History of These United States, the month of July, since 1900

Selections from the Equal Justice Initiative History of Racial Injustice calendar.  I’ve chosen historical items from after 1900. 

This is the month of the murders of Alton Sterling (July 5, 2016), Philando Castile (one day later, on July 6, 2016), and Eric Garner (2 years earlier on July 17, 2014).   They were killed by police officers.

From the month of July

July 3, 1917

Four days of attacks on African Americans in East St. Louis, Illinois, leave 200 dead and cause 6,000 Black residents to flee the city.

July 5, 2016

Baton Rouge, Louisiana, police officers shoot and kill Alton Sterling, a 37-year-old Black man, while he is pinned to the ground; video of the shooting leads to major protests nationwide.

July 6, 2016

Police officer shoots and kills Philando Castile, 32-year-old Black man, during a traffic stop for a broken taillight in St. Paul, Minnesota, with his fiancee and her four-year-old daughter in the car.

July 18, 1946

World War II veteran Maceo Snipes is shot in the back at his home by Ku Klux Klan members the day after he became the first Black person to cast a vote in Taylor County, Georgia.

July 26, 1918

A mob of 100 white men and boys protests against a Black woman named Adella Bond for moving into a mostly white neighborhood in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, leading to days of violence and arrests.

Added - not in the Equal Justice Initiative calendar:

In July 1963, Black girls aged 12-15 engaged in civil rights demonstration - buying tickets to a movie theater at the front instead of the back.  They were arrested and were imprisoned in secret locations for nearly two months without being charged with a crime.