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erupted in Atlanta. Incited by several days of newspaper articles alleging assaults on white women by black men, citizens pulled black passengers off of trolley cars, [[strikethrough]]attacked patrons at a black skating rink[[/strikethrough]] [[symbol - question mark]] and several barber shops, and randomly selected persons on the streets brutally beating them.* [[symbol - question mark]] This violence resulted in numerous deaths of innocent African American citizens. But the atmosphere of fear and unease in Georgia, and the desire for greater opportunities for their daughters lead John and Amelia Thomas to leave the South the following year.

An aunt and uncle /sister brother of __?__ Amelia who resided in the nation's capital encouraged them to move to [[strikethrough]]that city[[/strikethrough]] Washington D.C. On July 31, 1907, according to family legend, as they crossed the Potomac River, Alma's mother Amelia Thomas instructed her daughter[[strikethrough]]s[[/strikethrough]] Kathryn to remove [[strikethrough]]their[[/strikethrough]] her shoes and knock the Georgia dirt from them and never look back [[strikethrough]]before[[/strikethrough]] as they crossed the Potomac to entered a new life in Washington, D.C.

The Thomases settled at 1530 15th Street, N.W., now identified on the National Regester as the residence where Alma Woodsey Thomas lived for 71 years. The site continues to be the family home where sister, John Maurice and grandnephew, Charles Thomas Lewis now reside.

During the first half of the twentieth century, Washington, D.C. was a Jim Crow city, just as Columbus, and other parts of the US. But [[strikethrough]]as the nation's capital[[/strikethrough]] it provided African Americans with better educational opportunities and employment opportunities than most localities. [[strikethrough]]It was growing as blacks traveled to Washington, seeking those means.[[/strikethrough]] After Reconstruction,

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