Looking Black On Today, June 15, 1920: The Duluth lynchings occurred in Duluth, Minnesota

3 black circus workers (Isaac McGhie, Elmer Jackson and Elias Clayton) were attacked and lynched by a mob in Duluth, Minnesota.

Two local teenagers, Irene Tusken, age 19, and James Sullivan, 18, met at the circus and ended up behind the big top, watching the black workers dismantle the menagerie tent, load wagons and generally get the circus ready to move on.

In the early morning of June 15, Duluth Police Chief John Murphy received a call from James Sullivan’s father saying six black circus workers had held the pair at gunpoint and then r@ped and robbed Irene Tusken.

The mob seized Elias Clayton, Elmer Jackson and Isaac McGhie and found them guilty of Tusken’s r@pe in a sham trial.

In its comprehensive website about the lynchings, the Minnesota State Historical Society reports the legal aftermath of the incident:

“Two days later on June 17, 1920, Judge William Cant and the grand jury had a difficult time convicting the lead mob members.