Lynching claimed at least 4,743 lives between 1882 and 1968, according to the NAACP, although historians believe the number is likely higher. More than 70% of the people killed were Black. Here are three lies about lynching that you should know.
Lie #1: It was only a Southern problem: Although prevalent in the South, lynchings weren’t limited to that part of the country. Lynchings also occurred in the North. In 1892, Robert Lewis was lynched in Port Jervis, New York. Two thousand whites watched as he was tortured and hanged.
Lie #2: It was solely punishment for crimes: Lynching was a weapon of racial terror used to enforce Jim Crow laws and racial segregation. It was not mob punishment for an alleged crime. Research conducted by the Equal Justice Initiative confirms that many victims had not even been accused of a crime. Some victims were lynched for minor social transgressions or for demanding fair treatment.
Lie #3: Lynching has ended. : When lynching became less common in the 1920s, it wasn’t because white people suddenly developed a conscience. The crusading work of Ida B. Wells and the NAACP, the Great Migration, public revulsion at photographs of Emmett Till and other victims, and the rise of the Civil Rights Movement were some of the factors that explain the decline in the number of lynchings. In addition, capital punishment has become a way to murder Black people.
The modern-day lynchings of people like James Byrd and George Floyd prove that this practice has not ended. It’s up to us to know the truth about our history and fight against anti-Black killings in the present by any means necessary.