September 19, 1902

One hundred and fifteen people died in a stampede after hearing Booker T. Washington speak at the 1902 Baptist Convention in Birmingham. More than 3,000 people crowded into Shiloh Baptist Church, the largest black church in Birmingham, to hear Washington speak. The stampede began after a dispute between the choir leader and a delegate from Baltimore led to shouts of “fight” and “quiet,” which attendees mistook for alarms of “fire.” As the attendees tried to escape from the auditorium, people either suffocated or were trampled after they fell. William R. Pettiford, a local minister and banker, organized relief efforts for the victims.

Read more at Wikipedia.

Booker T. Washington, half-length portrait, c. 1917. (C.M. Battey, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

Tuskegee Institute faculty with Andrew Carnegie, Tuskegee, AL, 1906. Individuals seated in front row (left to right): R.C. Ogden; Mrs. Booker T. Washington; Booker T. Washington; Andrew Carnegie; and an unidentified person. (Frances Benjamin Johnston, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division)

For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.