Lynching In America: 1880s-1930s

Whitney Foehl

Photos and notes taken from:

Allen, James. Als, Hilton. Lewis, John. Litwack, Leon. Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America.

Twin Palms Publishing, 2000.

Lynching:

The murder of any US citizen by a mob of three or more.

Whipping, beating, and other forms of

torture were sometimes initiated

before the actual hanging took place.

The lynching of Frank Embree Missouri 1899

Arkansas 1890 Georgia 1903

Close-up of Laura Nelson

Oklahoma 1911

Location Unknown, Circa 1920

Looking at the photo, what observations and guesses can you make about this event?

Corpse of Leonard Woods on speaking platform, white mob.

November 29, 1927

Pound Gap, Kentucky

Why would people buy and send

postcards of lynching?

Eventually the US postal service ban the mailing of lynching

postcards.

“I bought this in Hopkinsville. 15 cents each. They are not on sale openly. I forgot to send it until just now, I ran across it. I read an account of the night riders affairs where it says these men were hung without any apparent cause or reason whatsoever. A law was passed forbidding these to be sent thru the mail or to be sold anymore.

On back of photo:

“Warning

The answer of the Anglo-Saxon race to black brutes who would attack the womanhood of the South-”

Georgia 1902

Unidentified African American male

Charred torso

Lynching of Jesse Washington

Waco, Texas

May 16, 1916

Crowd of 15,000 gathered for the lynching

Body on public display-Robinson, Texas

The lynching of Lige Daniels.

Postcard, front and back

Center, Texas 1920

Top view:

Commercial Ave.

Cairo, Illinois

Bottom view:

The lynching of Will James

1933

Louisiana 1938

1960 anti-lynching poster

NAACP Office, New York City