Oscar Mack
Oscar Mack | |
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Born | Oscar Mack (1892-09-20)September 20, 1892 |
Died | January 2, 1960(1960-01-02) (aged 67) |
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Oscar Mack (September 20, 1892 – January 2, 1960) was an African-American World War I vet. An attempt was made to lynch Oscar Mack (Newspapers of the time also use the name John Mack) in Kissimmee, Osceola County, Florida. According to the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary it was the 39th of 61 lynchings during 1922 in the United States.[1] The New Britain Herald reported that he was lynched in Lake Jennie Jewell, in Orange County.[2]
Mack survived the lynching attempt and fled Florida, ultimately settling in Ohio. He married Dorothy Sanders in 1938 and had two daughters. He died in 1960.
Early life
The 1900 census of Osceola County, Florida shows a young Oscar Mack living with his parents, William and Marie Mack, as well as brothers William Jr.[3] and Charles. William Mack Sr. was born in Georgia in 1864 and worked as a labourer. Oscar's mother was born in North Carolina in 1864, and worked as a laundress. They married in 1888. At the age of 25, Mack enlisted in the U.S. Army on April 26, 1918, fighting in France, and was stationed in Greece. He was honourably discharged on July 17, 1919, and returned to Osceola County, Florida, where he worked as a butcher.
Ocoee massacre
Just over a year before the lynching attempt of Mack was the Ocoee massacre. The Ocoee massacre was an incident of mass racial violence which saw a white mob attack numerous African American residents in the northern parts of Ocoee, Florida, a town located in Orange County near Orlando. The massacre killed dozens of African-Americans and took place on November 2, 1920.
Part of Jim Crow Era | |
Date | July 18, 1922 |
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Location |
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Participants | A white mob in Kissimmee, Florida |
Lynching attempt
In 1922, While looking for employment he bid for a federal contract to move mail from the Kissimmee railroad depot to the post office. His winning bid undercut another contractor who verbally threatened Mack.[4] When Mack told his boss, Assistant Postmaster C.C. Collins, about the threats Collins gave him a gun.[5][4]
After Mack's first day of work three "white men — likely Klansmen — came to his house".[4] There was an altercation and Mack used the gun given to him by Collins. In the shootout, Gene Rinehart was killed, Stewart Ivey died of his wounds a few days later,[6] and the third assailant A.C. Aldeman escaped unharmed.[7][5][8]
When word of the killing of two white men by Mack spread, a huge mob gathered. The mob hunted Oscar Mack and terrorized the local Black community, and almost 200 African-American families left the area. At one point a Black man was held by the mob but it wasn't Mack. Luckily the local sheriff was able to get the mob to release the innocent man. On July 19, 1922, newspapers like the New Britain Herald reported that Oscar Mack was lynched in Lake Jennie Jewell, in Orange County.[2]
Assistant Postmaster C.C. Collins was forced to relocate to Tampa, Florida, due to giving Oscar a gun to defend himself.
Later life
Oscar Mack actually escaped the mob via the Florida Swamps and made his way out of the State where he changed his name to Lanier Johnson. He married Dorothy Sanders in 1938 and adopted Dorothy's child Norda May Sanders. They moved from state to state worried the KKK would find them. Moving from New Jersey to Connecticut, Youngstown, Ohio, and finally settling in Akron, Ohio around 1940, where they had two daughters, Mildred Hurt and Melissa Hurt. In January of 1944, Oscar's wife Dorothea died as a result of a cerebral hemorrhage. She was only 44 years old. There he lived until January 2, 1960.[4][9]
Bibliography
Notes
- ^ United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary 1926, p. 17.
- ^ a b New Britain Herald, July 19, 1922, p. 8.
- ^ William Mack Jr 1891-1951
- ^ a b c d Herring 2017.
- ^ a b The Lakeland Evening Telegram, July 20, 1922, p. 3.
- ^ Stewart Ivey Find a grave
- ^ The Ocala Evening Star, July 18, 1922, p. 1.
