Miles (or Relius) Phifer and Robert Crosky were lynched in Montgomery, Alabama for allegedly assaulting a white woman.
Lynching of Phifer and Crosky
In August or September 1919 Miles Phifer and Robert Crosky, Army veterans, were arrested over allegations they assaulted two white women in separate incidents in Montgomery, Alabama. The Gadsden Daily Times-News reported that the two had confessed to the assaults.[1] A mob had formed and a concerned citizen notified Alabama's Governor Thomas Kilby that there might be a lynching.[2] Kilby ordered the two to be transferred to the relative safety of the prison in nearby Wetumpka.[2] On September 29, 1919, the sheriff and his deputies were transporting Phifer and Crosky when they were stopped by a white mob of about 25 masked men.[3] The deputies stood by as the men pulled the two out of the car. They were taken into the wilderness 5 miles (8.0 km) outside of town and told to run. As Phifer and Crosky sprinted away from the mob they were gunned down. Croskey was killed instantly, but Phifer lived for a few hours.[2][4] According to some contemporary reports, both Phifer and Crosky were discharged soldiers and Phifer was still in his uniform when he was killed.[5][1] Other (later) sources mention only Crosky as a veteran.[3]
On 2 AM on September 30, 1919, a day after the lynching of Phifer and Crosky, Willie Temple was lynched in a hospital for allegedly fatally wounding Policeman Barbaree.[5]
These lynchings were part of a period of civil unrest now known as the American Red Summer of 1919. Attacks on black communities and white oppression spread to more than three dozen cities and counties. In most cases, white mobs attacked African American neighborhoods. In some cases, black community groups resisted the attacks, especially in Chicago and Washington, D.C. Most deaths occurred in rural areas during events like the Elaine race riot in Arkansas, where an estimated 100 to 240 blacks and 5 whites were killed. Other major events of Red Summer were the Chicago race riot and Washington D.C. Race Riot, which caused 38 and 39 deaths, respectively. Both riots had many more non-fatal injuries and extensive property damage reaching up into the millions of dollars.[6]
The Bridgeport Times and Evening Farmer (September 30, 1919). "Negro Shot To Death By Mob". The Bridgeport Times and Evening Farmer. Bridgeport, Fairfield, Connecticut: Farmer Pub. Co. pp. 1–16. ISSN2381-0068. OCLC25612160. Retrieved September 8, 2019.
Williams, Chad Louis (2010). Torchbearers of Democracy: African American Soldiers in the World War I Era. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 9780807833940. - Total pages: 452
