In 1919 a wave of riots and lynchings occurred across America, fueled in part by a fear of communism and communist agitation among minorites and in part by fear of battle-hardened African-American soldiers returning from service in World War I not complying with Jim Crow laws in the south.

Appalachia was not immune to this wave.

In the summer of 1919 a mob swept through downtown Knoxville, Tennessee, after the arrest of a prominent African-American resident named Maurice Mays in the assault and murder of a white woman in the city. The riot only ended after the intervention of the Tennessee National Guard.

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