Two Black men were shot and killed by a police officer in Freeport on a cold winter morning in 1946. Another was wounded. All three were brothers, two were World War II veterans dressed in their military uniforms. The ensuing outcry and investigations would spread far beyond the south shore of Long Island and bring the story of racial tensions on Long Island to the national level.

Christopher Verga returns on this episode to discuss that night, the Ferguson brothers, and the conditions on Long Island that led up to the deadly confrontation. His latest book, The Ferguson Brothers Lynching on Long Island, details not only a particular family’s tragedy but the deeper history of racism on Long Island including the prominence of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s.

Further Research

• The Ferguson Brothers Lynchings on Long Island
• Orson Welles Commentaries (July 28, 1946)
• Long Island Divided (Newsday)
• Freedom’s Ladder: WNYC and New York’s Anti-Discrimination Law (WNYC)
• Cover of Woody Guthrie’s The Ferguson Brothers’ Killing (Raymond Crooke)
• Audio Footnotes: Christopher Verga episodes
  • Cold War Long Island
  • A Personal History of PTSD
  • Agent Orange on Long Island
  • Joe Giannini and the Vietnam War
  • Jack Parente and the Vietnam War