Forest City lynching

Forest City lynching
Date	August 29, 1900
Location	Forest City, North Carolina

Last updated April 27, 2024

Avery Mills was an African-American farmer who was lynched in Forest City, North Carolina on August 29, 1900. The lynching occurred the day after Mills had been arrested for shooting his landlord, Mills Higgins Flack, in self-defense. His pregnant wife Raney Mills was also arrested but was not lynched because of her pregnancy. She was subsequently convicted of second degree murder for the shooting of Flack and served a year of her sentence before being pardoned by Governor Charles B. Aycock.

Historical background

After the conclusion of the Civil War, deep tensions emerged in the South as its economy underwent a massive transformation. Landowning white farmers saw their fortunes decline as interest rates rose and crop prices decreased, meanwhile large numbers of landless African-American and white laborers were forced into the predatory dynamic of tenant farming. Tenant farmers in the South worked under a crop-lien system that saw them saddled by debt and forced into indentured servitude.^[1]

The industrialization of the South, proliferation of cotton mills, and exploitation of tenant farmers did not bring much wealth to small farm owners, who grew increasingly frustrated with the political and economic conditions of the day. Many white voters were dissatisfied with the ruling Democratic Party, whose policies mostly served to enrich factory owning elites. In response to this, the Democratic Party began a campaign of increasingly populist and white supremacist rhetoric in an successful attempt to harness the frustrations of white farmers and laborers for political gain.^[1]

The specific tensions that existed between free African-American tenant farmers and white landowners often gave way to violence, resulting in lynchings and other hate crimes.^[2] Lynchings also increased during the summer, when white landowners had incentive to take ripe crops and harvests away from their tenants, by threat or force. These factors likely contributed to the altercation which resulted in Avery Mills' lynching.^[3]

Principal figures

Avery Mills and Raney Mills

Avery Mills was an African-American tenant farmer born in December 1878. He worked on land owned by Mills Higgins Flack, a white farm owner in Rutherford County, North Carolina. He lived with his wife Raney Mills, born in 1882. The Mills had a daughter named Massey 1899, and Raney was pregnant with their second child in the summer of 1900. Both of the Mills were born free, and Avery possibly rented the land he worked on from Flack.^[4]

Mills Higgins Flack

Mills Higgins Flack was a farmer of Scotch-Irish descent whose ancestors had moved to the Tryon County region in the 18th century. During the Civil War, Flack served as a captain in the North Carolina Home Guard, 63rd Battalion. Prior to Emancipation, the Flacks had owned a number of slaves. They continued to be prosperous after the war, as Flack owned a productive farm in Cove Creek. He later moved to a new farm in Hamilton Quarters, near Bostic, and then purchased a farm near Burnt Chimney (now Forest City).^[5] Around this time, the Flack family's fortunes began to decrease as they fell on hard times.^[1]

Events

Shooting of Mills Higgins Flack

According to Flack's 13-year-old son Otho, the dispute began when Raney Mills asked the Mills Higgins Flack to stop picking peaches from the Mills' farm. The Flacks were offended at this request, as it infringed on the balance of power and unspoken "racial etiquette".^[6] By not deferring to Flack as a white man and landlord, Raney had grievously offended him.^[4]

Mills Higgins Flack visited the Mills' on the morning of August 28, 1900 to discuss the disagreement. He brought a shotgun with him, and was accompanied by Otho. The argument grew heated, and Otho alleged that Raney threw a rock at Flack. Flack drew his pistol and shot Avery Mills in the hip. Avery attempted to retreat to his house and Flack followed, hitting him over the head with his shotgun. Avery asked Raney to hand him his pistol. According to Otho, she brought him the pistol, although she denied having handed it to him. Flack then tried to take the pistol away from him. During the struggle, Avery Mills shot Mills Higgins Flack, fatally wounding him.^[4]

The Mills' were both arrested shortly after the shooting, and Flack died within the hour. His final words, spoken to a number of friends and others who had come to witness the aftermath, were that he wanted them to ensure Mills was hanged. Newspapers quickly reported garbled accounts of the shooting, claiming that Avery Mills had shot Flack in cold blood and that Flack had wounded Mills with his dying breaths.^[3]

Lynching of Avery Mills and trial of Raney Mills

The Mills' were brought to court in Forest City, where they were charged with murder by Judge Cicero Greene. The judge ordered that they be brought six miles northwest to the county jail in Rutherfordton. Marshall Sam Henrick and Constable William C. Hardin began to drive the Mills' to Rutherfordton by wagon but were intercepted halfway there by a mob of about 250 men. They took Avery Mills out of the wagon and dragged him to a nearby road. He was shot over 20 times, while Raney attempted to escape in the confusion. She was caught, but was allowed to live because she was pregnant at the time.^[3]

