Chattanooga bridge has tragic history

"God bless you all. I am a innocent man." No one in the lynch mob expected to hear those profound, final words coming from an African-American man about to be hung by the neck beneath a beautiful steel truss bridge over the mighty Tennessee River. The man speaking was Ed Johnson. The city was Chattanooga, Tennessee, the year 1906. The accusation involved the alleged rape of a White woman. The local community's atmosphere was one of vengeance. Before local and federal courtrooms could decide final justice, an angry lynch mob broke into the Hamilton County jail and dragged Johnson to the Walnut Street Bridge at one of the Tennessee River shallows. After Johnson uttered those haunting words, several members of the crowd took target practice, riddling his body with bullets. The lifeless torso was then suspended underneath one of the spans. To this day, the symbolism of the events at that bridge 120 years ago still affects people. Today, some members of the African-American community will not cross the Walnut Street Bridge or even go near it. "My dad was one of them," said LeFrederick Thrilkill. The local historian has spent almost 25 years studying the history of the Ed Johnson case, part of that time working on a memorial honoring Johnson. "I was telling him what information I had found," said Thrilkill, "and out of a clear blue sky, he said that he swore that he would never walk across that bridge. Later, I heard other older African-Americans say the same thing. I thought, 'Wow. They hate this bridge.' But today, others love it because it's a beautiful bridge and a symbol of the community. Bridges are supposed to join two sides, but in this case, this one bridge represented the divide between two sides, instead of their connection." Four African-American men were lynched in Hamilton County near the turn of the 19th century, and two of them were at the Walnut Street Bridge. In 1885, documentation from the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) shows that a mob hanged Charles Williams at the county jail. In 1893, Alfred Blount was dragged from his cell at the jail and hanged at the bridge. Charles Brown was lynched at a barn in 1897 in what would later become the community of Soddy-Daisy. On the night of March 19, 1906, Ed Johnson, who was charged and convicted of rape, was dragged from his Hamilton County jail cell while his case was being appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. The bullets rang out shortly after 11 p.m. Evidence at the bridge indicated he was shot more than 50 times, one bullet severing the rope by which he later hung. While his lifeless body lay on the ground, a deputy sheriff fired five bullets into him. According to the EJI, these four hangings were among more than 4,000 racial terror lynchings between 1877 and 1950 mostly in the South. Several of these incidents occurred near populated areas, but both Blount and Johnson were hanged separately at the Walnut Street Bridge. Thrilkill said the location was strategic. "If mobs were going to lynch somebody," he said, "they're going to pick the most visible location to carry out the crime. The Walnut Street Bridge was the perfect location for their crimes." "Lynch mobs generally had a message they wanted to get out into the community," said Linda Wynn, longtime assistant director for state programs at the Tennessee Historical Commission. "Bridges in high-visibility locations are very intimidating factors. Mobs who've made the effort to break into jails to take somebody felt that hanging their prey in a prominent location sends the message to the Black community and sympathetic Whites that 'this could happen to you.' As for this location, it was a bridge everyone sees and knows about, and it just happened to be in the right place for Alfred Blount's and later Ed Johnson's murders." The Ed Johnson case initiated several legal "firsts." Thrilkill said among them, the Supreme Court did grant a stay of execution for Johnson, the first time a Black man in America had ever received one. Despite the stay, the lynch mob murdered him. It was also the first time the U.S. Supreme Court intervened in a state ruling that ultimately found the Hamilton County sheriff at the time in contempt of court for failing to protect Johnson from the lynch mob, after the execution stay was granted. Ed Johnson's rape trial appeal was never heard in 1906. But 94 years later in 2000, Hamilton County Judge Doug Meyer posthumously dropped the rape charge against Johnson. The judge cited what he called the lack of a fair trial and ruled there should have been a change of venue for the case back in 1906. The legal precedent had already been set. Today, Ed Johnson rests in a quiet little cemetery east of downtown Chattanooga where a wind always seems to blow through the trees. Several miles away, the Walnut Street Bridge is now a popular tourist destination known for its views, calm and serenity. Since becoming a walking bridge, it draws thousands of visitors annually. Renovations have closed it for repair until September 2026. Meanwhile, visitors can stop by a monument to Johnson at the foot of the bridge, which is greeted by the words "God bless you all ... I am a innocent man." Thrilkill said although Johnson had been expecting the lynch mob at his jail cell door, it's amazing how he somehow found the love in his heart to ask God to forgive them. "In the sculpture, his arm is stretched out with the palm up and there is an ever so slight smile on his face. It's as if he's saying 'I have found inner peace from God.' Johnson is walking into that innocence as if he is being led once again to the bridge, saying, 'It's been a long journey, but now I'm free.'" Was the Walnut Street Bridge in the wrong place at the wrong time of history? "Not really," said Thrilkill. "The bridge was in the right place back then because it was so visible. The timing was perfect because it could attract a crowd downtown really fast, and did. "The bridge was in the right place at the right time ... but it was there for the wrong reason." "Bridging Time" is a series featuring photos by Calvin Sneed that highlights steel truss and concrete arch bridges throughout the United States. He can be reached at douglassriverview@gmail.com.