Banished from Johnstown: Racist Backlash in Pennsylvania

Author and journalist Cody McDevitt tells the story of one of the worst civil rights injustices in Western Pennsylvania history.

In 1923, in response to the fatal shooting of four policemen, the mayor of Johnstown ordered every African American and Mexican immigrant who had lived in the city for less than seven years to leave. They were given less than a day to move or would face crippling fines or jail time and were forced out at gunpoint. An estimated two thousand people uprooted their lives in response to the racist edict. Area Ku Klux Klan members celebrated the creation of a "sundown town" and increased their own intimidation practices. Figures such as Marcus Garvey spoke out in Pittsburgh against it as newspapers throughout the country published condemnations.

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Banished from Johnstown: Racist Backlash in Pennsylvania

Author and journalist Cody McDevitt tells the story of one of the worst civil rights injustices in Western Pennsylvania history.

In 1923, in response to the fatal shooting of four policemen, the mayor of Johnstown ordered every African American and Mexican immigrant who had lived in the city for less than seven years to leave. They were given less than a day to move or would face crippling fines or jail time and were forced out at gunpoint. An estimated two thousand people uprooted their lives in response to the racist edict. Area Ku Klux Klan members celebrated the creation of a "sundown town" and increased their own intimidation practices. Figures such as Marcus Garvey spoke out in Pittsburgh against it as newspapers throughout the country published condemnations.

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Banished from Johnstown: Racist Backlash in Pennsylvania

Banished from Johnstown: Racist Backlash in Pennsylvania

Banished from Johnstown: Racist Backlash in Pennsylvania

Banished from Johnstown: Racist Backlash in Pennsylvania

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Overview

Author and journalist Cody McDevitt tells the story of one of the worst civil rights injustices in Western Pennsylvania history.

In 1923, in response to the fatal shooting of four policemen, the mayor of Johnstown ordered every African American and Mexican immigrant who had lived in the city for less than seven years to leave. They were given less than a day to move or would face crippling fines or jail time and were forced out at gunpoint. An estimated two thousand people uprooted their lives in response to the racist edict. Area Ku Klux Klan members celebrated the creation of a "sundown town" and increased their own intimidation practices. Figures such as Marcus Garvey spoke out in Pittsburgh against it as newspapers throughout the country published condemnations.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781467142748
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date: 01/27/2020
Series: American Heritage
Pages: 224
Sales rank: 207,763
Product dimensions: 5.90(w) x 8.80(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author


Cody McDevitt is an award-winning journalist and the founder of the Rosedale Oral History Project, which is the basis for Banished from Johnstown: Racist Backlash in Pennsylvania. Recently, he released a compendium of firsthand accounts of veterans who fought in World War II called Answering the Call: Somerset County during World War II. He is also the coauthor of Pittsburgh Drinks: A History of Cocktails, Nightlife & Bartending Tradition, which is available on Amazon and in select bookstores locally. He lives near Pittsburgh and works for the Somerset Daily American.

Table of Contents

Foreword Tony Norman 9

Introduction 13

Shock and the Search for a Cause 15

Bad Elements and Bad Reactions 49

The Spark 67

Fever Heat 75

The Overlord 79

Keeping the Peace 89

The Order 95

Burning Intolerance 99

The Good Democrat 105

Taking Notice 111

National Furor 117

The Governor 123

Repudiation 133

Growing Outrage 141

Southern Propaganda 147

Cauffiel's Explanations 157

State Investigation 161

Aftermath 169

Afterword 189

Acknowledgements 191

Notes 193

Bibliography 199

About the Author 224

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