Duluth lynchings

On June 15, 1920, three African-American circus

workers, Elias Clayton, Elmer Jackson, and Isaac Duluth lynchings
McGhie, suspects in an assault case, were taken from Part of the Nadir of American race relations
the jail and lynched by a White mob of thousands in
Duluth, Minnesota. Rumors had circulated that six
Black men had raped and robbed a nineteen-year-old
White woman.

The 1920 lynchings are the only known widely

recorded lynching of African-Americans in
Minnesota. Twenty other lynchings were recorded in
Minnesota, whose victims included mainly Native
Americans and Whites.[1] Three men were convicted
of rioting, but none served more than fifteen months.
No one was ever prosecuted for the murders.
Location Duluth, Minnesota
The state of Minnesota passed anti-lynching Date July 15, 1920
legislation in April 1921, and lynchings have not been Target Six arrested suspects
recorded in Minnesota since.[1] In 2003, the city of
Victims Elias Clayton, Elmer Jackson,
Duluth erected a memorial to the lynched men.[2] In
and Isaac McGhie
2020, Max Mason, who was a co-worker in the same
traveling circus as the three men who were lynched, Perpetrators Mob (estimated 1,000 - 10,000
was convicted in court after the lynchings, was participants)
granted the first posthumous pardon in the history of Motive The alleged rape of Irene Tusken
the state.[3]

Background
The industrial city of Duluth had been growing rapidly in the early 20th century, attracting many
European immigrants. By 1920 one third of its population of 100,000 was foreign-born, with immigrants
from Scandinavia, Germany, Poland, Italy, Austria-Hungary, and the Russian Empire. Many of the
immigrants lived in West Duluth, a working-class section of the city. The African-American community
in the city was small, with a total population of 495, but a number had been hired by U.S. Steel, the major
employer in the area.[4]

In September 1918, a Finnish immigrant named Olli Kinkkonen was lynched in Duluth, allegedly for
dodging military service in World War I, which the United States had recently entered.[5] Kinkkonen was
found dead, tarred and feathered, and hanging from a tree in Lester Park. Authorities did not pursue
murder charges; they claimed that he had committed suicide after the shame of having been tarred and
feathered.[5]
During and immediately following World War I, a large population of blacks began the Great Migration
out of the agrarian South to the industrial North to escape racial violence and to gain more opportunities
for work, education, and voting. African-Americans competed with working-class immigrants and ethnic
whites for the lower-grade jobs. Many felt the black migrants threatened their jobs and pay.[6]

The period after World War I was disruptive in the United States, as numerous veterans sought to re-enter
the job market and society. The government had no program to help them. Racial antagonism erupted in
1919 as race riots of whites against blacks in numerous cities across the U.S.; it was called the Red
Summer of 1919. Unlike in mob action in the South, blacks in Chicago and other cities fought back
against these attacks.

Event
On June 14, 1920, the John Robinson Circus arrived in Duluth for a free parade and a one-night
performance. Two local white teenagers, Irene Tusken, age 19, and James "Jimmie" Sullivan, 18, met at
the circus and ended up behind the big top, watching the black workers dismantle the menagerie tent,
load wagons and generally get the circus ready to move on. It is unknown what took place between
Tusken, Sullivan and the workers. Later that night Sullivan claimed to his father that he and Tusken were
assaulted, and that Tusken was raped and robbed by five or six black circus workers, who were part of the
crew.

