Phoenix election riot

The Phoenix election riot occurred on November 8, 1898, near Greenwood County, South Carolina, when a group of local white Democrats attempted to stop a Republican election official from taking the affidavits of African Americans who had been denied the ability to vote. The race-based riot was part of numerous efforts by white conservative Democrats to suppress voting by blacks, as they had largely supported the Republican Party since the Reconstruction era. Beginning with Mississippi in 1890, and South Carolina in 1895, southern states were passing new constitutions and laws designed to disenfranchise blacks by making voter registration and voting more difficult.

The riot started after white land-owner Thomas Tolbert began to take affidavits of African Americans who had been disenfranchised by the new Constitution of South Carolina. Tolbert, brother of Republican candidate Robert R. Tolbert, hoped to use the affidavits to challenge the constitutional provisions that had formalized a previously informal disfranchisement. On November 8, 1898, Thomas Tolbert stood at the entrance of the Watson and Lake general store and began to collect the affidavits. A group of local Democrats led by J. I. "Bose" Ethridge arrived and assaulted and terrorized him.

Over the following four days, several African Americans and one white man were fatally shot. The white mob lynched several blacks, wounded hundreds and burned Thomas Tolbert's home and personal belongings.