In 1920, racial conflict was heightened in America, especially following the Red Summer of 1919. On June 15, 1920, six young black men working at the John Robinson Circus were arrested for the alleged rape of a white woman. A mob between the estimated size of 1,000 and 10,000 formed and broke into the cells of the accused black men. Three of the accused—Elias Clayton, Elmer Jackson, and Isaac McGhie—were dragged away and beaten, then hanged from a lamppost. After the event, seven other suspects were indicted for the alleged rape, but the mob was only lightly punished. This lynching garnered national attention due to happening in a northern state, and many blacks moved out of Duluth for fear of another episode of racial violence. The Duluth charter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was established, which campaigned for anti-lynching legislation. In 1991, the three victims were finally honored with headstones for their previously unmarked graves in Duluth’s Park Hill Cemetery.
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