In 1933 a white woman was allegedly assaulted. Her community accused George Armwood, a young, disabled Black man. Police arrested Armwood.
Meanwhile, an enraged lynch mob formed. Bloodthirsty, they killed a 7 year-old Black girl on their way to the jail!
Thousands gathered. Within minutes they busted down the jail doors, dragging Armwood outside and beating him bloody – someone cut off his ear for a souvenir.
Tying a noose around Armwood’s neck, they dragged him through the streets, strung him up in a tree, and burned his corpse.
One woman said to her child, “Watch the [nigger] being barbecued.”
Newspapers reported that the mob danced gleefully around Armwoods’ body before dumping it in a lumberyard closer to the Black side of town.
No one was found responsible – even though 42 witnesses identified members of the mob!
But white residents had the NERVE to be mad about being identified! One resident “thought lynching was the civic duty of persons who recognized that the machinery of justice was too slow.”
White supremacy always takes “law and order” into its own hands. While Armwood was Maryland’s last “recorded lynching,” we witness modern day lynchings of our people on a regular basis – especially through police brutality.
George Armwood wasn’t buried properly due to white intimidation tactics – join us in saying his name.