02/01/2025
Here is a historical timeline of lynchings, massacres of African Americans, and major floods in U.S. history from the 16th century onward. This is a small list of occurrences there is much more!
1. Lynchings of African Americans
Lynching was a form of racial terrorism that peaked between the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Documented cases began increasing after the Civil War.
• 1619 – First enslaved Africans arrive in Jamestown, Virginia.
• 1865-1877 – Reconstruction Era: Rise of racial violence, including Ku Klux Klan (K*K) lynchings.
• 1882-1968 – More than 4,700 documented lynchings, mainly in the South.
• 1891 – 11 Italian Americans lynched in New Orleans, Louisiana.
• 1892 – Ida B. Wells exposes lynchings, documenting 230 in a single year.
• 1916 – Jesse Washington lynched in Waco, Texas, with thousands watching.
• 1920 – Three Black men lynched in Duluth, Minnesota.
• 1921 – Elias Clayton, Elmer Jackson, and Isaac McGhie lynched in Duluth, Minnesota.
• 1930 – Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith lynched in Marion, Indiana (famous photo taken).
• 1955 – Emmett Till, a 14-year-old, lynched in Mississippi, sparking the Civil Rights Movement.
2. Massacres of African Americans
Massacres were used to suppress African Americans’ political and economic progress.
• 1811 – German Coast Uprising Massacre (Louisiana): Enslaved people revolted; hundreds killed.
• 1831 – Nat Turner Rebellion Retaliation (Virginia): Hundreds of Black people killed in retaliation.
• 1863 – New York City Draft Riots: White mobs killed Black residents over the Civil War draft.
• 1866 – Memphis Massacre (Tennessee): White mobs and police killed 46 Black people.
• 1866 – New Orleans Massacre: White supremacists attacked Black political activists, killing nearly 50.
• 1873 – Colfax Massacre (Louisiana): Over 100 Black men killed by white supremacists.
• 1898 – Wilmington Insurrection (North Carolina): White supremacists overthrew the Black-led government and killed dozens.
• 1917 – East St. Louis Massacre (Illinois): Over 100 Black people killed in race riots.
• 1919 – Red Summer: White mobs attacked Black communities in more than 25 cities.
• 1921 – Tulsa Race Massacre (Oklahoma): White mobs destroyed Black Wall Street, killing 300.
• 1923 – Rosewood Massacre (Florida): A Black town was burned down; dozens killed.
3. Major Floods in U.S. History
Floods disproportionately affected Black communities, often worsening segregation and economic hardship.
• 1927 – The Great Mississippi Flood: The worst flood in U.S. history displaced hundreds of thousands, mostly Black sharecroppers. Many were forced into labor camps.
• 1937 – Ohio River Flood: Devastated Louisville, KY, where Black neighborhoods were left without aid.
• 1965 – Hurricane Betsy: Flooded New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward, a majority-Black neighborhood.
• 2005 – Hurricane Katrina: Levee failures disproportionately impacted Black communities in New Orleans, leading to government neglect.
Here is an expanded list of major floods in U.S. history, including those that disproportionately affected African American communities and other marginalized groups.
16th – 19th Century
• 1849 – St. Louis Flood (Missouri): The Mississippi River flooded, destroying 15 steamboats and much of downtown St. Louis.
• 1874 – Mill River Flood (Massachusetts): A dam failure led to widespread flooding, killing 139 people.
• 1889 – Johnstown Flood (Pennsylvania): A dam collapse killed over 2,200 people, making it one of the deadliest floods in U.S. history.
20th Century
• 1900 – Galveston Hurricane (Texas): Massive flooding from the deadliest hurricane in U.S. history killed over 8,000 people.
• 1913 – Great Flood of 1913 (Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, New York): Widespread flooding left over 600 people dead.
• 1927 – The Great Mississippi Flood (Midwest & South):
• Affected Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Illinois, Tennessee, Texas, and Kentucky.
