Greek Town Riot

The Greek Town riot was a race riot in South Omaha, Nebraska on February 21, 1909. 3,000 men were responsible for killing one boy, displacing the entire population of Greek Town, and burning down the Greek neighborhood in South Omaha.

In February 1909, a Greek immigrant man was taking English lessons from a young woman in South Omaha. For some reason, a policeman named Edward Lowry (of Irish descent) arrested him and the young woman on February 19, 1909. While Lowry transported them to the jailhouse, the Greek man pulled out a handgun and mortally wounded the officer. Greek immigrants had come to the city as strikebreakers, and earlier arrivals resented them. Among those who were hostile were ethnic Irish, who had a large community in South Omaha. Omaha newspapers were particularly renowned for their yellow journalism during this period. They fanned racist flames with salacious headlines about the case. The Omaha Daily News wrote, "Their quarters have been unsanitary; they have insulted women... Herded together in lodging houses and living cheaply, Greeks are a menace to the American laboring man – just as the Japs, Italians, and other similar laborers are." The Omaha World Herald read "Ed Lowery, South Omaha Policeman, Is Shot and Killed By Greek.", the bold type was followed by an article which left no doubt that the whole Greek community of South Omaha, and not the alleged slayer, was really responsible and blamed for the conditions and law violations which were inevitably to end in such a tragedy.

When the Greek perpetrator was finally apprehended, two state legislators (one of Irish descent) and an attorney called a mass meeting of more than 900 men. They "harangued the mob", raising emotions against the Greeks. The mob, gathering more men along the way, thronged around the South Omaha Jail where the Greek prisoner was being held. The police decided it was unsafe to keep him there and decided to move their prisoner to the main Omaha jail. The mob followed the police wagon as it left the jail. More than once they got their hands on the prisoner. At one point they almost lynched him.

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