Draft:Louis F. Wright

Lynching of Louis Wright should link here

Louis F. Wright was a 19 year old performer from Ottawa, Kansas who was lynched in New Madrid, Missouri in February 17, 1902.[1][2] He had reportedly insulted white boys who had thrown snowballs at him and they came to his company's show (Richard and Pringle's famous Georgia Minstrels) and tried to find him after it. He reportedly shot at the approaching individuals and was later arrested along with the rest of the company. He was taken from the jail by a mob and hung.[3]

He performed in blackface. Media accounts of the events differed in white and black papers.[4] According to America's Blakc Holocaust Museum Wright's murder was one of several pynchings that took place in Mew Madrid.[5] He had been with the troupe several seasons. He was hung from a tree.[6]


See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Lynching at New Madrid". Weekly Citizen Democrat. 20 February 1902. p. 1. Retrieved 3 December 2023.  
  2. ^ "Louis F. Wright - A Negro of the Richards & Pringle Minstrels is Lynched". The Weekly Record. 22 February 1902. p. 4. Retrieved 3 December 2023. 
  3. ^ Scott, Michelle R. (February 28, 2023). T.O.B.A. Time: Black Vaudeville and the Theater Owners' Booking Association in Jazz-Age America. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 9780252054037 – via Google Books.
  4. ^ Scott, Michelle R. (September 1, 2022). ""Good Business in Missouri": Minstrelsy, Violence, and the Case of Louis Wright". The Journal of African American History. 107 (4): 491–522. doi:10.1086/721746. S2CID 254878251 – via CrossRef.
  5. ^ "Missouri Lynching Victims Memorial". America's Black Holocaust Museum.
  6. ^ "Louis Wright of Ottawa lynched after minstrel show in Missouri". February 19, 1902. p. 1 – via newspapers.com.