African American man who was lynched in the U.S.
Jo Reed
was an
African American
man who was lynched in
Nashville, Tennessee
, on April 30, 1875, where he was taken by a white mob from the county jail after being arrested for killing a police officer in a confrontation. He was hanged from a suspension bridge but, after the rope broke, Reed survived the attempted lynching, escaped via the river, and left Nashville to go West.
In contrast to similar later incidents, both the governor of Tennessee and mayor of Nashville intervened after Reed was arrested, seeking extra police protection at the jail. (The sheriff did not supply it.) Rumors were rampant about a lynching, and the mayor tried to hold off the mob from the jail. The Nashville City Council condemned the lynching. Two white men were arrested for breaking into the jail, but no other prosecution took place.
Lynching
[
edit
]
Jo Reed, an African-American man, was apprehended in
Clarksville, Tennessee
, by Robert Frazier, a police officer,
[1]
on suspicion of domestic violence.
[2]
Frazier tried to arrest Reed and take him to the "work-house", but Reed shot Frazier in the chest.
[2]
[3]
Frazier died and Reed ran away, but he was arrested shortly after in Davidson County.
[2]
Reed was taken to the Davidson County Jail. Unidentified individuals in town began calling for his lynching.
[3]
At 4PM on April 30, 1875, Tennessee Governor
James D. Porter
and Nashville Mayor
Morton Boyte Howell
met at the
Maxwell House Hotel
, where they asked Sheriff E. D. Whitworth and Deputy-Sheriff Wilkinson to add a guard in front of Reed's cell.
[3]
The officers were unable or unwilling to find a guard to do it.
[3]
At dusk on April 30, a white mob rallied outside the jail, and police officers stood in front of the crowd.
[3]
The mayor asked the mob to leave, but 25 unmasked men entered the jail and dragged Reed out of his cell.
[3]
They put a noose around his neck, took him to a suspension bridge, and hanged him there.
[2]
[3]
The rope broke and mob members shot at Reed, but he jumped into the river and escaped.
[4]
Reed survived,
[5]
returning to his house, where he saw a physician. He quickly left Nashville, and was believed to be going west, possibly to Kansas.
[4]
The Nashville City Council condemned the lynching, as did reporting by the
Memphis Daily Appeal.
[3]
On July 13, 1875, John W. Luster and Dan Gilmore were arrested for breaking into the jail.
[6]
Luster admitted he was outside the jail, but he denied going in.
[6]
Legacy
[
edit
]
In June 2019 Jo Reed is to be acknowledged by his name on a memorial in downtown Nashville as a victim of attempted lynching in 1875. A metropolitan coalition known as "We Remember Nashville," together with the
Equal Justice Initiative
, plans events and education related to the four cases of lynching in the city in the late 19th century.
[7]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
ODMP memorial
- ^
a
b
c
d
"Murder and Lynching"
.
The Clarksville Chronicle
. Clarksville, Tennessee. May 8, 1875. p. 3
. Retrieved
June 5,
2018
– via
Newspapers.com
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
"A Fearful Outrage. A Negro Murderer Lynched by a Few Citizens in Nashville--A Mob Looking On and Endorsing the Deed. The State Disgraced by a Supine Set of Officers--An Unmitigated Outrage Against Law and Decency. A Crime for Which the Perpetrators Out to be Made to Pay with Their Lives--The Whole State Demands It"
.
Memphis Daily Appeal
. May 3, 1875. p. 1
. Retrieved
June 5,
2018
– via
Newspapers.com
.
- ^
a
b
"Marshall's Exit. A Fast Man's Career, with the Usual Ending. The Little Game He Played on Ex-Collector Peabody. His Address Is Now Somewhere Beyond the Rio Grande. What He Claimed to Know about the Jo Reed Affair"
.
The American
. Nashville, Tennessee. December 25, 1875. p. 1
. Retrieved
June 5,
2018
– via
Newspapers.com
.
- ^
"As We Predicted"
.
The Morristown Gazette
. Morristown, Tennessee. May 26, 1875. p. 3
. Retrieved
June 5,
2018
– via
Newspapers.com
.
