100 Years Ago - Atlanta Race Riot

There are many portions of our history, especially in regard to race, that go untaught and unnoticed.  For most of my own personal history, I have lived as if race was never a big deal.  I knew some bad stuff happened in the past, but that was the past and (I thought) it was probably not that bad because people are generally nice to people.  I was blissfully ignorant in most areas concerning race.  

Over the past few years I have received quite the education.  So, I was shocked on Sunday to learn about a riot that took place in Atlanta 100 years ago this past Thursday.  These are the ugly, but true, aspects of our history that we fail to look at and then fail to learn from.  
There are many accounts of this, but the NPR site does a good job with the whole story.  You can check it out here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6106285&ft=1&f=2

From the NPR Article -
"The modern-day civil-rights movement grew out of the biracial coalitions that were established at that time. Many current leaders will gather this weekend for a series of events commemorating the 1906 race riot, including a memorial service, walking tours and an exhibit called "Red Was the Midnight," at the Martin Luther King Jr. historic site.

"What we hope people will understand is that problems cannot be ignored," says exhibit co-curator Harris. "Negative things that have occurred in the city's history cannot be ignored, and current conditions that are not beneficial to people in the community cannot be ignored. We have to address them."