Lynching split from Learning From the Germans: Confronting Race and the Memory of Evil by Susan Neiman

[Joshism]

Except for the relative immunity of the people doing the violence.

Agreed.

 

[Jim Klag]

I have one question on the subject of lynching - specifically the lynching of African-Americans by whites. Was anyone anywhere convicted in a court of any major charge of any kind that arose from a lynching?

 

[Joshism]

I have one question on the subject of lynching - specifically the lynching of African-Americans by whites. Was anyone anywhere convicted in a court of any major charge of any kind that arose from a lynching?

For that matter I'd be curious to know if any whites were ever convicted of lynching other whites.

It's hard to convict someone for a crime where no witnesses are willing to testify. Anyone willing to participate in a lynching is presumably willing to lynch anyone who snitches.

 

[O' Be Joyful]

It's hard to convict someone for a crime where no witnesses are willing to testify.

Hmm...pardon my modern day diversion please.

 

[Joshism]

Using the Tuskegee Institute numbers posted in the other thread (that post apparently didn't move threads), I decided to look closer at the lynching numbers.

Quick recap of nationwide totals (1882-1968):
1,297 white
3,446 black
4,743 total

I assume lynchings of Latinos/Hispanics, Asians, and Native Americans aren't included which is unfortunate because it would paint a much more effective overall picture.

Only 44 of 50 states are listed (and no DC). Missing, either due to a lack of data or no recorded lynchings are: Alaska, Hawaii, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. Given the other numbers in the table, I assume the latter four had zero recorded lynchings and I will exclude the other two entirely (especially since they were not states for most of this period).

I'm going to divide the 48 states into the following regions:

• 11 South (all the Confederate states)
• 5 Border States (slave states in 1860 that did not secede, including WV)
• 6 Midwest, subdivided into 3 Lower and 3 Upper
• 9 Northeast
• 17 West

Outliers:

• Delaware doesn't fit statistically with the other Border States (1 lynching)
• There is a HUGE difference between OH/IN/IL and MI/WI/MN.
  107 lynchings in the lower trio (46% of them black) vs 23 in the upper trio (22% black)
• OK and KS are outliers in the West (67% of black lynchings in West states occurred in those two states)
• TX lynching fits both the South trend (substantial number of black lynchings), but is also the only state with triple digit white lynchings

Doing a little number crunching:
88% of all black lynchings occurred in a former Confederate state
98% of all black lynchings occurred in one of the 1860 slave states, MO/KY/WV/MD, IL/IN/OH, or OK/KS (20 of 48 states)

45% of all white lynchings occurred in the West
38% of all white lynchings occurred in the South

74% of all lynchings occurred in the South; 83% if you include Border States.

In the 9 northeast states, there were a total of 14 lynchings, 6 of them being black lynchings in PA (no other state had more than 2 total lynchings).

The top 12 states in terms of most black lynchings are the 11 Confederate states plus Kentucky. Only NC and VA among South states didn't have triple digit black lynchings. Missouri is 13th, rounding out the only states with 50+ black lynchings.

Only TX had triple digit white lynchings. OK and MT (?!) were tied for 2nd. 9 states had 50+ white lynchings, with the others being: CO, KY, AR, LA, MO, NE.

It would be interesting to see Western lynching statistics over time. I suspect the vast majority of lynchings there were frontier justice in rural areas where the law lacked a long, strong arm, and these numbers are lopsided for the 19th century.

So if there wasn't much serious national opposition to lynching it shouldn't be surprising. It was a predominately regional crime.

 

[dedej]

Using the Tuskegee Institute numbers posted in the other thread (that post apparently didn't move threads), I decided to look closer at the lynching numbers.

Quick recap of nationwide totals (1882-1968):
1,297 white
3,446 black
4,743 total

I assume lynchings of Latinos/Hispanics, Asians, and Native Americans aren't included which is unfortunate because it would paint a much more effective overall picture.

Only 44 of 50 states are listed (and no DC). Missing, either due to a lack of data or no recorded lynchings are: Alaska, Hawaii, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. Given the other numbers in the table, I assume the latter four had zero recorded lynchings and I will exclude the other two entirely (especially since they were not states for most of this period).

I'm going to divide the 48 states into the following regions:

• 11 South (all the Confederate states)
• 5 Border States (slave states in 1860 that did not secede, including WV)
• 6 Midwest, subdivided into 3 Lower and 3 Upper
• 9 Northeast
• 17 West

Outliers:

• Delaware doesn't fit statistically with the other Border States (1 lynching)
• There is a HUGE difference between OH/IN/IL and MI/WI/MN.
  107 lynchings in the lower trio (46% of them black) vs 23 in the upper trio (22% black)
• OK and KS are outliers in the West (67% of black lynchings in West states occurred in those two states)
• TX lynching fits both the South trend (substantial number of black lynchings), but is also the only state with triple digit white lynchings

Doing a little number crunching:
88% of all black lynchings occurred in a former Confederate state
98% of all black lynchings occurred in one of the 1860 slave states, MO/KY/WV/MD, IL/IN/OH, or OK/KS (20 of 48 states)

45% of all white lynchings occurred in the West
38% of all white lynchings occurred in the South

74% of all lynchings occurred in the South; 83% if you include Border States.

In the 9 northeast states, there were a total of 14 lynchings, 6 of them being black lynchings in PA (no other state had more than 2 total lynchings).

The top 12 states in terms of most black lynchings are the 11 Confederate states plus Kentucky. Only NC and VA among South states didn't have triple digit black lynchings. Missouri is 13th, rounding out the only states with 50+ black lynchings.

Only TX had triple digit white lynchings. OK and MT (?!) were tied for 2nd. 9 states had 50+ white lynchings, with the others being: CO, KY, AR, LA, MO, NE.

It would be interesting to see Western lynching statistics over time. I suspect the vast majority of lynchings there were frontier justice in rural areas where the law lacked a long, strong arm, and these numbers are lopsided for the 19th century.

So if there wasn't much serious national opposition to lynching it shouldn't be surprising. It was a predominately regional crime.

Here's the map from EJI.

Explore The Map | Lynching In America

Over 4,000 racial terror lynchings between 1877 and 1950.

lynchinginamerica.eji.org

 

[byron ed]

...It is wrong to say that lynchings occurred "almost entirely" in the south.

Who's talking wrong or right? All lynchings were wrong, wherever they took place people were to blame for them. It's merely correct to say that lynchings occurred almost entirely in the south. I'm not understanding this seeming need to be sure the majority of U.S. society was somehow as much to blame as the South.

The truth of lynching is bad enough without exaggerating that "zero" was done about it or that all US society was equally complacent.

The post-Confederate white South was way more culpable for lynching and complacency to lynching than the rest of society.

Let's stop trying so hard to be "enlightened" and "diverse" and instead deal with history straight-up: Lynching Bad.

 

[O' Be Joyful]

Although all the actors were white, it had a deeper meaning, 1943.