How is lynching done

The popular image of an angry white mob stringing a black man up to a tree is only half the story. Lynching, an act of terror meant to spread fear among blacks, served the broad social purpose of maintaining white supremacy in the economic, social and political spheres.

Pervasive Threat Author Richard Wright, who was born near Natchez in southwest Mississippi, knew of two men who were lynched -- his step-uncle and the brother of a neighborhood friend.

In his book Black Boy , he wrote: "The things that influenced my conduct as a Negro did not have to happen to me directly; I needed but to hear of them to feel their full effects in the deepest layers of my consciousness.

Indeed, the white brutality that I had not seen was a more effective control of my behavior than that which I knew. Rise in Black Prominence Although the practice of lynching had existed since before slavery, it gained momentum duringReconstruction, when viable black towns sprang up across the South and African Americans began to make political and economic inroads by registering to vote, establishing businesses and running for public office.

Many whites -- landowners and poor whites -- felt threatened by this rise in black prominence. Foremost on their minds was a fear of sex between the races.

Some whites espoused the idea that black men were sexual predators and wanted integration in order to be with white women.

Public Events Lynchings were frequently committed with the most flagrant public display. Like executions by guillotine in medieval times, lynchings were often advertised in newspapers and drew large crowds of white families.

They were a kind of vigilantism where Southern white men saw themselves as protectors of their way of life and their white women. Headlines and Grisly Souvenirs Lynchings were covered in local newspapers with headlines spelling out the horrific details. Photos of victims, with exultant white observers posed next to them, were taken for distribution in newspapers or on postcards. Body parts, including genitalia, were sometimes distributed to spectators or put on public display.

Most infractions were for petty crimes, like theft, but the biggest one of all was looking at or associating with white women. Former governor Jeff Davis who was born in Sevier County in and served as governor of the state from to was quite willing to defend the practice of lynching. If the brutal criminals of that race…lay unholy hands upon our fair daughters, nature is so riven and shocked that the dire compact produces a social cataclysm.

Davis even refused to pardon one man, Govan Beard, judged guilty of rape and sentenced to die in , even after his alleged victim recanted her testimony and admitted a previous consensual relationship with the man; the court case of Beard v.

State was referred to the U. Supreme Court, but Beard died in prison before it could be heard. The state did pass a law aimed at preventing lynching, Act , in However, the law in question did not punish individuals who participated in mob violence or sanction members of law enforcement who failed to protect their prisoners. Instead, Act aimed to expedite the trials of those whose alleged crimes, especially rape and murder, were likely to result in mob violence. For those individuals threatened with a lynching, it still remained safer to attempt to flee the state, as Steve Green did in On the evening of September 30, , the notorious Elaine Massacre erupted, which marked the deadliest racial episode in Arkansas history.

The lynchings and murders that occurred in Elaine arose out of white fear and distrust of a black union organization in Phillips County. A shooting at a church in Hoop Spur Phillips County sparked the conflict; the presence of about sharecroppers attending a meeting of the Progressive Farmers and Household Union of America quickly spurred massive violence by whites against blacks throughout the county.

Although the exact death toll remains unknown, historians have estimated that hundreds of black citizens were killed, while five whites died in the incident. Perhaps the most notorious isolated lynching in Arkansas history is that of John Carter. The alleged murderer, Lonnie Dixon, was quietly spirited out of the city to Texarkana Miller County in order to avoid the growing mob of angry whites in the capital.

Then, on May 4, , thirty-seven-year-old black Little Rock resident John Carter was accused of assaulting a local white woman and her daughter. Enraged whites scoured the area in search of Carter. He was found late in the day, hung from a telephone pole, and shot. This was the beginning of the end of lynching in Arkansas.

By the early s, a number of factors had combined to spell the end of lynching in the state: the spread of Progressive-era reforms which led to improved law enforcement measures ; the negative publicity surrounding extra-legal violence; the gradual unwillingness of the state government to ignore lynchings; and finally, the agitation of outside groups like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People NAACP.

Within Arkansas, the state chapter of the Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching , formed in , condemned not only vigilante violence but also those law enforcement officials who failed to protect their prisoners from the mob. Finally, lynching declined because white Arkansans gradually relinquished control over meting out justice in favor of allowing the courts to decide criminal matters. Moreover, the slow but steady process of urbanization within the state led to larger and more effective law enforcement, which often proved willing to stand up to angry mobs and to investigate lynchings.

Of the hundreds of lynchings that occurred in Arkansas in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, most were racially motivated.

Yet beyond this fact, the causes of lynchings were myriad and resulted from a deadly combination of social, economic, and political factors. Such an event could constitute a reported lynching that may not have actually occurred, a confirmed murder reported in many sources as a lynching that may not have been such, or an execution following a formal trial that had all the trappings of a lynching or that was misreported as such nationally.

For additional information: Arellano, Lisa. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, Buckelew, Richard. Dew, Lee A. Elliott, RoAnne, and Valandra.