- ^
a
b
"Jo. Reed's Lynchers. Two Men Arrested on the Charge of Jail-breaking. Warrants Out for the Apprehension of Others"
.
Nashville Union and American
. July 14, 1875. p. 4 – via
Newspapers.com
.
- ^
"We Remember Nashville Honors Victims of Racial Terror Lynchings"
. 13 May 2019
. Retrieved
16 May
2019
.
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Before 1900
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1900?1940
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After 1940
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Multiple victims
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- Death of Joseph Smith
(
Joseph Smith
,
Hyrum Smith
) (1844)
- Marais des Cygnes, KS, massacre
(1858)
- Great Hanging at Gainesville, TX
(1862)
- New York City draft riots
(1863)
- Detroit race riot (1863)
- ? Lachenais and four others
(1863)
- Fort Pillow, TN, massacre
(1864)
- Plummer Gang
(1864)
- Memphis massacre
(1866)
- Gallatin County, KY, race riot
(1866)
- New Orleans massacre of 1866
- Reno Brothers Gang
(1868)
- Camilla, GA, massacre
(1868)
- Steve Long and two half-brothers
(1868)
- Pulaski, TN, riot
(1868)
- Samuel Bierfield and Lawrence Bowman
(1868)
- Opelousas, LA, massacre
(1868)
- Bear River City riot
(1868)
- Chinese massacre of 1871
- Meridian, MS, race riot
(1871)
- Colfax, LA, massacre
(1873)
- Election riot of 1874
(AL)
- Juan, Antonio, and Marcelo Moya
(1874)
- Benjamin and Mollie French
(1876)
- Ellenton, SC, riot
(1876)
- Hamburg, SC, massacre
(1876)
- Thibodeax, LA, massacre
(1878)
- Mart and Tom Horrell
(1878)
- Nevlin Porter and Johnson Spencer
(1879)
- Elijah Frost, Abijah Gibson, Tom McCracken
(1879)
- T.J. House, James West, John Dorsey
(1880)
- New Orleans 1891 lynchings
(1891)
- Ruggles Brothers (CA)
(1892)
- Thomas Moss, Henry Stewart, Calvin McDowell (TN)
(1892)
- Porter and Spencer (MS)
(1897)
- Phoenix, SC, election riot
(1898)
- Wilmington, NC, insurrection
(1898)
- Julia and Frazier Baker
(1898)
- Pana, IL, riot
(1899)
- Watkinsville lynching
(1905)
- 1906 Atlanta race massacre
- Kemper County, MS
(1906)
- Walker family
(1908)
- Springfield race riot of 1908
- Slocum, TX, massacre
(1910)
- Laura and L.D. Nelson
(1911)
- Harris County, GA, lynchings
(1912)
- Newberry, FL, lynchings
(1916)
- East St. Louis, IL, riots
(1917)
- Lynching rampage in Brooks County, GA
(1918)
- Jenkins County, GA, riot
(1919)
- Longview, TX, race riot
(1919)
- Elaine, AR, race riot
(1919)
- Omaha race riot of 1919
- Knoxville riot of 1919
- Red Summer
(1919)
- Duluth, MN, lynchings
(1920)
- Ocoee, FL, massacre
(1920)
- Tulsa race massacre
(1921)
- Perry, FL, race riot
(1922)
- Rosewood, FL, massacre
(1923)
- Jim and Mark Fox
(1927)
- Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith
(1930)
- Tate County, MS
(1932)
- Thomas Harold Thurmond and John M. Holmes
(1933)
- Roosevelt Townes and Robert McDaniels
(1937)
- Beaumont, TX, Race Riot
(1943)
- O'Day Short, wife, and two children
(1945)
- Moore's Ford, GA, lynchings
(1946)
- Harry
and
Harriette Moore
(1952)
- Anniston, AL
(1961)
- Freedom Summer Murders
(
James Chaney
,
Andrew Goodman
,
Michael Schwerner
) (1964)
- Henry Hezekiah Dee and Charles Eddie Moore
(1964)
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