Recently the Tulsa Massacre has been revived as a tale of poor treatment of blacks in America’s past. Another forgotten massacre that deserves to be in history classrooms is the Carrollton Massacre. It occurred in Mississippi in 1886. In January, Ed and Charley Brown, part Native American and part African-American, were delivering molasses to a saloon. They bumped into a white man named Robert Moore and spilled some of the sticky stuff on him. He was none to happy, but nothing came of it. At the time. One month later, he told James Liddell, a lawyer and newspaper editor, about the incident. For reasons only a racist would understand, Liddell took extreme umbrage on behalf of his friend. On Feb. 12, he confronted the two brothers, accusing them of deliberately spilling molasses on a white man in Mississippi. Apparently, the brothers had a death wish. Bystanders intervened and kept any violence from occurring. However, later that day, Liddell heard that the brothers had been trashing him behind his back. He went after them with a gun this time. Shots were fired and all three were wounded, but not seriously. It was unclear who fired first. The brothers decided to file charges. So, maybe they did have a death wish. Two mixed race brothers had accused a white man of attempted murder in Mississippi. Mississippi! The trial was on March 17. As it began, with many blacks in the courtroom, more than 50 whites stormed the court blasting away. Both brothers were killed as well as 21 others. Some in the audience tried to jump out of upstairs windows, but there were gunmen outside waiting. When the smoke cleared, 23 African-Americans were dead and several were wounded. Not one white was even injured. No one was arrested. The local newspaper described it as a “riot caused by Negroes”. There was no investigation and Pres. Cleveland denied a request for federal action. The event was swept under the rug. Such was justice in the South in the Gilded Age.
https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/carroll-county-courthouse-massacre-1886/
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