In the early morning of June 15, Duluth police chief John Murphy received a call from James Sullivan's
father, saying six black circus workers had held his son and girlfriend at gunpoint and then raped and
robbed Irene Tusken. Chief Murphy lined up all 150 or so roustabouts, food service workers, and props-
men on the side of the tracks, and asked Sullivan and Tusken to identify their attackers. The police
arrested six black men as suspects in connection with the rape and robbery and held them in custody in
the city jail.[4]

Sullivan's claim that Tusken was raped has been questioned. When she was examined by a physician, Dr.
David Graham, on the morning of June 15, he found no physical evidence of rape or assault.[4]

Newspapers printed articles about the alleged rape; rumors spread in the white community about it,
including that Tusken was dying from her injuries. That evening, a mob of between 1,000 and 10,000
men[4] formed outside the Duluth city jail. A Catholic priest reportedly tried to deter them, but to no
avail.[7]

The Duluth commissioner of public safety, William F. Murnian, ordered the police not to use their guns to
protect the prisoners. The mob used heavy timbers, bricks, and rails to break down doors and windows,[4]
pulling the six black men from their cells. The mob seized Elias Clayton, Elmer Jackson, and Isaac
McGhie. They took them out and convicted them of Tusken's rape in a kangaroo court. The mob took the
three men one block to the intersection 1st Street and 2nd Avenue East, where they beat them and hanged
them from a light pole.[4]

The next day, the Minnesota National Guard arrived at Duluth to secure the area and to guard the
surviving prisoners, as well as ten additional black suspects whom the police had arrested from the circus
at its next stop. They were moved under heavy guard to the jail of St. Louis County.[4]
Aftermath

Reactions
The killings made headlines throughout the country. The Chicago Evening Post wrote: "This is a crime of
a Northern state, as black and ugly as any that has brought the South in disrepute. The Duluth authorities
stand condemned in the eyes of the nation." An article in the Minneapolis Journal accused the lynch mob
of putting a "stain on the name of Minnesota", stating: "The sudden flaming up of racial passion, which is
the reproach of the South, may also occur, as we now learn in the bitterness of humiliation, in
Minnesota."[4]

The June 15 Ely Miner reported that just across the bay in Superior, Wisconsin, the acting chief of police
declared: "We are going to run all idle negroes out of Superior and they're going to stay out." How many
were forced out is not certain. All of the blacks employed by a carnival in Superior were fired and told to
leave the city.[4]

Prominent blacks in Duluth complained that the city had not protected the circus workers. The mayor,
commissioner of public safety and police chief were criticized for their failures to break up the mob
before it had gotten so powerful. A special grand jury was called to investigate the lynchings. It said that
Murnian was "not competent" and the police department was in need of a "thorough overhauling".[4]

Trials
Two days later, on June 17, Judge William Cant and the grand jury had a difficult time identifying the
lead mob members. In the end the grand jury issued thirty-seven indictments for the lynching mob.
Twenty-five were for rioting and twelve for the crime of murder in the first degree. Some men were
indicted on both charges. Three men: Louis Dondino, Carl Hammerberg, and Gilbert Stephenson were
convicted of rioting; none served more than 15 months in prison. No one was convicted for the murders
of the three black men.[4]

Prosecution continued against the other black circus workers. Despite the lack of significant physical
evidence, seven men were indicted for rape. The NAACP had protested to the city about the lynchings. It
hired defense attorneys for the men, and charges were dismissed for five. Max Mason and William Miller
were tried for rape. Miller was acquitted, but Mason was convicted and sentenced to serve seven to thirty
years in prison. He was a native of Decatur, Georgia, who had been traveling with the circus as a worker.
He appealed his case without success. He was incarcerated at Stillwater State Prison, serving four years,
from 1921 to 1925. He was released on the condition that he would leave the state.[4]

Anti-lynching law
William T. Francis, associate counsel for Max Mason, was an attorney from St. Paul. He and his wife
Nellie Francis continued to work after the trial on anti-lynching legislation, which the state of Minnesota
passed in April 1921.[4] The law provided for compensation of "relatives of victims and suspended police
officials who failed to protect prisoners from mobs."[1] No lynchings have since taken place in the
state.[1] The anti-lynching law was repealed in Minnesota in 1984.[8] However, the 1968 Civil Rights Act
ensured that hate crimes based on race could be prosecuted at the federal level.[9] Minnesota also has a
hate crime law which ensures cooperation with the federal government to prosecute those who committed
hate crimes defined in the 1968 Civil Rights Act as well.[9]

