Atlanta Newspapers Fabricate Black Assault Stories, Triggering Four-Day Massacre

Atlanta's white-owned newspapers ran sensationalized and fabricated stories of Black men assaulting white women during the 1906 gubernatorial race. Over four days at least 25 Black people were killed, hundreds were injured, and thousands fled. Black neighborhoods mounted armed defense. The riot accelerated Black out-migration and radicalized W.E.B. Du Bois.