African Americans have endured centuries of oppression solely due to the color of their skin. America’s foundation is deeply rooted in racism, with a long history of Black people experiencing firsthand the brunt of a racist society at the start of our enslaved arrival to this country. As we reflect on these last few days of Black History Month, BLACK ENTERPRISE is highlighting 10 really racist moments in Black history. These are just a few. While there are plenty more documented racially motivated injustices, let us remember we can never forget these heinous acts against our humanity.
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Emmett Till, a 14-year-old from Chicago, was kidnapped and murdered in Money, Mississippi on August 28, 1955, after Carol Bryant Donham accused the child of flirting with her. Till’s murderers, J.W. Milam and Roy Bryant, Carol’s brother-in-law and husband, bragged about brutalizing and killing Till in Look Magazine after being acquitted by an all-white jury.
Till’s brutally beaten body was published in Jet Magazine, bringing national attention to the cruel treatment of Black people and helping to ignite the civil rights movement. Donham admitted she lied in her court testimony before her death in 2023
In 1993, Rodney King was brutally beaten by four Los Angeles police officers after a traffic violation. He was struck over 50 times, suffering severe injuries, including broken bones and permanent neurological damage. The incident was captured on film, and the officers’ acquittal sparked massive riots in Los Angeles.
King later received $3.8 million in damages and famously pleaded for peace, asking, “Can’t we all just get along?”
Sept. 15, 1963, the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama was bombed, killing four African American girls and injuring over 20 people. The church served as a key meeting place for civil rights discussions, making it a target for racial violence. Three of the four suspected Ku Klux Klan members were later convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Today, the church stands as both a historic civil rights site and an active place of worship.
June 17, 2015, Dylann Roof entered Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, during a Bible study and opened fire, killing nine Black parishioners. This horrific act of racial violence targeted one of the oldest Black churches in the U.S., a historic symbol of resilience and faith. The shooter was motivated by white supremacist ideology and later convicted of federal hate crimes and sentenced to death. The tragedy sparked national outrage and conversations about gun violence and the legacy of racial terrorism in America.
April 19, 1989, five teenage boys—Antron McCray, Korey Wise, Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, and Yusef Salaam—were wrongfully accused and convicted of sexually assaulting a white woman in Central Park in New York City. Under police pressure, the young men falsely confessed to the crime and were wrongly convicted. In 2002, a serial rapist admitted to the attack, leading to the group’s overturned convictions and subsequently, their release. In 2014, they settled a civil case for $41 million, highlighting the injustices of racial profiling and coerced confessions. Filmmaker Ava Duvernay released When They See Us, a film that depicted the circumstances and family dynamics around the case, in 2018
Photo credit: Johnny Nunez
In 1921, Greenwood, a thriving Black community in Tulsa, Oklahoma, known as “Black Wall Street,” was a center of Black prosperity and entrepreneurship. June 1, 1921, a white mob violently attacked the neighborhood, looting businesses, burning 35 city blocks to the ground, and killing an estimated 300 people. Thousands of Black residents were left homeless, and the massacre was largely an ignored incident in history for decades. The Tulsa Race Massacre, like in Rosewood, Florida and Wilmington, North Carolina, remains one of the worst incidents of racial violence in U.S. history, highlighting the insidious racism that sought to destroy Black mobility and success.
On December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white man, defying segregation laws. Her arrest sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a peaceful protest led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., aimed at ending racial segregation on public transportation. The boycott lasted for over a year and eventually led to a Supreme Court ruling that declared bus segregation unconstitutional. Rosa Parks became known as the “First Lady of Civil Rights” for her pivotal role in igniting the modern civil rights movement.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. dedicated his life to advocating for human rights, racial equality, and nonviolent protest. Ironically, April 4, 1968, he was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. The location of King’s killing has since been turned into a historical site and the National Civil Rights Museum. His death was a devastating blow to the Black and global community, as he symbolized hope, resilience, and peaceful resistance against injustice. King’s legacy continues to inspire movements for equality and social change worldwide.
May 13, 1985, the city of Philadelphia bombed MOVE, a Black liberation group, in a violent act of government aggression. The bombing caused a massive fire that destroyed two city blocks, killing 11 people, including five children, and leaving about 250 residents homeless. This marked the first time a U.S. city bombed its own citizens. In 2022, Philadelphia officially acknowledged that the deaths were not accidental and the city and federal government settled for $4 million in damages
Almost 40 years ago, Michael Griffith was killed by a vehicle on NYC’s Belt Parkway after being beaten and chased by a mob of white teenagers. Dec. 20, 1986, Griffith and his friends experienced car trouble in the area and ventured out to find a pay phone when they encountered the racist crew who yelled racial slurs and jumped them with baseball bats and tire rods. Jon Lester, Jason Ladone, and Scott Kern among six others were convicted for the crimes. Spike Lee dedicated his film Do The Right Thing to Griffith and others who were killed by racial violence.
James Byrd was lynched. In Jasper, Texas, June 7, 1998 he was beaten, chained to a pickup truck by his ankles, dragged three miles till he was decapitated and mutilated, and torso dropped at a Black cemetery, by three white supremacists who offered him a ride. Shawn Berry, John King, and Lawrence Brewer were convicted for Byrd’s lynching under the federal hate crime law. The latter two died by capital punishment.
President Barack Obama greets Louvon Harris, left, Betty Byrd Boatner, right, both sisters of James Byrd, Jr., and Judy Shepard, center, mother of Matthew Shepard, following his remarks at a reception commemorating the enactment of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, in the East Room, of the White House, October 28, 2009. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
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