Robert Charles

Robert Charles (1865–1900) was an African American living in New Orleans whose armed resistance to arrest and shooting of police officers sparked a major race riot in 1900; see the Robert Charles Riots.

Charles was involved in the Liberian emigration movement.

In his thirties in 1900, Charles was a quiet, intense man who worked at odd jobs. He supported black emigration to Africa as a response to white terrorism in the South. He read a lot and collected weapons, but broke no laws.

One night in July he sat on a front porch in New Orleans talking quietly with a friend. Close to midnight, three police officers arrived with drawn pistols and billy clubs to announce his arrest. In the ensuing altercation, Charles drew his gun and fatally shot one of the officers. Wounded himself, he fled to his own place.

Grabbing a rifle, Charles moved from one hiding place to another. Along his trail he left five dead police officers and a dozen wounded ones. A mob of over one thousand joined the police in the manhunt, frequently firing indiscriminately into the black community. Finally surrounded, Charles was burned out of his hiding place and immediately riddled with bullets. As was customary, the mob mutilated the body.

Robert Charles (scholar)

Robert Henry Charles (1855–1931) was an Irish biblical scholar and theologian. He is known particularly for English translations of apocryphal and pseudepigraphal works, and editions including Jubilees (1895), the Book of Enoch (1906), and the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs (1908) which have been widely used. He wrote the articles in the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica attributed to the initials "R. H. C.".

He was born in Cookstown, Co. Tyrone, on 6 Aug 1855 and educated at the Belfast Academy, Queen's College, Belfast and Trinity College, Dublin, with periods in Germany and Switzerland. He gained a D.D. and became Professor of Biblical Greek at Trinity College. He also became archdeacon of Westminster in 1919, serving until his death in 1931. He is buried in Westminster Abbey.

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Robert Charles (disambiguation)

Robert Charles (1865–1900) was an African American whose arrest led to the Robert Charles Riots.

Robert Charles may also refer to:

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