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By: AJ Baynes Lynching in the South !!WARNING!! Due to the graphic nature of this presentation’s topic, viewer discretion is strongly advised. Included in this picture essay are photos of deceased humans and mutilated bodies. They are included for a better education of the topic.
Charles Lynch Charles Lynch was born in 1736 in Virginia. During his life, he was a justice and a Revolutionary patriot, colonel in charge of riflemen at the Battle of Guilford Court House. As a justice of the peace, he found it very hard to get those accused of crimes quick trials. He created a way to hold a local tribunal to help speed up the process. If the person was found guilty, they would be tied to a tree and given 39 lashes. If they did not shout “Liberty Forever!” during the lashes they were strung up by their thumbs until they did make the statement. Since Charles Lynch ordered these legal punishments to the loyalists or Tories, the term “Lynch Law” was born and used in the legal system. Some family descendants of Charles Lynch argue their relative had nothing to do with hangings, but it is an early account of how the term was begun.
Lynching in the South Lynching is when a mob of people illegally kidnap or seize someone and execute them. 8O% of lynching's happened in the south, most of the victims were African American. Here is a photo of the burned corpse of Jesse Washington, lynched because he was charged with rape and murder of a white woman in 1916. Coal oil was poured on him and he was lit on fire. A mob of 10,000 whites took sledgehammers to the county jailhouse doors to get at these two young blacks accused of raping a white girl.
Victims of Lynching Many people were targeted as victims of lynching. The victims were mostly men, but sometimes included women and children. They were usually accused of crimes or considered troublemakers to the whites. They were killed by hanging, shooting, or burning to death. All methods were painful torture.
Map of Lynching Locations As shown in this map a high concentration of lynchings are focused in the southern states.
Supremacy Groups White supremacy is the belief that whites are superior to people of other racial backgrounds. The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was the main supremacy group. Their goal was to maintain white supremacy in the South, which they felt was under threat after their defeat in the Civil War. It has been estimated that between 1880 and 1920, an average of two African Americans a week were lynched in the United States.
Jim Crow Laws The Jim Crow Laws were laws that existed between 1876 and 1965. The main idea of the laws was that if public facilities existed for both white and blacks, they were legal as long as they were “separate but equal.” These laws actually increased segregation. Illegal lynchings were sometimes used to intimidate colored people from fighting for civil rights that were being restored during the Reconstruction and Progressive eras. The threat of physical pain, public humiliation, and death held Jim Crow laws firmly in place. Blacks and whites who tried to protest Jim Crow laws risked their lives. In 1919, ninety lynchings occurred in a single year--one every four days
Resistance to Lynchings in the South The NAACP group helped educate Americans with literature and marches as to the barbaric practices of lynching. Here is an anti-lynch campaign marching at the White House and a flyer that was posted about a bill that was proposed.
Groups that Fought Lynching The Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching was a group in 1930 that worked to combat lynching in the south. Jessie Daniel Ames, head of the association, used both education and direct action in programs to end racially motivated killings . It specifically targeted individuals who claimed to promote lynching as legitimate means for defending chivalry and womanhood.
Bibliography "Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching." Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, 2011. Web. 27 Feb. 2011. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/556932/Association-of-Southern-Women-for-the-Prevention-of-Lynching>. “Jesse Washington Lynching.” Jan. 2008. Web. 20. Feb. 2011. http://www.shaggybevo.com/board/showthread.php/60819-On-this-date-in-1898. Lasner, Lynn F. Humanities, “Fighting Jim Crow Laws.” Sept.-Oct.2002, Vol.23 . Web. 20. Feb 2011. http://www.neh.gov/news/humanities/2002-09/jimcrow.html. McCutcheon, John T. The Mysterious Stranger and Other Cartoons by John T. McCutcheon, New York: McClure, Phillips & Co. 1905. Web. 20. Feb. 2011. Remembering Rosewood. “The Rosewood Report.” Web. 21. Feb 2011. http://www.displaysforschools.com/history.html. Rhodes, Henry, A. “Lynch Law”—An American Community Enigma. Web. 20. Feb. 2011. http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1989/1/89.01.09.x.html.
