"Robert Charles Riots"(1900)

Were sparked after African American laborer  Robert Charles shot a white police officer which led to a manhunt.Twenty-Eight people were killed in the conflict,including Robert.Many people were killed and wounded in the riots.The manhunt for Robert began after altercation involving Robert,his roommate,and several New Orleans police officers on Monday,July 13,1900,and ended when Robert was killed on Friday,July 27.He came to New Orleans from Mississippi and was self-educated,articulate activist.He believed in self-defense for the American-American community and encouraged African-Americans to move to Liberia to escape racial discrimination.
Louisiana was a racially diverse state around the start of the 20th century.Its population was listed at 730,000
Louisiana was racially diverse state around the start of the 20th century.Its population was listed at 730,000 "white" and 650,000 "negro" by the Twelfth Census of the United States.Louisiana law attempted to keep these two populations separate at the end of the 19 century.Plessy vs.Ferguson was originally a Louisiana case before going to the Supreme Court,and the state of Louisiana had passed eight Jim
Crow laws by 1900.The effect of segregation laws was clear in the city of New Orleans at the beginning of the 20th century: Signs of increasing
animosity between the races were to be seen almost daily in New Orleans during June & July 1900.Both the police and press received an unprecedented complaints.
Racial tensions were increased by the racists undertones of New Orleans newspapers,which were "becoming more stridently racist in their editorial columns and treatment of the news.The confrontational journalistic practices of Henry J.Heresay and the States newspapers caused racial rifts in New Orleans.Henry,a former Major in the Confederate Army,stated in one article that "if [negroes] listen to the screeds of agitators in the North...the result will be a a race war,and race war means extermination... Then the negro problem of Louisiana at least will be solved-and that by examination.
In southern Louisiana,African-Americans were allowed much more freedom,largely owning the racial  demographics in New Orleans Particularly.During the late 1800s and into the and into the early 1900,New Orleans could be divided into three racial groups:white,free people of color,and enslaved.Robert was classified into the "free people of color" racial group.
This particular racial group usually consisted of people who had a mixed racial heritage and had a measurable amount of freedom that was uncommon in most every other state during this time.
Louisiana was one of the fist states to pass laws officially stripping African Americans of the right to register to vote.Following this event,the major segregation by race in Louisiana began.
Public facilities including restaurants,hotels,night clubs,amusement parks,school,playgrounds,and cementers were strictly segregated.
By the 1900s the line separating whites and African Americans had become a part of the New Orleans culture,including the segregation of streetcars.At approximately 11 p.m. on July 23,1900,three white police officers,Sergeant Jules C. Aucion,August T.Mora,& Joseph D.Cantrelle,investigated "two suspicious looking Negroes"sitting on a porch on the 2800 block of Dryades Street in a predominantly white neighborhood.They arrived to find Robert and his roommate 19-year-old Leonard Pierce,at the scene.The police questioned the two men,demanding to know what "were doing and how long they had been there."One of the two men replied that they were "waiting for a friend."Charles then stood up,which the police believed to be an aggressive move.August grabbed him and the two struggled.August hit Robert with his billet.He and Robert pulled guns and exchanged shots.Reports vary on who drew first;both men received non-lethal wounds to the legs.Robert fled the scene to his residence where he was currently living,leaving a trail of blood.Leonard also armed,was left at the gunpoint of a police officer when Robert ran.
Robert returned to his residence early the next morning while the police attempted to track him down.Discovering where he lived by interrogating Leonard,Captain Day and a patrol wagon approached Robert's residence on the 2000 block of Fourth Street approximately 3 a.m. on the morning of July 24,1900.When the police attempted to apprehend Robert,he fired upon them with a .38-caliber Winchester riffle hitting Captain Day with a shot to the heart.Robert shouted,"I will give you all the same," and shot another policeman in the head.
The remaining policeman took refuge in a nearby room while Robert escaped.Upon the policeman's arrival at his house,Robert fired his rifle in their direction,killing two officers,including the chief,Captain Day.While the rest of the officers sought cover,Robert fled the scene,leading to a police mahunt.
July 24 was the first day that showed signs of rioting.A crowd whites gathered on Fourth Street where the policemen were killed.There were shouts for lynching Robert,but the crowds diapered when they falsely told Robert had been located and jailed.On the 25,acting Mayor Mehle (Mayor Paul Capdevielle was out of town) announced a $ 250 reward for the arrest of Robert while issuing a proclamation urging peace.New Orleans papers,particularly the Times-Democrat,helped exacerbate the situation,blaming the African American community for Robert's crimes and calling for action.
In the following days,several riots occurred as mobs of armed whites roamed the streets.The night of the 25th caused the deaths of three African Americans and the hospitalization of six more,plus five whites and the injury of more than 50 people.Robert had taken refuge at 1208 Saratoga Street,where he remained safe from the police until Friday,July 27.The house was quickly surrounded by police after they were informed of Robert's location.Throughout the day,men from the outside the house fired upon Robert,who sporadically returned fire.By the end of the day,he had shot a total of 27 white people in the course of the week,seven lethally;four of the victims were policemen.At this point,the policed decided to burn down the buiding in which Robert was holed up.When attempting to escape the smoke-filled building,Robert was shot by Charles A.Noiret,a medical student and member of the special police (a police group of volunteer citizens).The policemen present continued to shoot Robert,then dragged him outside where a mob of bystanders beat Robert's body.Mobs in New Orleans still rampaged after the killing had difficulty getting the body to the morgue due to angry white mobs attempting to damage the body.Several innocent African-Americans were killed and the Thomy Lafon schoolhouse,"the best Negro schoolhouse in Louisiana," was burned down.The informant who told the police whereabouts of Robert,Fred Clark,was shot and killed several days later by an admirer of Robert,Lewis Forstall.The rioting ended when New Orleans Mayor Paul Capdeville deputized 1,500 special police and asked from the state militia.
The event in New Orleans also had an effect outside of the state.A young white Bostonian,Lillian Jewett,stated the Anti-Lynching League in reaction to Robert's death.Some members of the group wanted retribution for the killing and called for revenge.In turn,a group of white New Orleanians formed the Green Turtles,who threatened Lillian life.
The racial segregation only intensified and grew after the Robert Charles riots.In 1908 state law prohibited cohabition in marriage or domestic partnerships between whites & African Americans.Racial segregation in jails were required in 1920 throughout the state of Louisiana.The Catholic church established a segregated parish in downtown New Orleans,the Congregation of Corpus Christi.A long wih the segregation growing after these riots,racial violence and hate crimes intensified as well.
Lynching increased dramatically between 1900-1931.The number of African Americans who were lynched duing this period alone,reached the thousands.