Legacy
Irene Tusken's great nephew, as of 2020, is the chief of the Duluth Police Department.[10]

Memorial
Residents of Duluth began to work on ways to commemorate the victims of the lynching. The Clayton
Jackson McGhie Scholarship Committee set up a fund in 2000, and awarded its first scholarship in
2005.[11]

On October 10, 2003, a plaza and statues were dedicated in Duluth to the three men who were killed. The
bronze statues are part of a memorial across the street from the site of the lynchings. The Clayton Jackson
McGhie Memorial was designed and sculpted by Carla J. Stetson, in collaboration with editor and writer
Anthony Peyton-Porter.[12][13]

At the memorial's opening, thousands of citizens of Duluth and surrounding communities gathered for a
ceremony. The final speaker at the ceremony was Warren Read, the great-grandson of one of the most
prominent leaders of the lynch mob:

It was a long-held family secret, and its deeply buried shame was brought to the surface and
unraveled. We will never know the destinies and legacies these men would have chosen for
themselves if they had been allowed to make that choice. But I know this: their existence,
however brief and cruelly interrupted, is forever woven into the fabric of my own life. My
son will continue to be raised in an environment of tolerance, understanding and humility,
now with even more pertinence than before.

Read has written a memoir exploring his learning about his great-grandfather's role in the lynching, as
well his decision to find and connect with the descendants of Elmer Jackson, one of the men killed that
night. Read's book, The Lyncher in Me, was published in March 2008.[14]

100th anniversary commemoration

On June 15, 2020, the 100th anniversary of the lynchings, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz visited the
memorial and issued a proclamation recognizing the day as Elias Clayton, Elmer Jackson, and Isaac
McGhie Commemoration Day.[15][16] In his proclamation, Walz stated "The foundational principles of
our State and Nation were horrifically and inexcusably violated on June 15, 1920, when Elias Clayton,
Elmer Jackson, and Isaac McGhie, three Black men, were wrongfully accused of a crime", and "We must
not allow such communal atrocities to happen again. Everyone must be aware of this tragic history." He
compared the lynchings to the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis three weeks before.[17]
Cultural reference
The first verse of the 1965 song "Desolation Row" by Bob Dylan references the lynchings in Duluth:

They're selling postcards of the hanging

They're painting the passports brown
The beauty parlor is filled with sailors
The circus is in town.[18]

Dylan was born in Duluth, and grew up in Hibbing, 60 miles (97 km) northwest of Duluth. His father,
Abram Zimmerman, was 9 years old in June 1920 and lived two blocks from the site of the lynchings.[19]

Posthumous pardon
In 2020, during the George Floyd protests Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison proposed that the
related 1920 conviction of Max Mason, a black man convicted of raping an 18-year-old woman, was a
false charge and should be reversed.[20] On June 12, 2020, the Minnesota Board of Pardons granted Max
Mason the first posthumous pardon in the history of the state of Minnesota.[3] In 1920, Mason, who was
working in the same traveling circus as the three who were lynched, was convicted of rape and sentenced
to 30 years in prison.[3] He was released from prison after four years on the condition that he not return to
Minnesota for 16 years.[3]

See also
False accusations of rape as justification for lynchings
Post-assault treatment of sexual assault victims

