Swarthmore College
Works
History Faculty Works
History
Winter 2005
Review Of "The Atlanta Riot: Race, Class, And
Violence In A New South City" By G. Mixon
Allison Dorsey
Swarthmore College, [email protected]
Follow this and additional works at: http://works.swarthmore.edu/fac-history
Part of the History Commons
Recommended Citation
Allison Dorsey. (2005). "Review Of "The Atlanta Riot: Race, Class, And Violence In A New South City" By G. Mixon". Georgia
Historical Quarterly. Volume 89, Issue 4. 566-567.
http://works.swarthmore.edu/fac-history/53
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Georgia Historical Society
The Atlanta Riot: Race, Class, and Violence in a New South City by Gregory Mixon
Review by: Allison Dorsey
The Georgia Historical Quarterly, Vol. 89, No. 4 (WINTER 2005), pp. 566-567
Published by: Georgia Historical Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40584877 .
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566
Georgia Historical Quarterly
in a NewSouthCity.ByGregTheAtlantaRiot:Race,Class,and Violence
Pressof Florida,2005. Pp. xv,197.
University
oryMixon.(Gainesville:
index.$59.95.ISBN 0-8130-2787-X.)
Maps,notes,bibliography,
Riotoffers
the
A surprisingly
slimvolume,GregMixon'sTheAtlanta
definitive
treatment
ofthe1906Atlantaraceriot.Culledfromhishighly
supplemented
bymaterialgathregardedand muchciteddissertation,
in the
eredfromthepersonalpapersofmanyofthekeypoliticalplayers
committee
the
and
a
close
read
of
and
civic
records,
city,
newspapers
ofviolencethatforeofthefirestorm
workis a concise,cogentanalysis
in thePhoenix
stalledtheblackquestforpoliticalinclusionand equality
city.
A corrective
on Atlanta,
Mixon's
tomuchoftheprevious
scholarship
ofAlonzoHerndon's faaboutthedestruction
worklaysto restmyths
and detailstheroleofthemunicipal
mousPeachtreeStreetbarbershop
(!) thecountofthenumberofpeoleadershipin reducingbytwothirds
linkbetweenwhites
who"flocked
in
the
riot.
Mixon
reveals
the
killed
ple
ofthelocal
toattackblackcitizensand members
toAtlantabystreetcar"
like Sheriff
law enforcement
Nelms,who colludedwiththe mob by
and conservative"
deputizingas manyas threehundred"prominent
residents
to theAtlanta
whitecitizenswhohelpherdblackBrownsville
stockadefordetention.
was
and civilrights
The aggressive
assaulton blacklives,property,
reformers
who
developedbywhite"commercial-civic"
partofa strategy
and controlled
wishedto crafta "progressive"
citymarkedby"stability
as
"racial
black
disfranchiseof
as
well
segregation,
growth" industry
ofsocialaspectsofblacklife.Theseelitesjoined
ment"and regulation
ofthewhiteworking
class
andanxiousmembers
forces
withdisillusioned
whoblamedtheirdecliningsocialstatusnoton theexpansionand evobut on the "illegitilutionof ever-more-powerful
capitaland industry
mate" notionof black politicaland social equality.Confrontedby
and thebalwhocompetedforjobs,housing,
blacklaborers
autonomous
lotandwhochosetoengagein raucousstreetlife,whitesmovedtoreesand socialcontroloftheSouthrootedin
tablishtheeconomic,political,
theeliteshightheslavepast.Playingupon sexualfearsand anxieties,
lightedthethreatto whitewomanhoodposedbytheblackmalesto esbrethren.
withtheirworking-class
tablisha toxiclinkofwhitesupremacy
mounted
the
the
"racial
by city's
highly
improvement
campaign"
Despite
in theirefforts
to
educatedblackelite,blackleaderswereunsuccessful
acrossraciallineswiththeirwhite
forgea viablelinkofclasssolidarity
peers. The triumph of white supremacyand riot "installed
form
as thedominant
. . . andinstitutional
disfranchisement
segregation
inAtlantaforthenextforty
ofracerelations"
years.
Mixon'strimtextprovidesa succinctanalysisofthecauses,action,
the"citytoobusyto hate"in
oftheriotthatimmobilized
and resolution
thefallof1906.Readersmaysuspectthereismoretoknowaboutthelife
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Book Reviews
567
and roleofmensuchas HenryA. Rucker(whogracesthecover)and
otherblackleadersin thecity,
yetthisis nota weaknessso muchas the
markofa talentednarrator
wholeaveshisaudiencewanting
more.
Allison Dorsey
Swarthmore
College
Ms. Dorseyis the author of To Build Our Lives Together:
Formation
in
Community
of Georgia Press,2004).
BlackAtlanta,1875-1906(University
TheWhiteness
in theNewSouth.ByShelleySallee.
ofChildLaborReform
ofGeorgiaPress,2004.Pp. xi,207.Notes,bibliogra(Athens:University
index.
$49.95,librarycloth,$19.95, paper. ISBN 0-8203-2448-5
phy,
cloth.ISBN0-8203-2570-8
paper.)
efforts
toprohibit
childlaborcenteredon
Although
progressive-era
theindustrializing
has oftenbeen presentedonly
South,themovement
ina nationalcontext.
Hence,ShelleySallee'sstudyofchildlaborreform
inAlabamaisa welcomeandlongoverduecontribution
totheliterature.
Sallee'sstudy,
whilenarrowly
focusedon one state,does morethansimof reform.
history
plyrecountthe legislative
Drawingon the growing
fieldof"whiteness
Sallee
offers
an
of
studies,"
important
interpretation
southernprogressivism
and howit becamealliedwithnationalmovements.
Whenreformers
chosetocenterthecampaignon racialuplift
for
whitemillchildren,theynecessarily
diminished
moreradicalimplicationsregarding
classand economicpower."Whiteness"
madechildlabor
reform
safeand helpedforgeinterregional
alliances,butitleftAfricanAmerican
childrenand theirplightoutsidethescopeofreform.
The bookopenswithan exploration
of theantagonists
of reform,
millownersand southern
working
peoplethemselves.
Earlyon in southernindustrialization,
Salleepointsout,millmencouldcomfortably
porof"cracker"
the
childrenas moralupliftand imagine
tray employment
millvillagesas evidenceof a boomingNewSouth.Millfamiliesthemfathers
selves,especially
labor,welcomedthe
seekingcontroloverfamily
for
labor.Here,Sallee'saccountis moreor lessconopportunity factory
and itmighthavebeen helpedbya somewhat
moresophistiventional,
catedinvestigation
of southernworkingfamilies,
especiallywhatthey
wantedfortheiryounger
members.
in thelanguageofreform,
Salleeis moreinterested
and thebook's
centralsection,whichexploresthatlanguageintimately,
is itsmostvaluable.Here,shedetailshowcastingchildlaborin thediscourseofwhitenesschallengedthepaternalist
the
languageofindustrialists.
Ironically,
labormovement
did muchto turnchildlaborreform
awayfromitssocialistimplications,
Salleeargues.SamuelGompers'schoiceofEnglishbornreformer
IreneAshby-Macfadyen
to spearheadtheAFL's efforts
thatreform
wouldbecomepartofmiddle-class
guaranteed
progressivism
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