A
dreadful wave of lynching and anti-Negro violence permeated the very fiber of
America during the year 1919. Lynching was so pervasive that James Weldon
Johnson labeled it the "Red Summer," of 1919. During the "Red
Summer," 76 blacks were reported lynched and 26 race riots took place. One
of the worst riots took place in the nation's capital, almost within sight of
the White House Six blacks were killed and 100 wounded.
This inhumane treatment was so blatant that civic and religious organizations began to speak out against lawless groups. One of the main opponents of lynching was the Federated Black Catholics under the guidance of Thomas Wyatt Turner. Turner was a supporter of civil rights and a devout Catholic born in Charles County, Maryland, Turner was a graduate of Howard University. Before he accepted the teaching position at Howard, he was the secretary of Baltimore's NAACP.
In September 1919, after the fervor of the "Red Summer" had abated, the U.S. Bishops had a meeting on the campus of Catholic University in Washington, D.C. A committee of 15 eventually became the Federated Colored Catholics. They submitted a statement to the bishops requesting an increase in black priest vocations and to halt racism in the Catholic church. They also requested that the church be more vocal against the lynching of Negroes.
The bishops did not respond directly, but emphasized the need for more education to better the condition of the Negro. This appeased the committee somewhat and they felt that they made some progress.
However Marcellus Dorsey, the brother of Father John Dorsey S.S.J., was not satisfied with the progress of eradicating racism within the church. He was a promoter for young black men who had a vocation to the priesthood. He accused the hierarchy of trying to dodge the issue of racism as it pertained to black seminarians.
Unfortunately, research on the views of black Catholics concerning the "Red Summer" is limited. In fact, during the peak period of lynching, the church barely said a word against it.
Two
ministers in Duluth, Minnesota begged and prayed for the life of a potential
victim. The cries of anguish and pity were ignored and the man was burned at the
stake.
Despite the vicious crimes committed against colored folks, they persevered. They never surrendered their courage and pride. Blacks responded to the lynching by leaving the area.
The exodus of blacks caused labor concerns, especially at cotton picking time. Their exit depopulated some counties before the whites realized that their labor force vanished. As a result of this, some whites and local officials called for a halt to the lynching of Negroes. At the time that Negroes were migrating north and west, 15,000 people marched in silence down 125th street in Harlem, New York in protest against lynching. The Afro American, the Amsterdam News and several other newspapers, including the NAACP and Crisis Magazine, published news for the colored community. Congress tried to get an anti-lynching bill passed but southern senators, who filibustered the bill defeated them.
The "Red Summer" did not reach Baltimore and the members of the St. Francis Church did not vocalize against lynching, or if they did, the documents have not been located. Father N.R. Denis was pastor during "Red Summer." There was a vacant house across the street from the priest house that had been occupied by the Christian Brothers for the School of the Cathedral. The house was renovated and used as St. Francis School. An elementary school opened in 1920 led by the Franciscan nuns who had formerly been the Mill Hill Sisters. A printing press was set up in the basement of the priest house and the art of printing was taught. Father Denis attended to the religious needs of the church and the community. After his stay at St. Francis Xavier, he became pastor of Mother of Mercy, Forth Worth, Texas, where the congregation progressed in spite of the harassment of the Klu Klux Klan.
by Agnes Kane Callum