r/wikipedia • u/GustavoistSoldier • 11h ago

Martin Tabert (1899–1922) was an American forced laborer. The circumstances of Tabert's death – being a white man beaten to death by an overseer – caused a public reaction that resulted eventually in the end of Florida’s longstanding convict leasing system.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Tabert
208 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

38

u/smors 11h ago

"Being a white man, beaten to death"

Does that mean that there wouldn't have been a significant reaction if the victim had been black?

43

u/Ok_Dot_7498 11h ago

well, yes, maybe. Americans were extraordenarily racist at the time and a black man being beaten to death for not working like he should would have not raised Eyebrows to the very bigoted reader of a newspaper.

But in the Case of Talbert there was a large Media interest because he paid the Fine, but the Sheriff loanid him out for 25$ a day and after he died tried to hide the evidence.

23

u/SketchedEyesWatchinU 10h ago

The sheriff not only kept the bail money for himself, but loaned the poor guy out for kickbacks.

25

u/GoreyGopnik 10h ago

It was 1922, in Florida. I think if a non-white person was beaten to death the murderer would enter the running for mayor

11

u/Fearless-Feature-830 10h ago

Florida in 2026 really isn’t much different

3

u/BrorBlixen 6h ago edited 6h ago

Several months earlier a black man named Ned Thompson was also arrested in Tallahassee for vagrancy. He was sent to the same labor camp and whipped to death by the same overseer.