Globe and Mail Public Editor: ‘Worst mass shooting’ in U.S. history
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Earlier this week, The Globe and Mail and its digital products were heavily focused on the shocking murder of 49 people at an Orlando gay nightclub.
Headlines and stories referred to it as “the worst mass shooting in U.S. history” but there has been debate about whether that is precisely correct.
Some readers and staff members noted there have been terrible massacres and mass violence in U.S. history, although not in modern times.
In 1890, the U.S. army killed more than 100 Sioux at Wounded Knee in South Dakota, one reader noted.
In 1857, 120 people were killed in Utah in a clash involving Mormons and others.
In 1919, at least 100 people, mostly blacks, were killed in Arkansas.
And in 1921, a race riot saw upwards of 300 killed.
This is by no means an exhaustive list.
Continue reading this on the Globe and Mail website, where it was first published.
Sylvia Stead is the Public Editor of the Globe and Mail.