Lynching History of African Americans: An Absurd Illegal Justice System in the 19th Century Research Paper

Introduction

The American history of the 19^th century is marked by an absurd illegal justice system called the “Lynch Law.” This law was characterized by hangings, burning and other forms of torture by a mob. Unfortunately, the victims of lynch law were not subjected to any form of trial. Having begun by masked men, the procedure took a new face when the lynching began to be done in broad daylight. Among the major reasons for lynching African Americans was their attempt to vote. This was illegalized and a new reason was given- he attempted to rule the whites (Wells par. 2). Eventually, the reason took a new turn and took a new reason- trying to assault a white woman. All these reasons led to lynching that led to the death of many innocent African Americans.

History of the Lynch Law

It is not clearly defined as what could have been the exact origin of the lynch law. Several attempts have been put forward to explain it but none can be out rightly proved. Among the most cited origin of the lynch law is the Col. W. Lynch and other citizens of Pittsilvania County in Virginia who came up with laws which were meant to suppress a gang of trained thieves who had specialized in stealing horses and other counterfeiting charges (Wells par. 1). From that time, the lynch law spread in several States changing its form as it continued to grow.

Another attempt to explain the origin is that of James Lynch, a mayor of Galway, Ireland who, according to the story, hanged his son for having murdered a nephew of his friend (Rhodes par.5).

Another attempt is that of an English man named Lynch who, in 1687, had been commissioned to suppress piracy. Apparently, Lynch hanged any suspected pirate without trial. This was rejected because there is no evidence that the law originated from this event.

Another attempt is that of 1778’s incident that took place at Lynch Creek in Franklin County, North Carolina. In this incident, john Drake led a group of patriots to lynch Major Beard who was a Tory. Drake eventually decided to hang Major Beard at Lynch creek because he feared that he could be rescued by other Tories before they made it to Colonel Seawell at the headquarters. This origin is usually rejected from a point that the hanging was in accordance to the rules of war (Rhodes parag. 8).

Another attempt to explain the origin of lynch law is that of regulators and moderators. According to this version, there was a group of people who called themselves ‘regulators’ and whose main function was the maintenance of law and order. The group used to hold meetings at the Lynch Creek to deliberate on their day to day actions. According to Rhodes (par.9), this theory is not applicable because the name of the law and order maintenance unit was ‘regulators’ and therefore their law was regulators’ law and not Lynch law. None the less, Rhodes goes on to explain that their activities were clearly related to the Lynch law. Injustices committed by regulators led to the formation of another group called the moderators. Their aim was to control the powers of the regulators.

The Niles Register for 8 August, 1835 also tries to explain the origin of Lynch Law. It states that lynch law originated from Washington County of Pennsylvania when a certain poacher was given an ultimatum to leave the county within 24 hours. The poacher failed to leave, forcing the villagers to take the law in their own hands. A farmer by the name Lynch took over the position of judge and sentenced the poacher to three hundred lashes for refusing to leave and promised three hundred more if he failed to leave again. This happened and as a result, the poacher left the County. This theory is however refuted because one of the analysts recommends that this was just a case of summary justice (Rhodes parag. 13).

The most accepted origin of this law is that of Charles Lynch a native of Chesnutt Hill, Virginia. According to this theory, Lynch who was elected in the Virginia House of Burgess had experienced a problem in terms of dispensing justice. It was difficult for the people to get justice because of two major reasons. During those days, the county courts could only function as examining points where the guilty ones were referred to Williamsburg which was situated two hundred miles away from Lynchburg. This made it difficult for witnesses who were mostly to leave their duties and travel the two hundred miles. It was also a risky affair because other bandits could attack the travelers and free their compatriot (Frank p. 37).

This called for a better way of getting justice to the wrong doers. It was this need that prompted Charles Lynch to sit down with others and form a judiciary. Charles Lynch was appointed the justice. Other neighbors like William Preston, Robert Adams and James Calloways were then appointed associate justices. This tribunal presided over cases where the accused was brought to defend himself in front of the judges. If found innocent, the court apologized and the accused was set free. 39 lashes were offered if found guilty and the accused was forced to shout, ‘Liberty Forever.’ Refusal to shout this meant being hung by the thumbs until one did it.

Reasons for Lynch Law

Several reasons can be attributed to these incidences. The picture painted of the black by the vehicles of communication was completely bad. The press took it as their responsibility to paint even blacker the faces of the African Americans. This notwithstanding, churches preached hatred to its followers. Schools were not left behind. Their syllabus preached hatred of the Negro and tried to strengthen the ideology of white supremacy. Day to day lives in the homes and streets also contributed greatly to the promotion of these activities of lynching (Wells parag. 8).