• Over 700,000 displaced, with many Black sharecroppers forced into labor camps.
• Led to mass migration of African Americans to the North.
• 1935 – Colorado Flood: Torrential rain led to the flooding of the Arkansas River, causing destruction in Pueblo, Colorado.
• 1937 – Ohio River Flood (Midwest & South):
• Affected Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois, and West Virginia.
• Displaced 1 million people, devastating many Black communities that were denied government aid.
• 1940 – Rhode Island Flood: Rivers overflowed across the state, causing severe damage.
• 1951 – Great Kansas Flood (Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Nebraska): Floodwaters covered two million acres and destroyed numerous Black neighborhoods.
• 1955 – Connecticut Flood: Hurricanes Connie and Diane caused severe flooding, destroying homes and killing nearly 100 people.
Late 20th – 21st Century
• 1965 – Hurricane Betsy (Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida):
• Flooded New Orleans, especially the Lower Ninth Ward, a majority-Black neighborhood.
• Black residents were disproportionately affected, and the government’s response was slow.
• 1972 – Hurricane Agnes (Florida to New York): Severe flooding killed 128 people across the East Coast.
• 1976 – Big Thompson Flood (Colorado): Flash flooding killed 144 people in a canyon community.
• 1993 – Great Midwest Flood (Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Minnesota):
• The Mississippi and Missouri Rivers overflowed, devastating hundreds of communities.
• Many Black neighborhoods received little aid.
• 2005 – Hurricane Katrina (Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York):
• One of the most devastating floods in U.S. history.
• Levee failures disproportionately impacted Black residents in New Orleans, especially in the Lower Ninth Ward.
• Government response was widely criticized for racial and economic disparities.
• 2012 – Hurricane Sandy (East Coast, especially New York and New Jersey):
• Flooding affected Black and Latino neighborhoods in NYC, such as Far Rockaway and Red Hook.
• Many public housing residents were left without aid for weeks.
• 2016 – Louisiana Flood:
• Over 100,000 homes damaged or destroyed.
• Many low-income Black families in Baton Rouge struggled to receive FEMA assistance.
• 2017 – Hurricane Harvey (Texas, Louisiana):
• Houston’s Black and Latino neighborhoods were hit hardest, with thousands of homes lost.
• Many communities were neglected in recovery efforts.
• 2019 – Midwest Floods (Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, South Dakota, Minnesota, Kansas, Wisconsin, and Illinois):
• Catastrophic flooding affected farmland and communities.
• Low-income families in rural areas received little aid.
• 2022 – Kentucky Floods:
• Eastern Kentucky experienced historic flooding.
• Many Black and low-income communities faced challenges in receiving disaster relief.
There have been several hidden or lesser-known floods in the South that disproportionately targeted or harmed Black communities—either through intentional flooding, poor infrastructure planning, or systemic neglect. Many of these disasters were covered up, ignored, or misrepresented in official records. Here are some key examples:
1. The “Levee Bombing” of New Orleans (1927 & 1965) – Louisiana
1927 – The Great Mississippi Flood
• The government intentionally dynamited a levee in St. Bernard and Plaquemines Parishes to protect white neighborhoods in New Orleans.
• Black communities were flooded instead, and thousands were left homeless.
• The city had promised compensation to Black flood victims, but most never received a dime.
1965 – Hurricane Betsy
• Black residents of the Lower Ninth Ward suspected that levees were intentionally breached to redirect floodwaters away from wealthier, white areas.
• The government denied it, but later investigations by researchers and engineers supported the claim that levees may have been weakened on purpose.
2. The Tuskegee Floods (1930s-1960s) – Alabama
• In Tuskegee, Black farmers were forced to live in low-lying flood-prone areas due to discriminatory housing policies.
• The government refused to build flood protection measures in these neighborhoods, even as white areas were fortified.
• Repeated floods forced many Black landowners to abandon their farms, contributing to the loss of Black-owned land in Alabama.