- ^ The Lakeland Evening Telegram, July 18, 1922, p. 1.
- ^ Oscar Mack find a grave
References
- "Negro is lynched". New Britain Herald. New Britain, Hartford County, Connecticut: Herald Pub. Co. July 19, 1922. pp. 1–14. ISSN 2325-4548. OCLC 173714341. Retrieved March 26, 2022.
- Herring, Troy (December 21, 2017). "Rollins professor Julian Chambliss and his class dived into the mystery of a man thought to be hanged". Orange Observer. Retrieved March 26, 2022.
- "Both victims of Kissimmee shooting dead". The Lakeland Evening Telegram. Lakeland, Polk, Florida: Harry L. Brown. July 18, 1922. pp. 1–12. ISSN 2574-5670. OCLC 33414061. Retrieved March 26, 2022.
- "Both victims of Kissimmee shooting dead". The Lakeland Evening Telegram. Lakeland, Polk, Florida: Harry L. Brown. July 20, 1922. pp. 1–12. ISSN 2574-5670. OCLC 33414061. Retrieved March 26, 2022.
- "Assassin has made a temporary escape". The Ocala Evening Star. Ocala, Marion, Florida: Porter & Harding. July 18, 1922. pp. 1–4. ISSN 1943-8869. OCLC 11319113. Retrieved March 26, 2022.
- United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary (1926). "To Prevent and Punish the Crime of Lynching: Hearings Before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on S. 121, Sixty-Ninth Congress, First Session, on Feb. 16, 1926". United States Government Publishing Office. Retrieved January 23, 2022.
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Number | Name | Date | Place | Method of lynching | Number of victims |
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1 | Bill McAllister | January 8, 1922 | Williamsburg, S.C. | Shot | 1 |
2 | Lincoln Hickson | January 8, 1922 | Williamsburg, S.C. | Shot | 1 |
3 | Willie Jenkins | January 10, 1922 | Eufaula, Alabama | Shot | 1 |
4 | Jake Brooks | January 14, 1922 | Oklahoma City, Oklahoma | Hanged | 1 |
5 | Charles Strong | January 17, 1922 | Mayo, Florida | Hanged | 1 |
6 | Will Bell | January 29, 1922 | Pontotoc, Mississippi | Shot | 1 |
7 | Unidentified | January 29, 1922 | Pontotoc, Mississippi | Shot | |
8 | Drew Conner (White) | January 28, 1922 | Bolinger, Alabama | Burned | 1 |
9 | Will Thrasher | February 1, 1922 | Crystal Springs, Mississippi | Hanged | 1 |
10 | Harry Harrison | February 2, 1922 | Malvern, Arkansas | Shot | 1 |
11 | Manuel Duarte | February 2, 1922 | Cameron County, Texas | Shot | 1 |
12 | P. Norman | February 11, 1922 | Texarkana, Arkansas | Shot | 1 |
13 | Will Jones | February 13, 1922 | Ellaville, Georgia | Shot | 1 |
14 | William Baker | March 8, 1922 | Aberdeen, Mississippi | Hanged | 1 |
15 | Alfred Williams | March 12, 1922 | Harlem, Georgia | Hanged | 1 |
16 | Brown Culpepper (White) | March 13, 1922 | Holly Grove, Louisiana | Shot | 1 |
17 | Jerry Ingram | March 17, 1922 | Crawford, Mississippi | Shot | 1 |
18 | Unidentified (white) | March 19, 1922 | Okay, Oklahoma | Drowned | 1 |
19 | Alexander Smith | March 22, 1922 | Gulfport, Mississippi | Hanged | 1 |
20 | Snap Curry | May 6, 1922 | Kirvin, Texas | Burned | 1 |
