September 12, 2019
7:30PM
WWI ended in 1919. Black men who served felt they deserved the full rights of citizenship and higher social status in return for their patriotic service. Meanwhile, lynch mobs murdered 78 African-Americans, ten of whom were veterans. East Tennessee was a place where a trade group proclaimed: “There are no Ku Klux Klan outrages here. We are a distinct and peculiar people.” Red Summer is a drama based on events that occurred right here in Knoxville, TN during the racially charged Summer of 1919. It tells the story of a model African American community unable to escape the horrors of mob violence. “In the early hours of Saturday morning, August 30, 1919, a young white woman, Bertie Lindsay, was shot and killed in the bedroom of her home. Before dawn, a black man had been arrested and charged with the crime.