3. The Nashville Redlining Floods (1950s-1970s) – Tennessee
• Black neighborhoods were systematically built in flood zones due to redlining and discriminatory city planning.
• When floods hit, Black homeowners were denied insurance coverage and government assistance.
• Many Black families were forced to relocate, making room for highway projects and urban renewal that benefited white developers.
4. The Biloxi & Gulf Coast Floods (1950s-1960s) – Mississippi
• Black residents along the Gulf Coast were repeatedly displaced by hurricanes and floods.
• The government rebuilt white tourist areas first, while Black neighborhoods were left in disrepair.
• After Hurricane Camille (1969), thousands of Black residents were denied federal assistance, even though wealthier white homeowners received full compensation.
5. The Ocala Floods (1950s-1970s) – Florida
• The Ocala National Forest region was prone to flooding, but only Black communities were forced to live in these areas under segregation laws.
• The city refused to build proper drainage, leaving Black residents to suffer repeated floods.
• When major floods hit in the 1960s, many Black homeowners were forced to sell their land at low prices, allowing white developers to take over the area.
6. The Arkansas River Flooding (1960s-1980s) – Arkansas
• In Little Rock and Pine Bluff, Black neighborhoods were intentionally left out of flood control projects.
• When floods hit, city officials refused to send emergency aid to affected Black communities.
• Many homes were abandoned, leading to gentrification and white land grabs.
7. The Savannah & Charleston Coastal Displacements (1940s-1980s) – Georgia & South Carolina
• Black coastal communities were repeatedly displaced by flooding, hurricanes, and government neglect.
• Wealthy white developers used flood damage as an excuse to push Black residents out and turn land into resorts and luxury neighborhoods.
• This happened in places like Hilton Head, Sapelo Island, and the Georgia Sea Islands, where Black Gullah-Geechee communities lost their ancestral lands.
8. The Baton Rouge “Sacrificial Flooding” (1990s-2000s) – Louisiana
• In Baton Rouge, Black communities were repeatedly flooded while white neighborhoods were protected by improved drainage and levees.
• After the 2001 floods, a controversial city project intentionally diverted water away from white areas, flooding Black neighborhoods instead.
• Residents protested, but the city ignored them, and more homes were lost in later floods.
9. The Hidden Consequences of Hurricane Katrina (2005) – Louisiana
• Beyond the well-documented levee failures that flooded the Lower Ninth Ward, other intentional and systemic actions worsened the disaster for Black residents:
• Emergency buses left without picking up Black evacuees.
• FEMA trailers were denied to Black applicants at higher rates.
• Post-flood reconstruction prioritized white tourist areas while Black neighborhoods were left in ruins.
• The “Road Home” program gave smaller payouts to Black homeowners, forcing many out of the city permanently.
10. The Houston Environmental Flooding Crisis (2000s-2020s) – Texas
• Houston’s Black and Latino neighborhoods were built in low-lying flood zones due to racist housing policies.
• When Hurricane Harvey (2017) hit, these areas suffered the worst flooding.
• After the flood, white areas were rebuilt first, while Black communities like Kashmere Gardens struggled to receive aid.
Patterns of Hidden “Black Floods” in the South
1. Intentional Flooding – Levees and dams were breached to save white areas while sacrificing Black neighborhoods (e.g., New Orleans 1927 & 1965, Baton Rouge 2001).
2. Redlining & Flood Zones – Black families were forced to live in flood-prone areas while white neighborhoods were protected (e.g., Nashville, Houston, Arkansas River floods).
3. Government Neglect – Black communities received little or no emergency aid after floods (e.g., Biloxi, Ocala, Pine Bluff, Savannah, Charleston).
4. Land Theft & Displacement – Developers used floods as an excuse to push Black families out and gentrify the land (e.g., Vanport 1948, Hilton Head, Georgia Sea Islands).