Finley, Randy. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, Greer, Brian D. August 4, , pp. Hill, Karlos. New York: Cambridge University Press, Lancaster, Guy. Lancaster, Guy, ed. Bullets and Fire: Lynching and Authority in Arkansas, — Little Rock: Butler Center Books, Lewis, Todd. Moneyhon, Carl. Monroe Work Today. Stockley, Grif, Brian K. Mitchell, and Guy Lancaster.

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George Washington Baxter black male assault, rape Frank Harris Cross black male rape and murder ? Saunders Chicot white male murder ? Harris Logan white male horse theft Randolph Harris Logan white male horse theft Robert Skidmore Logan white male horse theft John Hogan Pope black male assault of a white girl John Randolph Mississippi black male robbery and murder William Dugan Arkansas white male murder Johnson Monroe white male murder Green Lonoke black male murder George Jackson Ashley black male murder Lebow Polk white male horse theft and murder Elligin Arkansas black male murder Anderson Arkansas black male murder Henry A.

Jackson Desha black male murder Wash Atkinson Clark black male murder Mose Kirkendall Boone black male attempted rape William Solly Jefferson white male unreported unreported Carroll white male horse theft unreported Carroll white male horse theft Hemp Neal Johnson black male rape unreported Little River white male murder Ben Daniels Clark black male robbery, arson, assault son of Ben Daniels Clark black male robbery, arson, assault son of Ben Daniels Clark black male robbery, arson, assault Elias Hensen Clay white male horse theft William Yancey Bradley white male horse theft Henry Owens Monroe white male assault Dr.

Flood Yell white male aiding an outlaw Wyatt Ames Phillips black male murder 2-? Oliver Logan black male attempted rape 8-? James Page Boone white male murder Buck Hunter Drew black male assault James Howard Miller white male spousal abuse Hamilton Bradley white male murder Ludberry Bradley white male murder Andrew Springer Lawrence white male rape Leach Magee Monroe black male rape Henry Hamilton Bradley white male murder William Morrison Carroll white male child abuse Leonard Boyd Jackson white male murder Oscar Jefferies Sevier black male attempting to marry a white woman William Herrig Clay white male murder Bryson Yell white male attempted rape Levi Graves Sevier black male rape John Kirkland Ashley white male desperado Jim Smith Crittenden black male insulting a white woman ?

Smith Arkansas white male murder Floyd McGregory Arkansas white male murder Mose Henderson Arkansas black male murder Henry Jim Beavers Drew black male assault Hamp Bisco Lonoke black male resisting arrest son of Hamp Bisco Lonoke black male — pregnant wife of Hamp Bisco Lonoke black female — John Kelley Jefferson black male murder Gilbert Banks Jefferson black male accomplice to murder Edward Coy Miller black male rape George Harris Lincoln black male murder Henry James Pulaski black male rape Charles Stewart Perry white male murder unreported Cross black male criminal assault Robert Donnelly Lee black male rape Julius Mosely Desha black male rape Eugene Baker Ashley black male murder of white man 8-?

Lightfoot Jackson black male fraud Henry Allen Monroe black male murder, robbery, arson William Hewlett Monroe black male murder, robbery, arson Ed Purcell Monroe black male murder, robbery, arson Ed Sevier Monroe black male murder, robbery, arson Paul Stubbs Monroe black male murder, robbery, arson Flanigan Thornton Conway black male murder Abe Craine Ouachita black male murder and robbery Doc Benson Ouachita black male murder and robbery Jim Stewart Ouachita black male murder and robbery 5-?

Nelson Lincoln black male murder Robert Greenwood Cross black male unreported Henry Bruce Van Buren white male murder and robbery Robert Plunkett Van Buren white male murder and robbery Charles Plunkett Van Buren white male murder and robbery Anderson Carter Baxter white male murder and robbery Jasper Newton a.

Bud Montgomery Baxter white male murder and robbery unreported Pulaski black female unreported J. Webster St. Francis white male arrested whitecappers Henry Capus Columbia black male attempted rape unreported unreported black male unreported unreported unreported black male unreported Luke Washington Desha black male murder Rich Washington Desha black male murder Henry C.

Frank King Ashley black male adultery and shooting Jack Ware Calhoun black male murder Jim Ware Calhoun black male murder James Jones Drew black male murder Will Caldwell Mississippi black male murder and robbery John Thomas Mississippi black male murder and robbery Albert England Faulkner white male burglary Jefferson Gardner Cleveland black male rape Godfrey Gould Monroe black male assault rape ?

Douglass aka Wyatt Izard black male murder 9? Martin Calhoun black male murder, robbery 3-? Francis black male rape and murder Isaac Wells Cross black male assault Frank Robertson Lafayette black male arson John Turner Bradley black male attempted rape Alex Thompson Clark black male assault Crane Green Jefferson black male assault rape John Gilbert Crittenden black male murder Hellom Mississippi black male assault Edward McCollum Grant black male murderous assault Henry Johnson Chicot black male murder Zallie C.

