Lynchings:

A Long Tradition in American History

Lynchings:

A Long Tradition in American History

90% of the victims were Southern

73% of the victims were black27% of the victims were white

According to the Tuskegee Institute

4,742lynchings occurred between 1882-1968.

Savagery of Lynching?

The lynching of Rubin Stacy, July 19, 1935.

What is Lynching?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

Theories of Lynching

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

Lynching took the place of “the merry-go-round, the theatre, symphony

orchestra” (H.L. Mencken)

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.

Why so many Lynchings in Florida?

•A state of the Old and New South

John Hodaz Lynching: Xenophobia

• Hungarian immigrant lynched in Plant City, Florida: 1930

• What was unique about his lynching?

The Smoaks Lynchings: 1931

• The lynching of two black turpentine camp workers.• Offense:

Fighting with a white man

Henry Woods Lynching: 1932

• Alleged Crime: Theft and killing white police chief

• Captured by white Posse

• Shot and burned at the stake

Claude Neal Lynching: 1934

Neal Lynching

• Advertised ahead of time before it happened

• Governor David Sholtz did not stop it

• Brutal and Savage lynching

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.

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?

Lynching Rate of 1930s for Florida?

• Highest lynching rate in the South during the 1930s

Michael J. Pfeifer: CUNY

Origins of LynchingOrigins of LynchingAmerican frontier mentality

Needed to take due process in their own handsRevolutionary-era popular sovereignty“enshrined” white privilege in American life

Lynch Law and Early Forms of Lynching

Lynch Law and Early Forms of Lynching

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

Why Did the Community Approve of Lynchings?

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

Anti-Lynching LegislationAnti-Lynching LegislationWagner-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 officialsWas also defeated by Southern Senators in a filibuster

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

Anti-Lynching LegislationAnti-Lynching Legislation

Presidential Reactions to LynchingPresidential 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

“Strange Fruit” and Billie Holiday“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

The Murder of Emmett Till (1955)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.

The lynching mentality

transcend to modern hate

crimes?

The lynching mentality

transcend to modern hate

crimes?

Bias motivation

Totalincidents Individual Business Government

Society/public

Other/unknown/multiple

Total 7,649 5,991 332 253 52 780

Single-Bias Incidents

7,642 5,985 332 253 52 779

Race 4,042 3,338 161 150 39 321

Religion 1,374 640 119 72 2 351

Sexual Orientation

1,197 1,089 24 20 6 53

Ethnicity/National Origin

972 869 24 10 4 52

Disability 57 49 4 1 1 2

Multiple-Bias Incidents1

7 6 0 0 0 1

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.

“Hate Crime” IncidentsVictim Type by Bias Motivation, 2004

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."

On Monday, June 12, 2005, the Senate passed a non-binding resolution apologizing for not enacting anti-lynching legislation.

“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)