Primary Source Spotlight: Lynching
Please be sure to review all primary sources prior to introducing students to them. You may also wish to read Selecting Primary Sources That Deal with Difficult Issues.
Lynching by Helen Douglass 1859 manuscript
“Lynch Law in the South” by Frederick Douglass The North American Review Volume 155, Issue 428 July 1892
Lynch Laws speech by Frederick Douglass
The facts in the case of the horrible murder of little Myrtle Vance c 1893
Lessons of the Hour speech by Frederick Douglass, January 9th, 1894
G.B. Mills W. Shepherd letter and newspaper clippings related to lynching October 31, 1894
A sermon on lynch law and raping preached by Rev. E.K. Love, D.D. November 5th, 1893 published 1894
A Red Record: Lynchings in the United States 1892, 1893, 1894 Ida B. Wells
The Red Record 1895 Ida B. Wells
Why is the Negro lynched? by Frederick Douglass 1895
Lynch law in Georgia by Ida B. Wells-Barnett June 20, 1899 pamphlet
The blood red record : a review of the horrible lynchings and burning of Negroes by civilized white men 1901 pamphlet
The voice of the carpet bagger publication for the Anti-lynching Bureau 1901
To the members of the Anti-Lynching Bureau correspondence from Ida B. Wells-Barnett Jan. 1st, 1902
A protest against the burning and lynching of Negroes by Booker T. Washington, letter printed in the Birmingham Age-Herald, Monday, February 29, 1904
The truth about lynching and the Negro in the South, in which the author pleads that the South be made safe for the white race by Winfield H. Collins book published 1918
The lynching bee, and other poems by William Ellery Leonard book published 1920
Report of Anti-lynching Committee NAACP, January 21, 1921
A terrible blot on American civilization 1922 broadside
Lynchings by states and counties in the United States, 1900-1931 (data from Research Department, Tuskegee Institute) 1931 map
Working people of Washington negro and white. students and intellectuals attend The “Scottsboro boys must not die” mass meeting 1934 broadside
Scottsboro Boys historical newspaper coverage
Eleanor Roosevelt to Walter White detailing the First Lady’s lobbying efforts for federal action against lynchings letter, 19 March 1936
A Man Was Lynched Yesterday image of flag flying above Fifth Avenue, New York City, ca. 1938
Topics in Chronicling America – The Trial and Lynching of Leo Frank
Lynchings historical newspaper coverage 1836-1922
History of Lynchings in the South Documents Nearly 4,000 Names New York Times Feb. 10, 2015
Online exhibition items related to lynching
- The Segregation Era (1900–1939)
- NAACP prelude
- The New Negro Movement
- Mob-violence and Anarchy, North and South
Lynching related interviews from Baylor’s Institute for Oral History
Encouraging Student Examination of Persuasive Strategies Used in an Anti-Lynching Report Teaching with the Library of Congress
Related resources