Toussaint Losier

Third Advisor

Pierre Orelus

Subject Categories

African American Studies | Africana Studies | Ethnic Studies | Jewish Studies | Social History | United States History

Abstract

The aim of this dissertation is to help to redefine racial riots carried out against the African American community in the United States during the 19^th and the early 20^th century. I provide an examination to argue for those racial riots to be redefined as pogroms rather than riots. Racial riots that had been carried out against the African American community in the United States often did not get the attention they deserve. The initial framing of those attacks as riots, made it difficult for black victims of those racial riots to seek legal redress or request government assistance. I explore the causal factors that triggered racial riot against the African American community. I examine two racial riots: First is the 1898 Wilmington Riot, which occurred in the Reconstruction era; the second riot is the 1917 East St Louis Riot, which took place in the early 20^th century. Juxtaposing these racial riots with the 1881 pogrom, carried out against Jews in Imperial Russia, ensures a foundation for the use of pogrom. My intention is to draw out any parallel that might exist between those racial riots and the 1881 pogrom. Within this dissertation, I argue against the inadequacy of social strain theory. My hope is that this study will help to shift the ways in which we talk about not only those riots, but other 19^th and early 20^th century racial riots, as well. Scholars of racial riots do not all agree on the term pogrom. Some scholars have argued that many racial riots against the African American community in the United State in the 19^th and early 20^th century can be characterized as pogroms. Though the term pogrom is rarely used in association with those 19^th and early 20^th century racial riots, scholars of racial riot violence continue to study the impact that such riots have had on 19^th and early 20^th century African American communities.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.7275/28455756

Recommended Citation

Gordon, DeRoy C., "“THEY CAN ONLY BE INFLUENCED BY THEIR FEARS”: REDEFINING WHITE MOB VIOLENCE AGAINST BLACKS, 1898 – 1917, RIOTS OR POGROMS?" (2022). Doctoral Dissertations. 2525.
https://doi.org/10.7275/28455756 https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2/2525