21 | H. Varney (or Johnnie Cornish) | May 6, 1922 | Kirvin, Texas | Burned | 1 |
22 | Mose Jones | May 6, 1922 | Kirvin, Texas | Burned | 1 |
23 | Tom Cornish | May 8, 1922 | Kirvin, Texas | Hanged | 1 |
24 | Thomas Early | May 17, 1922 | Conroe, Texas | Burned | 1 |
25 | Charles Atkins | May 18, 1922 | Davisboro, Georgia | Burned | 1 |
26 | Hullen Owens | May 19, 1922 | Texarkana, Texas | Hanged (body burned) | 1 |
27 | Joe Winters | May 20, 1922 | Conroe, Texas | Burned | 1 |
28 | Mose Bozier | May 20, 1922 | Alleyton, Texas | Hanged | 1 |
29 | Gilbert Wilson | May 23, 1922 | Bryan, Texas | Beaten to death | 1 |
30 | Jesse Thomas | May 26, 1922 | Waco, Texas | Shot (body burned) | 1 |
31 | William Byrd | May 28, 1922 | Brentwood, Georgia | Shot (body burned) | 1 |
32 | Robert Collins | June 20, 1922 | Summit, Mississippi | Hanged | 1 |
33 | Warren Lewis | June 23, 1922 | New Dacus, Texas | Hanged | 1 |
34 | James Harvey | July 1, 1922 | Lanes Bridge, Georgia | Hanged | 1 |
35 | Joe Jordan | July 1, 1922 | Lanes Bridge, Georgia | Hanged | 1 |
36 | Philip Tankard | July 5, 1922 | Belhaven, North Carolina | Shot | 1 |
37 | Joe Pemberton | July 7, 1922 | Benton, Louisiana | Hanged | 1 |
38 | Jake "Shake" Davis | July 14, 1922 | Miller County, Georgia | Hanged | 1 |
39 | Oscar Mack | July 18, 1922 | Orange County, Florida | Hanged (False report, Oscar Mack survived) | 1 |
40 | Will Anderson | July 24, 1922 | Allentown, Georgia | Shot | 1 |
41 | John West | July 28, 1922 | Guernsey, Arkansas | Shot | 1 |
42 | Gilbert Harris | August 1, 1922 | Hot Springs, Arkansas | Hanged | 1 |
43 | John Glover | August 1, 1922 | Holton, | Shot | 1 |
44 | Bayner Blackwell | August 6, 1922 | Swansboro, North Carolina | Shot | 1 |
45 | John Steelman | August 23, 1922 | Lambert, Mississippi | Burned | 1 |
46 | Thomas Rivers | August 30, 1922 | Bossier Parish, Louisiana | Hanged | 1 |
47 | F. Watt Daniels (White) | August 1922 | Mer Rouge, Louisiana | Ku-Klux Klan | 1 |
48 | Thomas F. Richards (White) | August 1922 | Mer Rouge, Louisiana | Ku-Klux Klan | 1 |
49 | Jim Reed Long | September 2, 1922 | Winder, Georgia | Ku-Klux Klan | 1 |
50 | O.J. Johnson | September 7, 1922 | Newton, Texas | Hanged | 1 |
51 | Jim Johnston | September 28, 1922 | Sandersville, Georgia | Hanged | 1 |
52 | Grover C. Everett | September 28, 1922 | Abilene, Texas | Shot | 1 |
53 | John Brown | October 3, 1922 | Montgomery, Alabama | Shot | 1 |
54 | Ed Hartley (white) | October 20, 1922 | Camden, Tennessee | Shot | 1 |
55 | George Hartley (white) | October 20, 1922 | Camden, Tennessee | Shot | 1 |
56 | Elias V. Zarate | November 11, 1922 | Weslaco, Texas | Shot | 1 |
57 | Cupid Dickson / Cubrit Dixon | December 5, 1922 | Madison, Florida | Shot | 1 |
58 | Charles Wright | December 8 ,1922 | Perry, Florida | Burned | 1 |
59 | Less Smith | December 9, 1922 | Morrilton, Arkansas | Burned | 1 |
60 | George Gay | December 11, 1922 | Streetman, Texas | Hanged | 1 |
61 | Arthur Young | December 11, 1922 | Perry, Florida | Hanged | 1 |