References
1. Ziebarth, Marilyn (Summer 1996). "Judge Lynch in Minnesota" (http://collections.mnhs.org/
MNHistoryMagazine/articles/55/v55i02p072-072.pdf) (PDF). Minnesota History. 55 (2): 72.
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20220510185108/https://collections.mnhs.org/MNHist
oryMagazine/articles/55/v55i02p072-072.pdf) (PDF) from the original on May 10, 2022.
Retrieved February 27, 2017.
2. Kraker, Dan (June 15, 2013). "Duluth marks anniversary of memorial to 3 lynching victims"
(http://www.mprnews.org/story/2013/06/15/regional/duluth-lynching-memorial).
www.mprnews.org. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20160301222045/http://www.mpr
news.org/story/2013/06/15/regional/duluth-lynching-memorial) from the original on March 1,
2016. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
3. "Minnesota grants state's first posthumous pardon to black man in 1920 case that led to
lynchings" (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/max-mason-pardon-posthumous-duluth-lynchin
gs-1920/). CBS News. June 12, 2020. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/202206151648
12/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/max-mason-pardon-posthumous-duluth-lynchings-192
0/) from the original on June 15, 2022. Retrieved June 13, 2020.
 4. "Duluth Lynchings: On line Resource" (http://collections.mnhs.org/duluthlynchings/).
Minnesota Historical Society. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20060221224830/http://
collections.mnhs.org/DuluthLynchings/) from the original on February 21, 2006. Retrieved
March 9, 2006.
5. "MPR: Postcard From A Lynching" (http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/projects/2001/06/l
ynching/olli.shtml). news.minnesota.publicradio.org. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/2
0120812220443/http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/projects/2001/06/lynching/olli.shtml)
from the original on August 12, 2012. Retrieved June 21, 2010.
6. "Duluth Lynchings: Presence of the Past" (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-606428
727324540926&q=the+duluth+lynchings) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/201106290
63043/http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-606428727324540926&q=the+duluth+lync
hings) June 29, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. Twin Cities Public Television.
7. Ellis, Elizabeth (September 20, 2009). "Famous footprints: Roy Wilkins, Whitney Young
other Black greats' steps in MN" (https://www.tcdailyplanet.net/famous-footprints-roy-wilkins-
whitney-young-other-black-greats-steps-mn/). Twin Cities Daily Planet. Archived (https://we
b.archive.org/web/20211208121700/https://www.tcdailyplanet.net/famous-footprints-roy-wilki
ns-whitney-young-other-black-greats-steps-mn/) from the original on December 8, 2021.
Retrieved December 8, 2021.
8. "Minn. Laws 1984, chapt. 629, sec. 4" (https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/1984/0/Session+La
w/Chapter/629/). Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20210926145013/https://www.reviso
r.mn.gov/laws/1984/0/Session+Law/Chapter/629/) from the original on September 26, 2021.
Retrieved April 20, 2020.
9. "Laws and Policies" (https://www.justice.gov/hatecrimes/laws-and-policies). May 25, 2021.
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20201220194719/https://www.justice.gov/hatecrimes/l
aws-and-policies) from the original on December 20, 2020. Retrieved June 12, 2020.
10. "Duluth's new police chief acknowledges great-aunt's role in 1920 lynching" (https://www.twi
ncities.com/2016/06/18/duluth-police-chief-acknowledges-great-aunts-role-in-1920-lynchin
g/). June 18, 2016. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20211121183030/https://www.twin
cities.com/2016/06/18/duluth-police-chief-acknowledges-great-aunts-role-in-1920-lynching/)
from the original on November 21, 2021. Retrieved June 5, 2020.
11. "Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial Scholarship Fund" (https://www.dsacommunityfoundatio
n.org/clayton-jackson-mcghie-memorial-scholarship-fund?tt=0). Duluth Superior Area
Community Foundation. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
12. Kelleher, Bob (June 8, 2003). "Lynching victims memorial takes shape in Duluth" (http://new
s.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2003/06/09_kelleherb_memorialcasting/). Minnesota
Public Radio. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20220331142759/http://news.minnesot
a.publicradio.org/features/2003/06/09_kelleherb_memorialcasting/) from the original on
March 31, 2022. Retrieved November 3, 2012.
13. "Creation of the Memorial" (https://web.archive.org/web/20100825175107/http://www.clayto
njacksonmcghie.org/CreationMemorial). claytonjacksonmcghie.org. November 8, 2003.
Archived from the original (http://www.claytonjacksonmcghie.org/CreationMemorial) on
August 25, 2010. Retrieved November 3, 2012.
14. The Lyncher in Me; A Search for Redemption in the Face of History. (http://www.warren-rea
d.com) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20220504192838/http://www.warren-read.co
m/) May 4, 2022, at the Wayback Machine Read, Warren.
15. "Walz visits Clayton-Jackson-McGhie Memorial in Duluth, urges action to create change |
KSTP.com" (https://web.archive.org/web/20200615221340/https://kstp.com/minnesota-new
s/walz-visits-clayton-jackson-mcghie-memorial-in-duluth-urges-action-to-create-change-june
-15-2020/5760372/). kstp.com. Archived from the original (https://kstp.com/minnesota-news/
walz-visits-clayton-jackson-mcghie-memorial-in-duluth-urges-action-to-create-change-june-1
5-2020/5760372/) on June 15, 2020.
16. "Governor Tim Walz Officially Recognizes Elias Clayton, Elmer Jackson, and Isaac McGhie
Commemoration Day" (https://mn.gov/governor/news/?id=1055-436075). Archived (https://w
eb.archive.org/web/20210926145009/https://mn.gov/governor/news/?id=1055-436075) from
the original on September 26, 2021. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
17. Galioto, Katie, "'An unbroken line': Gov. Tim Walz connects Duluth lynchings 100 years ago
to George Floyd's death'" (https://www.startribune.com/unbroken-line-walz-connects-duluth-l
ynchings-100-years-ago-to-floyd-s-death/571265382/) Archived (https://web.archive.org/we
b/20220615164812/https://www.startribune.com/unbroken-line-walz-connects-duluth-lynchin
gs-100-years-ago-to-floyd-s-death/571265382/) June 15, 2022, at the Wayback Machine,
Minneapolis Star Tribune, June 15, 2020.
18. Dylan, Bob. "Desolation Row" (http://www.bobdylan.com/us/songs/desolation-row).
bobdylan.com. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20121215001852/http://www.bobdyla
n.com/us/songs/desolation-row) from the original on December 15, 2012. Retrieved June 2,
2014.
19. Hoekstra, Dave (July 1, 2001). "Dylan's Duluth Faces Up to Its Past" (https://web.archive.or
g/web/20140629122355/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4609996.html). Chicago Sun-
Times. Archived from the original (http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4609996.html) on
June 29, 2014. Retrieved May 29, 2014. See also: Polizzotti, Mark, Highway 61 Revisited,
Continuum, 2006, ISBN 0-8264-1775-2, pp. 139-141
20. "Century after Minnesota lynchings, black man convicted of rape 'because of his race' up for
pardon" (https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/06/12/duluth-lynchings-mason-pardo
n/). Washington Post. June 12, 2020. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/202201212139
49/https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/06/12/duluth-lynchings-mason-pardon/)
from the original on January 21, 2022. Retrieved June 18, 2020.

