Lynchings : A Long Tradition in American History

1. Lynchings: A Long Tradition in American History

2. According to the Tuskegee Institute4,742lynchings occurred between 1882-1968. 90% of the victims were Southern 73% of the victims were black 27% of the victims were white

3. Savagery of Lynching?

4. The lynching of Rubin Stacy, July 19, 1935.

5. What is Lynching? • An illegal execution of one or more individuals by a mob of two or more in the name of justice, race or tradition • Expression of the community’s will

6. Theories of Lynching • 1. Socio-Economic Theory • 2. Caste Theory • 3. Sociological Theory • 4. Psychological Theory [Freud] • 5. Gender Theory • 6. Southern Honor Theory

7. Lynching took the place of “the merry-go-round, the theatre, symphony orchestra” (H.L. Mencken) • For crimes, such as murder, rape, or theft • But also, people were lynched for insulting a white person, buying a car… • Or even, especially if it was a lynching of an black man, for no crime at all. Just to remind blacks to stay in their place.

8. Why so many Lynchings in Florida? • A state of the Old and New South

9. John Hodaz Lynching: Xenophobia • Hungarian immigrant lynched in Plant City, Florida: 1930 • What was unique about his lynching?

10. The SmoaksLynchings: 1931 • The lynching of two black turpentine camp workers. • Offense: Fighting with a white man

11. Henry Woods Lynching: 1932 • Alleged Crime: Theft and killing white police chief • Captured by white Posse • Shot and burned at the stake

12. Claude Neal Lynching: 1934

13. Neal Lynching • Advertised ahead of time before it happened • Governor David Sholtz did not stop it • Brutal and Savage lynching

14. Professor Matt Clavin: UWF • Education: • Ph.D., History, American University, 2005 • M.A., History and Public Policy, George Washington University, 1999 • B.A., History, Bloomsburg University, 1994.

15. Lynching: Ritualized White Hate Crime • Allegation • Manhunt • Capture • Torture, Mutilation and Castration • Death to the Victim • Public Display of the victim’s remains • How many of these can be seen in the Claude Neal Lynching?

16. Lynching Rate of 1930s for Florida? • Highest lynching rate in the South during the 1930s

17. Michael J. Pfeifer: CUNY

18. Origins of Lynching • American frontier mentality • Needed to take due process in their own hands • Revolutionary-era popular sovereignty • “enshrined” white privilege in American life

19. Lynch Law and Early Forms of Lynching • Charles Lynch established informal courts to tryhorse thieves, suspected Tories tied convicted to trees and gave them multiple lashes • Lynch was tried in Virginia court but it was declared that the “Lynch Law” had been appropriate because of the hysterical conditions of war • Early 19th century: “The Regulators” (White Caps) - bands of citizens who punished criminals nonlethally(tar + feathering) • Vigilance committees

20. Why Did the Community Approve of Lynchings? • Lynching became a fast alternative to due process outcome is the same as a trial, simply expedited • Bonds within the community are strengthened • Exciting, spontaneous activity with the entire town • Criminals were getting what they deserved • The greater (white) community, especially white women, needs to be protected, despite some minor brutality

21. Anti-Lynching Legislation • Wagner-Costigan Bill (1934) Provisions: • mob: 3+ persons • State officer’s neglect--->5 yr prison sentence and $5,000 fine • Conspirators-->5-25 yr prison sentence • County where lynching occurs: $2,000-$10,000 fine (to family, or to federal government if there is no family) • To prove that summary execution does not save the public money • Does not openly condemn lynching- criminalizes negligence by officials • Was also defeated by Southern Senators in a filibuster

22. Anti-Lynching Legislation • Wagner-Van Nuys Bill + Gavagan Bill (1937) • Pro-legislation senators willing to protest the filibuster, but faced strong dissent from Southern senators • FDR decided not to speak out against the filibuster • The anti-lynching movement had seventy senators and therefore, had the opportunity to challenge the filibuster and force a vote. But not all seventy were willing to challenge FDR’s decision nor stir resentment in Southern senators because of their control over several committees

23. Presidential Reactions to Lynching • “loosening of the bonds of civilization”black man’s runaway sexual appetiteeducated blacks could help eliminate the practice of lynching if they turned in fellow colored criminals to the state • Teddy Roosevelt • Any American “who takes part in the action of a mob…is no true son of this great democracy, but its betrayer” • Woodrow Wilson, as motivated by the NAACP • Lynching is a “very sore spot on our boast of civilization” • Congress ought to wipe the stain of barbaric lynching from the banners of a free and orderly, representative democracy” (1921) • Warren Harding

24. “Strange Fruit” and Billie Holiday • Billie was singing to herself- as if she was being lynched herself video:Billie Holliday Sings “Strange Fruit”-s • Lynching of the spirit • “Strange Fruit” was an opportunity to put into words what so many people had seen and lived through • “resigned bitterness” (Benny Green) • Larger impact on white liberals (in North) than the impact among black intelligentsia (Albert Murrows) • Black Response • Blacks as victims (did not approve) • Feared the song would start new tensions • Held “Strange Fruit” as sacred

25. The Murder of Emmett Till (1955) • August, 1955, a fourteen year old boy visiting his cousin in Money, Mississippi had whistled at a white woman, Carolyn Bryant in a grocery store. Emmett Till was murdered, lynched, by two white men, J.W. Milam and Roy Bryant, that evening. • Despite their arrests, the two men were eventually acquitted by an all white jury. • New developments in 2004 allowed for the trial to be reopened, based on new evidence that suggested more people may have been involved.

26. The lynching mentality transcend to modern hate crimes?

27. “Hate Crime” IncidentsVictim Type by Bias Motivation, 2004 1In a multiple-bias incident two conditions must be met: 1) more than one offense type must occur in the incident and 2) at least two offense types must be motivated by different biases.

28. On Monday, June 12, 2005, the Senate passed a non-binding resolution apologizing for not enacting anti-lynching legislation. The Senate "expresses the deepest sympathies and most solemn regrets of the Senate to the descendants of victims of lynching, the ancestors of whom were deprived of life, human dignity and the constitutional protections accorded all citizens of the United States." “It’s a resolution, not a law… I'm afraid we still can't say with certainty that the last lynching has occurred.” (Nell Irvin Painter, Professor of American History at Princeton University)