The Dilemma of Second-Class Citizens: Race Riots and Civil Disorder

Second-Class Citizens.

In August 1900 a white New York City policeman, Robert Thorpe, died after a fight with Arthur Harris, a black man. The next day mobs of whites set out to avenge his death by attacking blacks. Some black leaders in New York City charged that the police instigated these attacks. Harris was ultimately convicted of Thorpe's murder, and an investigation by the police cleared officers of charges of brutality. Whites and blacks perceived the situation differently, and it seemed impossible that the two would recognize this difference. In 1896 the Supreme Court had ruled in Plessy v. Ferguson that states could treat blacks separately but equally, at least in principle. Southern states took steps to disenfranchise blacks, and in northern states restrictive housing covenants and other ordinances restricted where they could live. In 1904 the Maryland legislature passed a law disenfranchising black voters,...

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