Francis black male attempted rape Charles Lewis Hempstead black male threats Sanford Lewis Sebastian black male murder John Williams Conway black male murder Monroe Franklin Pope black male assault and rape Will Norman Garland black male murder and attempted rape Howard Davis Jackson black male murder H. Francis black male murder Will Warren Garland black male slapped white boys Felix M.

Gilmore Nevada black male attempted assault unreported Arkansas black male attempted rape Frank Dodd Arkansas black male insulted women James Smith Crittenden black male murder Andrew Avery Miller black male attempted murder Aaron Jimerson Little River black male shooting Sam Cates Lonoke black male indecency with girls Elton Mitchell Crittenden black male shooting Willis Robinson Jackson black male murder Samuel McIntyre St.

Francis black male murder Frank Livingston Union black male murder Clyde Ellison Lincoln black male attempted rape Clinton Briggs Lincoln black male indecent proposals Alexander Wilson Lee black male murder Jordan Jameson Columbia black male murder J.

Gibson Phillips black male carrying an unloaded gun Wade Thomas Craighead black male murder Henry Lowery Mississippi black male murder Browning Tuggle Hempstead black male rape Philip Slater Drew black male assaulted a woman Leroy Smith Desha black male assaulted a couple William Turner Phillips black male rape Robert Hicks Chicot black male wrote to a white girl John Harris Hot Spring black male frightened girls Hurley Owen Miller black male murder John West Hempstead black male quarrel with a white man Gilbert Harris Garland black male murder, burglary Less Smith Conway black male murderous assault E.

Gregor Boone white male railroad striker Ed Brock Union black male insulted a woman George Ouachita black male attempted rape Albert Blazes Mississippi black male attacked a girl Charles Powell Lafayette black male murder Bud Nelson Jefferson black male murder John Carter Pulaski black male attacked women Owen Fleming Phillips black male murder Winston Pounds Ashley black male attempted rape Frank Tucker Ashley black male assaulted a police officer 9?

Type Event. Related Media John Carter Lynching. Edward Coy Lynching. Harris Lynching. Sanford Lewis Lynching. Newport Lynching. Peace Memorial. Wade Thomas Lynching. Login to the CALS catalog! Track your borrowing. Rate and review titles you borrow and share your opinions on them. Get personalized recommendations. View All Services. Entries Media All. Gender — Female Male. Alleged Reason. Hot Spring. John Richmond.

James Barnes. Jackson Turner. William Bailey. Native American. Jerry Atkins. James Kennedy. Unionist leanings. Dan Humphries. Lee Morrison. William Clossen. Jeff Johnson. George Washington. Frank Harris. John W. Jasper Dugan. Curtis Garrett. Robert Norwood. Elias Holt. George Cole. William G. Randolph Harris. Robert Skidmore.

John Hogan. John Randolph. William Dugan. George Jackson. Henry A. Wash Atkinson. Mose Kirkendall. William Solly. Hemp Neal. Little River. Ben Daniels. Elias Hensen. William Yancey. Henry Owens. The end of lynching cannot be said to be purely academic, though. While targeted violence against black people did not end with the lynching era, the element of public spectacle and open, even celebratory participation was a unique social phenomenon that would not be reborn in the same way as racial violence evolved.

Despite the shift, the specter of ritual black death as a public affair — one that people could confidently participate in without anonymity and that could be seen as entertainment — did not end with the lynching era. Generally speaking and especially early on, the white press wrote sympathetically about lynchings and their necessity to preserve order in the south.

The Memphis Evening Scimitar published in In the state of slavery he learned politeness from association with white people who took pains to teach him. Since the emancipation came and the tie of mutual interest and regard between master and servant was broken, the Negro has drifted away into a state which is neither freedom nor bondage ….

In consequence … there are many negroes who use every opportunity to make themselves offensive, particularly when they think it can be done with impunity …. We have had too many instances right here in Memphis to doubt this, and our experience is not exceptional.

The black press, on the other hand, was arguably the primary force in fighting against the phenomenon. The Memphis journalist Ida B Wells was the most strident and devoted anti-lynching advocate in US history, and spent a year-career writing, researching and speaking on the horrors of the practice.

As a young woman she travelled the south for months, chronicling lynchings and gathering empirical data. Wells eventually became an owner of the Memphis Free Speech and Headlight before being chased out of town by white mobs and relocating to New York and then Chicago.

Eventually many white publications began to turn with overall white attitudes about lynching. The lynching at Maryville was about as horrible as such a thing can be. Lynching in itself is a fearful reproach to American civilization. Lynching by fire is the vengeance of a savage past … The sickening outrage is the more deplorable because it easily could have been prevented.

Lynching of a black man, What were lynchings? The sadism of white men: why America must atone for its lynchings.