Further reading
Fedo, Michael (2000). The Lynchings in Duluth (https://archive.org/details/lynchin_fed_2000
_00_4368). St. Paul, MN: Minnesota Historical Society Press. ISBN 0-87351-386-X.

External links
Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial (https://web.archive.org/web/20060206062252/http://cla
ytonjacksonmcghie.org/index.php)
Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial Scholarship Fund (http://www.dsacommunityfoundation.
com/clayton-jackson-mcghie-memorial-scholarship-fund?tt=0), Duluth Superior Area
Community Foundation/
Memorial Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/Clayton-Jackson-McGhie-Memorial-In
c-130111997010200/)
Olsen, Ken. "Duluth Remembers 1920 Lynching" (https://web.archive.org/web/20060301055
417/http://www.tolerance.org/news/article_tol.jsp?id=879). Tolerance.org. Archived from the
original (http://www.tolerance.org/news/article_tol.jsp?id=879) on March 1, 2006. Retrieved
March 9, 2006.

"Duluth Lynchings Online Resources" (https://web.archive.org/web/20060207175703/http://c

ollections.mnhs.org/duluthlynchings/index.htm). Minnesota Historical Society. 2003.
Archived from the original (http://collections.mnhs.org:80/duluthlynchings/index.htm) on
February 7, 2006. Retrieved February 15, 2019.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Duluth_lynchings&oldid=1282810377"