Rage in the Gate City

During the hot summer of 1906, anger simmered in Atlanta, a city that outwardly savored its reputation as the Gate City of the New South, a place where the races lived peacefully, if apart, and everyone focused more on prosperity than prejudice. But racial hatred came to the forefront during a heated political campaign, and the city’s newspapers fanned its flames with sensational reports alleging assaults on white women by black men. The rage erupted in late September, and, during one of the most brutal race riots in the history of America, roving groups of whites attacked and killed at least twenty-five blacks. After four days of violence, black and white civic leaders came together in unprecedented meetings that can be viewed as either concerted public relations efforts to downplay the events, or as setting the stage for Atlanta’s Civil Rights leadership half a century later.

Rage in the Gate City focuses on the events of August and September 1906, offering a tightly woven narrative account of those eventful days and their impact on the future of Atlanta.

First published in 2006, Rage in the Gate City was a finalist in the 2007 Georgia Author of the Year awards and was the selection for the 2008 P.E.N./Faulkner books in schools program for Atlanta Public Schools. It was published in a second edition by University of Georgia Press in 2009.

>> Read the foreword to the 2009 edition by Dr. June Dobbs Butts

>> Learn more about the 1906 Atlanta race riot