Emmett Till
The brutal murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till might be the most notorious instance of this terrible phenomenon. During the summer of 1955, two white men tortured the life out of young Emmett. Why? Because one of the men’s wife claimed Till crudely flirted with her.
Decades after his murder, that woman confessed she lied. Too little, too late.
Groveland Four
In 1949, a 17-year-old white girl claimed four young Black men raped her - this one accusation marked them for death. The sheriff and his goons shot and killed three of the four victims. And the all-white male jury trial that took place was deemed unjust years later.
While the white woman still maintains her story, in 2019, the state of Florida pardoned the Groveland Four.
Rosewood Massacre
A self-sufficient, small Black town, Rosewood was a quiet community until a white woman’s unfounded claim of rape led to a mob of white men lynching a Black resident. The community joined forces to defend themselves - and hundreds of whites literally hunted to kill Black people.
The entire community was burned to the ground, with anywhere between 27-150 deaths.
As history shows, white women have used their identity to play victim and lie, all to uphold society’s racial hierarchy. And Black people continue to be the ones who pay the ultimate price with our lives.