Kings of Broken Things

a novelby

Theodore Wheeler

Acknowledgements

Thanks to the following organizations for the use of photographs from their

archives:

Durham Museum

Omaha Public Library

Omaha World-Herald

Omaha Race Riot of 1919

• September 28, 1919.

• Between 5,000 to 15,000 people.

• Mayor Edward Smith was attacked by mob, hanged, but survived.

• Will Brown was lynched.

• Omaha 1 of 25 cities where riots occurred in the Red Summer of 1919.

Causes• National causes. Second Wave Great Migration.

Riots in other cities during “Red Summer” of 1919, along with potentially thousands of race-motivated killings. Labor wars & red scare. End of World War I.

• Local causes. Hysteria about “black criminality” fueled by newspapers; 30 rapes of white women in Omaha that summer. Food shortages.

• Influence of machine boss Tom Dennison. His coalition (including mayor “Cowboy” Jim Dahlman) lost election in 1918—the only election Dennison lost during his 30 years of power. Embarked on campaign to delegitimize new reform administration and their “Morals Squad.” Enflamed passions for political gain.

• Ak-Sar-Ben carnival was that weekend.

Courtesy of nebaseballhistory.com.

(Self-portrait of photographer Louis Bostwick. )