Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Many people in Indiana and across our country are not aware of the history that the Hoosier State has when it comes to racism and the kkk.
And I want to share a story that happened very close to where I live, just 19 miles down the road.
My name is Kurt Mullet. I'm Hoosier Blue and I have something to say.
Let's get at it.
I live in a small rural community located in the northeast section of Indiana, just miles from the headwaters of the Wabash River. An area deep in historical significance where the Miami and Potawatomi called home and still do to this day.
Where the Wabash Erie Canal once made its way through.
A community recognized by many as the first electrical lighted city in the world.
A claim that has been debated and questioned by many outsiders, but never by us locals.
There are an estimated 10,000 residents within city limits and about 29,000 countywide.
We are considered a media desert.
It's a community that is 94.5% white.
A community that voted 75% Republican in the last presidential election.
It is a rural community that has a large part of its population rooted in conservative Christian ideologies.
To say that Christian nationalism is alive in our community would be an understatement to say the least.
It is not only alive, but it is thriving.
Indiana has a long history of this type of ideology, this type of racism.
At one point we had one of the highest concentrations of sundown towns in in the country, rivaling states like Mississippi and Alabama.
Even the community that I was born in and raised was once listed as a sundown town, as were many surrounding communities.
The presence of the KKK has been a constant in Indiana since the rise of the popularity in the 1920s, mainly due to an individual by the name D.C. stevenson, who in 1922 was appointed the Grand Dragon of the Indiana Ku Klux Klan and 22 other northern chapters after he backed Hiram Evans and his successful appointment as the imperial wizard of the national clan.
Under Stevenson's leadership, the Klan's membership grew to over 250,000 members in Indiana, with close to 30% of white males as members of the Klan in Indiana. His reign was cut short due to his conviction of the murder of a woman by the name of Madge Oberholtzer in 1925.
Now the popularity of the Klan is once again on the rise in Indiana, although it never really went away.
My hometown is historically ranked as the 27th highest per capita as far as Klan members go.
But just 19 miles down the road is the city of Marion.
It is the largest city in population with the highest ranking of Klansmen per capita, with two known chapters within the community.
This is where my story travels 19 miles down the road.
One of the most famous, or should I say infamous, photos of a lynching that took place in America that people are widely familiar with is that of a lynching that took place in Marion, Indiana on August 7, 1933 black teenagers, Thomas Shipp, age 19, Abram Smith, age 19, and James Cameron, age 16, had been wrongly accused, arrested and jailed for the murder of a white man by the name of Claude Dieter and the rape of a white woman by the name of Mary Ball.
Before they could stand trial, which would have no doubt been a biased railroading of these three young men, an angry mob led by known klansmen amongst other racist white residents stormed the Grant county jail at around 9:30pm Reports of a mob crowd in excess of 5,000 attempted to break into the jail. Initially they were repelled by tear gas.
Less than an hour later, they were successful at overrunning the sheriff and three deputies. Local newspapers reported that the resistance from law enforcement at that point was basically non existent. The mob grabbed Thomas and Abram from their cells, who were reported to be praying at the time, dragged them into the street amidst cheers from the mob. The two young men were beaten, tortured, mutilated and both were hanged from the trees in the courthouse lawn.
No trial, no proof of these young men ever committing these crimes was ever presented or brought forth.
A podiatrist, Dr. E. Frank Turner from neighboring city Muncie, Indiana, showed up at the jail around 8pm when he heard of the events that were taking place. He left after hearing that water would be used to disperse the crowd, he left thinking everything would be all right. He later returned around 10pm after hearing the mob was still present.
He arrived at the precise moment to witness the mob dragging, beating and hanging Thomas and Abram.
Dr. Turner later recalled.
The bodies went up dangling on the rope and a demoniacal yell surged from the crowd.
It was hideous.
That mob sounded like wild wolves.
The yells were more like vicious snarls.
Some even clapped their hands while Thomas and Abram hung from the trees.
The mob reentered the jail and took James from his cell.
The mob severely beat the teenager and was preparing to hang him when somebody in the crowd yelled out that James was innocent.
He was returned to his cell and awaited trial. That occurred a year later.
He was charged and convicted as an accessory before the fact to voluntary manslaughter.
He served four years in prison.
He was paroled in 1935.
The brutalized bodies of Mr. Shipp and Mr. Smith hanging from the trees in the courthouse yard were kept there on display for hours.
It is said the mob size swelled to nearly 10,000 to view the horrendous spectacle.
It was common for crowds of white folk to gather in large numbers to witness and participate in pre planned heinous killings that featured prolonged torture, mutilation, dismemberment and or burning of black victims who were never guilty of any crime except for being born black.
When the sheriff eventually cut the ropes off the corpse, the crowd rushed forward to take parts of the men's bodies as souvenirs before they finally dispersed. James Cameron, who survived the brutal beating and was unfairly jailed after his release, stated that the experience haunted him his entire life.
He went on to find four NAACP chapters in Indiana. He authored hundreds of essays on civil rights and on Juneteenth 1988, he opened America's Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to document the African American struggle.
He's quoted as saying, I can forgive but I can never forget.
That's why I started this museum.
Mr. Cameron was pardoned by the state of Indiana in 1993 and died in 2006.
In 1937, an encounter with the infamous photo inspired a New York teacher, Abel Meeropol, to write Strange Fruit, a haunting poem about lynching that later became a famous song recorded by Billie Holiday.
[00:10:36] Speaker B: Southern trees bear strange fruit Blood on leaves and blood at the root.
[00:10:57] Speaker A: Black.
[00:10:58] Speaker B: Bodies swinging in the southern breeze Strange fruit hanging from the poplar tree.
Pastoral scene of the gallant south.
[00:11:41] Speaker A: The.
[00:11:41] Speaker B: Bulging eyes and the twisted mouth Scent of magnolia sweet and fresh Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.
Here's the of fruit for the crows to pluck Father rain together Father winter sun Father sent to rotten for the tree to drop.
His estranged and bitter.
[00:13:12] Speaker A: Foreign.
The historical nerd that I am, I have always known that Indiana and my community has long been embroiled in racism and a major player in the presence of the kkk.
It is a part of our past and a present that leaves me with total disgust and shame knowing that the community and the state that I love and call home has made this mark in American history.
I sometimes wonder how many other Hoosiers are aware of the facts that surround Indiana's place in the promotion and acceptance of racial hatred and white supremacy.
I am sure that most Americans think that lynchings of innocent black people only occurred in the South.
I am also sure that most of them are unaware that one of the most famous photos that documented one of the most violent and unlawful lynchings in American history occurred here in the north, just 19 miles down the road.
I appreciate you listening to my pod today.
Your support means the world to me. Please tell your neighbors, your friends, your co workers about me. Give me a like and a follow.
My name is Kurt Mullet.
I'm Hoosier Blue and I have something to say.
I'll catch you on the flip side.
