Educational
Example: Morgan County, WV - Riot of 1919
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The Morgan County, West Virginia race riot of 1919 was caused by big business using African-American strikebreakers against striking white workers in Morgan County, West Virginia.
On the same day of the riots one Hugh Ferguson, a Martinsburg African-American, was accused of criminally assaulting Mrs. Ernest Zimmerman at her home near Brosius, Morgan County (now known as Hancock, West Virginia). An angry mob of several hundred men formed around the jail hoping to lynch Ferguson. Sheriff C. R. Hovermale was forced to flee with Ferguson to Berkeley Springs. When the lynching mob followed them they were again forced to flee to the county seat of Berkeley County, West Virginia, Martinsburg.
On the same day of the riots one Hugh Ferguson, a Martinsburg African-American, was accused of criminally assaulting Mrs. Ernest Zimmerman at her home near Brosius, Morgan County (now known as Hancock, West Virginia). An angry mob of several hundred men formed around the jail hoping to lynch Ferguson. Sheriff C. R. Hovermale was forced to flee with Ferguson to Berkeley Springs. When the lynching mob followed them they were again forced to flee to the county seat of Berkeley County, West Virginia, Martinsburg.