Trial by Mob recording
The 1920 lynching of three young black men in Duluth will be retold in a KVSC 88.1 FM radio drama airing noon March 1.
“Trial by Mob: The Duluth Lynchings” is a first-time production of a Michael Fedo script, which is based on Fedo’s 2000 Minnesota Historical Society Press book “The Lynchings in Duluth.”
Related links
Fedo, producer Jo McMullen-Boyer ’91, director Carol Cooley and others will preview the hour-long drama at a free public discussion and program launch 7 p.m. Feb. 25 in the Atwood Memorial Center theater.
A Duluth native, Fedo is a retired journalist and former college professor. McMullen Boyer is the KVSC station manager. Cooley is costume shop director for the SCSU Department of Theatre and Film Studies. Among others in the discussion will be Debra Leigh, lead organizer for SCSU’s Community Anti-Racism Education Initiative, and Barry Schreiber, SCSU criminal justice studies professor.
On the evening of June 15, 1920, a crowd of thousands attacked the police station in Duluth, pulling Elias Clayton, Elmer Jackson and Isaac McGhie from their jail cells. The three young black men were beaten and hanged by their necks from a lamp post at Second Avenue East and First Street.
The men, who were working for a traveling circus, were accused of raping 19-year-old Irene Tusken on the evening of June 14. Little evidence would be found to corroborate these claims. A June 15 examination of Tusken by David Graham, a family physician, showed no physical signs of rape or assault.
No one was convicted for murdering Clayton, Jackson and McGhie.
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/189688394″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]
The lynchings happened during a violent period of racial hysteria in America. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People documented at least 3,224 Americans lynched between 1889 and 1918. Of those, 79 percent were black.
“Trial by Mob: The Duluth Lynchings” was recorded, mixed and mastered by Nick Hendrickson ’12, a satellite truck engineer for Arctek HD. Among the cast of 14 actors and more than 10 vocal extras were students, former students and alumni, including senior J.T. Scott, Minneapolis; sophomore Korina Borash, Esko; John O’Toole Peterson ’14, St. Cloud; and Andy Valenty, St. Cloud.
The production was made possible, in part, by a grant from Minnesota’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. It is KVSC’s second major contribution to local history in recent years. In 2009, the station produced a series of podcasts by a Holocaust survivior, the late Henry Oertelt.
The March 1 airing will be available on 88.1 FM or online at www.kvsc.org and through the TuneIn mobile app for people outside of the listening area.
Licensed to St. Cloud State since 1967, KVSC is an independent community radio station that broadcasts non-stop to a potential Central Minnesota audience of two million people.