Both Avery Mills and Mills Higgins Flack were buried on August 29. Flack was buried in Cool Springs Cemetery, Forest City, while Mills' burial place is unknown. None of the men who lynched Mills were arrested, and convictions were made in the case. Raney Mills was subsequently taken to jail in Rutherfordton and faced trial in November. Her case was moved to Cleveland County due to concerns that she would not receive a fair trial. She was convicted of second degree murder in a trial by jury. However, the judge presiding over the case, William S. O'Brien Robinson, felt that the jury's verdict was unfair. He petitioned Governor Charles B. Aycock to pardon her, which Aycock did as he agreed with O'Brien Robinson. Mills was pardoned on May 6, 1901, having served a year of her sentence and given birth to her baby during that time.^[3]

Related Research Articles

Rutherford County is a county in the southwestern area of the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 64,444. Its county seat is Rutherfordton. Rutherford County comprises the Forest City, NC Micropolitan Statistical Area.

Pittsboro is a town in Chatham County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 3,743 at the 2010 census and 4,537 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Chatham County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Forest City, North Carolina</span> Town in North Carolina, United States

Forest City, formerly known as "Burnt Chimney," is a town in Rutherford County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 7,377 as of the 2020 census, making it the most populous municipality in Rutherford County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spindale, North Carolina</span> Town in North Carolina, United States

Spindale is a town in Rutherford County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 4,321 at the 2010 census.

The People's Party, also known as the Populist Party or simply the Populists, was an agrarian populist political party in the United States in the late 19th century. The Populist Party emerged in the early 1890s as an important force in the Southern and Western United States, but collapsed after it nominated Democrat William Jennings Bryan in the 1896 United States presidential election. A rump faction of the party continued to operate into the first decade of the 20th century, but never matched the popularity of the party in the early 1890s.

Benjamin Ryan Tillman was a politician of the Democratic Party who served as governor of South Carolina from 1890 to 1894, and as a United States Senator from 1895 until his death in 1918. A white supremacist who opposed civil rights for black Americans, Tillman led a paramilitary group of Red Shirts during South Carolina's violent 1876 election. On the floor of the U.S. Senate, he defended lynching, and frequently ridiculed black Americans in his speeches, boasting of having helped kill them during that campaign.

Charles Brantley Aycock was the 50th governor of the U.S. state of North Carolina from 1901 to 1905. After starting his career as a lawyer and teacher, he became active in the Democratic Party during the party's Solid South period, and made his reputation as a prominent segregationist.

Locke Craig, an American lawyer and Democratic politician, was the 53rd governor of the U.S. state of North Carolina, serving from 1913 until 1917.

Marion Butler was an American politician, farmer, and lawyer. He represented North Carolina in the United States Senate for one term, serving between 1895 and 1901. At the time, he was a leader of the North Carolina Populist Party, and also affiliated with the Democratic Party and the Republican Party at different points in his career. He was the older brother of George Edwin Butler.

Following the end of Reconstruction, African Americans created a broad-based independent political movement in the South: Black Populism.

The Wilmington insurrection of 1898, also known as the Wilmington massacre of 1898 or the Wilmington coup of 1898, was a coup d'état and a massacre which was carried out by white supremacists in Wilmington, North Carolina, United States, on Thursday, November 10, 1898. The white press in Wilmington originally described the event as a race riot caused by black people. Since the late 20th century and further study, the event has been characterized as a violent overthrow of a duly elected government by a group of white supremacists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western North Carolina</span> Geographic region of the U.S. state of North Carolina

Western North Carolina is the region of North Carolina which includes the Appalachian Mountains; it is often known geographically as the state's Mountain Region. It contains the highest mountains in the Eastern United States, with 125 peaks rising to over 5,000 feet in elevation. Mount Mitchell at 6,684 feet, is the highest peak of the Appalachian Mountains and mainland eastern North America. The population of the 23 most commonly associated counties for the region, as measured by the 2020 U.S. Census, is 1,149,405. The region accounts for approximately 11% of North Carolina's total population.

The Red Shirts or Redshirts of the Southern United States were white supremacist paramilitary terrorist groups that were active in the late 19th century in the last years of, and after the end of, the Reconstruction era of the United States. Red Shirt groups originated in Mississippi in 1875, when anti-Reconstruction private terror units adopted red shirts to make themselves more visible and threatening to Southern Republicans, both whites and freedmen. Similar groups in the Carolinas also adopted red shirts.

Griffith Rutherford was an American military officer in the Revolutionary War and the Cherokee-American Wars, a political leader in North Carolina, and an important figure in the early history of the Southwest Territory and the state of Tennessee.