The southern States had a nasty attitude towards the African Americans. This also contributed to more hangings. The southerners boasted of knowing the African American more than any other person. This made them classify them into three groups.

• The improvident and shiftless blacks
• Criminals who had uncontrollable appetites to commit a crime and who could only be controlled by absolute brutality
• The humble negro who stayed calm and accepted where he was placed in the society

Due to this belief that they knew the Negro more than anybody else, the southerners formed a cocoon of ignorance that they could not be convinced to develop new ideas. This contributed to the continuous lynching.

The judicial system also promoted the spirit of lynching. The lynchers did not fear for any punishment for killing an African American. It was clear that after killing an African American, no form of punishment could be given to the perpetrator. For example, in 1886, a woman was poisoned by her husband in Jackson, Tennessee. The cook was arrested before a mob came after her, dragged her from prison and hanged her. Funnily, nobody was arrested for that crime (Wells par.). In Alabama, many people were accused of killing two African Americans and were acquitted later because whites did not believe that killing an African American was a crime.

The Southern having been brought up in a climate that regarded the African American as not fit to be regarded as a human, they promoted this acts of lynching as a form of entertainment. Their sadistic nature and beliefs natured all through the generations made them enjoy the act of lynching. To them lynching was equivalent to visiting a theatre for an orchestra or a merry go round (Rhodes parag. 25).

After the civil war, some African Americans started to develop economic muscles. Their prosperity was however not welcome by some of the whites who felt that an African American deserved to be poor and could not bring themselves to terms seeing a prosperous African American. This means that Negro economic progress also contributed to lynching (Raper p.9).

The sexual beliefs of the southerners also contributed highly to the issue of lynching. White women were very hysterical any time they saw a black man. They always believed that a black man had insatiable sexual appetite and as a result, they tended to misinterpret and exaggerate a small incidence that came up between them. In addition, the white men in the South believed that it was alright abuse a black woman sexually to satisfy ones sexual desires but held their white women with great honor and respect. This dual standard led to moral decay that contributed to the lynching (Raper p. 16).

The Ku Klux Klan played a notable role in execution of these racial prejudices towards the black. Their main reason according to experts was the economic and sexual fears. This Klan constituted of several societies which were anti-negro and therefore committed several acts of violence towards the African Americans. The KKK gained notoriety and increased its wings through three aspects. The press attributed to the Klan the burning of cotton bales and gins in 1920. In addition, the New York people’s attempt to show to the whole world the evils committed by the Klan eventually acted as the publicity agents to people who new nothing about it. Finally, the Rules Committee started series of hearings in the 1920 about the atrocities committed by the clan. This also acted as an even more form of publicity (White p.16).

Road to the End of Lynching

In 1934, a young man named Claude Neal in Marianna, Florida was brutally murdered by a white mob. This was the beginning of an effort to stem mob lynching. Neal had been arrested the murder of Ms. Cannidy. The mob pulled him out of custody in an Alabama jail before excruciatingly extracting confession from him before killing him and hanging him on a tree. Later, white rioters tried walked the cities trying to weed out all blacks from the State. It was this affair that forced the government to pass anti-lynching law. Despite this, lynching continued for a while before slowly dying (NCAAP p.9).

All in all, the atrocity had witnessed a great number of lynching. Between 1889 and 1918, the following number of people died from lynching.

1. 386 from Georgia
2. 373 from Mississippi
3. 335 from Texas
4. 313 from Louisiana
5. 276 from Alabama
6. 214 from Arkansas
7. 178 from Tennessee
8. 178 from Florida
9. 169 From Kentucky (NAACP, p.7)

References:

Shay, Frank. Judge Lynch; His First Hundred Years. New York: Biblo and Tannen Publishing Co., 1969.

Love to know. Lynch Law. 1911 encyclopedia. Web.

NAACP. Thirty Years of Lynchings in the United States, 1889-1918.New York: NAACP, 1919.

Rhodes, H. A., “Lynch Law”- An American Community Enigma. Yale- New Haven Teachers Institute.

Raper, Arthur F., Ph.D. The Tragedy of Lynching. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina, 1933.

Wells, B. I., Lynch Law. History is a Weapon. 1893.

White, Alma A.M. Klansmen: Guardians of Liberty. New Jersey: The Good Citizen, 1926.