Lynching in America: Confronting the Legacy of Racial Terror

by Equal Justice Initiative

Lynching in America: Confronting the Legacy of Racial Terror documents EJI’s multi-year investigation into lynching in twelve Southern states during the period between Reconstruction and World War II. EJI researchers documented 4075 racial terror lynchings of African Americans in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia between 1877 and 1950 – at least 800 more lynchings of black people in these states than previously reported in the most comprehensive work done on lynching to date.

In 2017, EJI supplemented this research by documenting racial terror lynchings in other states, and found these acts of violence were most common in eight states: Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, and West Virginia.

Lynching in America makes the case that lynching of African Americans was terrorism, a widely supported phenomenon used to enforce racial subordination and segregation. Lynchings were violent and public events that traumatized black people throughout the country and were largely tolerated by state and federal officials. This was not “frontier justice” carried out by a few marginalized vigilantes or extremists. Instead, many African Americans who were never accused of any crime were tortured and murdered in front of picnicking spectators (including elected officials and prominent citizens) for bumping into a white person, or wearing their military uniforms after World War I, or not using the appropriate title when addressing a white person. People who participated in lynchings were celebrated and acted with impunity.

The report explores the ways in which lynching profoundly impacted race relations in this country and shaped the contemporary geographic, political, social, and economic conditions of African Americans. Most importantly, lynching reinforced a narrative of racial difference and a legacy of racial inequality that is readily apparent in our criminal justice system today. Mass incarceration, racially biased capital punishment, excessive sentencing, disproportionate sentencing of racial minorities, and police abuse of people of color reveal problems in American society that were shaped by the terror era.

No prominent public memorial or monument commemorates the thousands of African Americans who were lynched in America. Lynching in America argues that is a powerful statement about our failure to value the black lives lost in this brutal campaign of racial violence. Research on mass violence, trauma, and transitional justice underscores the urgent need to engage in public conversations about racial history that begin a process of truth and reconciliation in this country.

“We cannot heal the deep wounds inflicted during the era of racial terrorism until we tell the truth about it,” said EJI Director Bryan Stevenson. “The geographic, political, economic, and social consequences of decades of terror lynchings can still be seen in many communities today and the damage created by lynching needs to be confronted and discussed. Only then can we meaningfully address the contemporary problems that are lynching’s legacy.”

Genres: Race, Nonfiction, History, American History, Politics

88 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2015

Reviews

[Paige Goodwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

If this were a required reading in schools, and treated like the painful truth that it is, this country would be so unfathomably different.

[Jim Robles · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The lynching of African Americans was terrorism, a widely supported campaign to enforce racial subordination and segregation. Lynching in America documents more than 4400 racial terror lynchings in the United States during the period between Reconstruction and World War II." (available at: https://eji.org/reports/lynching-in-a...)

I thought I had read enough about this peri0d of our history to not be shocked at the sheer savagery, barbarity, and cruelty of the campaign of terror that good church-going Christians waged for over eighty years to keep our Black fellow citizens subjugated. I was wrong. If you love our great, albeit somewhat flawed, country enough to want to know our history, this is required reading.

I read this on the way to Montgomery to visit the National Memorial For Peace And Justice (AKA the Lynching Memorial). This was one of the most worthwhile trips of my life. I have a much better understanding of this part of our history.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incredibly difficult report on the history of racial terror in our country. Yet education is key to combating racial inequality and healing for our past wrongs as a country. So, yes, read it. But be warned that you will have to take many breaks.

I so appreciate the work of the Equal Justice Initiative to memorialize the victims of racial terror and to bravely initiate difficult conversations in the communities in which these crimes took place and beyond. And that is just some of the important work they are doing to shine light on the unaddressed, unhealed, unacknowledged racial injustice in our country perpetuated by white supremacy. If you don't know much about them, check them out.

[Ann Clay · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, so hard to read due to the subject matter, but we all need to read it and digest what this era did to bring us where we are today. We've moved lynching to the death penalty and/or life imprisonment for people who are often innocent. I'm firmly anti-death-penalty, and this book has only steeled my resolve. I'm anxious to visit the memorial in Alabama (?) to all those who were lynched during this horrible time.

[Lindsay Hicks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hard to read - MUST read.

[Adam Shields · Rating 4 out of 5]

I may come back and write more about this later, but I am behind on writing.

This is a report on lynching and as a report, it is very well written. There is a good (short) history. It is clear about what was going on with lynching. It has a clear perspective of lynching as a form of racial terrorism and I think that clearness is helpful on a relatively short document like this. Not everyone that has not read anything about this will be convinced by this relatively short book, but I think it is a good jumping-off point for discussions and as a prep for visiting Montgomery with a group, which is why I read it.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm preparing for a trip to the National Memorial for Peace and Justice Museum in Montgomery AL. Happened across this free paper which talks about lynching in America. Very sobering. It will make the trip more meaningful.

Never again.

[Marta E C R · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is long past time for America to face the history of lynching and the legacies it has left in its wake. I am so grateful to the Equal Justice Initiative for providing this report, difficult as it is to read.

[Dewin Anguas Barnette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent resource. Clear and succinct.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the third edition (2017) - a well-researched and sobering description of lynching in America. Lynching bypasses the system of justice and is a blight on our country.

[Susu · Rating 5 out of 5]

A deeply disturbing read on origin of lynchings and its aftermath still felt today - very disturbing to read on the public spectacles created around them - should be a mandatory read

[Joy Kirr]

Read online as part of this 30-day challenge - https://theantiracisttable.com/

[Anita S. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sobering. Horrifying. The stories... the photos ... such ugliness.

[Sarah Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Equal Justice Initiative is an organization based in Montgomery, Alabama (U.S.A.). The EJI advocates legally for marginalized communities. As part of this mission, they educate the public through a museum and a memorial in Montgomery. This book incorporates pictures from these institutions as well as much research about lynching and it's continuing effects in our nation.

[Dana Sweeney · Rating 5 out of 5]

A quick read that serves as a solid, revealing primer on the history and legacies of lynching in America. It details (in both quantitative and narrative record) the historical reality of lynching as a communal practice in the South, and it subsequently makes a very compelling case for the importance of building a contemporary and communal understanding of this horrific, unaddressed, historic, distinctly American phenomenon.

I read it in two sittings, and I learned a ton. It is extremely well-sourced, which has also given me many avenues for further reading. I absolutely recommend this text as a gateway into better understanding race and the South, both then and now.

[Terri · Rating 3 out of 5]

A well-done, enlightening, and powerful read! Though "Lynching in America: Confronting the Legacy of Racial Terror" is a difficult read, it is an essential read. Once again, the Equal Justice Initiative steps up and forces us to acknowledge our past and begin to move toward reconciliation!

[David Ek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sobering and powerful.