In the U.S. state of North Carolina U.S. Route 221 (US 221) is a north–south highway that travels through Western North Carolina. From Chesnee, South Carolina to Independence, Virginia, it connects the cities of Rutherfordton, Marion, Boone and Jefferson between the two out-of-state destinations. Its most memorable section, known as the Little Parkway Scenic Byway between Linville and Blowing Rock, offers area visitors a curvier alternative to the Blue Ridge Parkway and access to Grandfather Mountain.

Cliffside is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in southeastern Rutherford County, North Carolina, United States. Its population was 611 as of the 2010 census. Cliffside has a post office with ZIP code 28024. U.S. Route 221 Alternate and North Carolina Highway 120 pass through the community.

The Black Belt in the American South refers to the social history, especially concerning slavery and black workers, of the geological region known as the Black Belt. The geology emphasizes the highly fertile black soil. Historically, the black belt economy was based on cotton plantations – along with some tobacco plantation areas along the Virginia-North Carolina border. The valuable land was largely controlled by rich whites, and worked by very poor, primarily black slaves who in many counties constituted a majority of the population. Generally the term is applied to a larger region than that defined by its geology.

The Carolina Central Railroad, was a railway company in the United States. It was incorporated in 1855 as the Wilmington and Charlotte Railroad and was renamed the Wilmington, Charlotte and Rutherford Railroad shortly after. It was reorganized as the Carolina Central Railway in 1873. It built 152 miles (245 km) of track, in two unconnected sections, in the southern part of North Carolina. The company was again reorganized as the Carolina Central Railroad in 1880. In 1900, the Carolina Central Railroad was merged into the Seaboard Air Line Railroad. Its lines are now owned by CSX Transportation.

Wyatt Patrick Exum was an American farmer, physician and politician. Born in Wayne County, North Carolina, he studied medicine at Trinity College and served in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. Left impoverished by the war, he resumed his medical practice and eventually made enough money to establish a farm in Wayne County. Exum joined the Populist Party and was nominated as its candidate in the 1892 North Carolina gubernatorial election after the first candidate withdrew. Politically unknown in much of the state, Exum was a poor public speaker and his campaign was marked by several scandals publicized by the Democratic press, including an incident where he attacked Charles B. Aycock with a knife. He placed third in the election, winning a majority of the votes in only three counties. His health declined as he aged and he died in 1911.

References

1 2 3 Cole, J. Timothy (2016-04-05). The Forest City Lynching of 1900: Populism, Racism, and White Supremacy in Rutherford County, North Carolina. McFarland. pp. 29–62. ISBN 978-0-7864-8040-1.
↑ Baker, David Victor (October 2012). "Female Lynchings in the United States: Amending the Historical Record". Race and Justice. 2 (4): 356–391. doi:10.1177/2153368712459272. ISSN 2153-3687. S2CID 145337952.
1 2 3 4 Cole, J. Timothy (2016-04-05). The Forest City Lynching of 1900: Populism, Racism, and White Supremacy in Rutherford County, North Carolina. McFarland. pp. 67–78. ISBN 978-0-7864-8040-1.
1 2 3 Cole, J. Timothy (2016-04-05). The Forest City Lynching of 1900: Populism, Racism, and White Supremacy in Rutherford County, North Carolina. McFarland. pp. 62–66. ISBN 978-0-7864-8040-1.
↑ Cole, J. Timothy (2016-04-05). The Forest City Lynching of 1900: Populism, Racism, and White Supremacy in Rutherford County, North Carolina. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-8040-1.
↑ "Forest City Lynching - North Carolina History". North Carolina History -. 2016-03-07. Retrieved 2024-03-03.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[:0-1] 1 2 3 Cole, J. Timothy (2016-04-05). The Forest City Lynching of 1900: Populism, Racism, and White Supremacy in Rutherford County, North Carolina. McFarland. pp. 29–62. ISBN 978-0-7864-8040-1.

[2] Baker, David Victor (October 2012). "Female Lynchings in the United States: Amending the Historical Record". Race and Justice. 2 (4): 356–391. doi:10.1177/2153368712459272. ISSN 2153-3687. S2CID 145337952.

[:2-3] 1 2 3 4 Cole, J. Timothy (2016-04-05). The Forest City Lynching of 1900: Populism, Racism, and White Supremacy in Rutherford County, North Carolina. McFarland. pp. 67–78. ISBN 978-0-7864-8040-1.

[:1-4] 1 2 3 Cole, J. Timothy (2016-04-05). The Forest City Lynching of 1900: Populism, Racism, and White Supremacy in Rutherford County, North Carolina. McFarland. pp. 62–66. ISBN 978-0-7864-8040-1.

[5] Cole, J. Timothy (2016-04-05). The Forest City Lynching of 1900: Populism, Racism, and White Supremacy in Rutherford County, North Carolina. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-8040-1.

[6] "Forest City Lynching - North Carolina History". North Carolina History -. 2016-03-07. Retrieved 2024-03-03.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]