The Duluth Lynchings

June 15, 1920 is a sad reminder of the dark corners in American history when a 19 year-old Irene Tusken went over to watch the African-American circus workers load the circus wagons and was raped by six of the James Robinson Circus employees. The police quickly arrested several black men accused of committing the crime on the white woman. This occurred at a period of heightened racial conflict across the country. In the evening a mob broke into the jail and following a mock trial, declared Elias Clayton, Isaac McGhie and Elmer Jackson guilty. And taking them out of the jail, the mob lynched them on a light pole. Later the black community called for justice but the lynch mob was only lightly punished.