DESOLATION ROW

The 1920 Duluth Lynchings occurred on 15^th June, 1920, when three black circus workers were attacked and lynched by a mob in Duluth, Minnesota. Rumours had circulated among the mob that six African Americans had raped a teenage girl. A physician's examination subsequently found no evidence of rape or assault. The killings shocked the country, particularly for their having occurred in the northern United States, although four earlier lynchings had occurred in Minnesota. In 2003, the city of Duluth erected a memorial to the murdered workers.

Bob Dylan was born in Duluth and spent his early years there. His father, Abram Zimmerman, was nine years old in June 1920 and lived two blocks from the site of the lynchings. Zimmerman passed the story on to his son.

The first verse of Bob Dylan’s 1965 song "Desolation Row" recalls the lynchings in Duluth:

They're selling postcards of the hanging


They're painting the passports brown


The beauty parlor is filled with sailors


The circus is in town

Here comes the blind commissioner


They've got him in a trance


One hand is tied to the tight-rope walker


The other is in his pants

And the riot squad they're restless


They need somewhere to go

As Lady and I look out tonight


From Desolation Row

This is not Dylan's version but its not bad.