Primary Source Spotlight: Lynching

A terrible blot on American civilization. 3424 lynchings in 33 years

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

Lynching image set

Lynchings image set

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

Lynching related interviews from Baylor’s Institute for Oral History

S.Res.39 – A resolution apologizing to the victims of lynching and the descendants of those victims for the failure of the Senate to enact anti-lynching legislation 06/13/2005

Encouraging Student Examination of Persuasive Strategies Used in an Anti-Lynching Report Teaching with the Library of Congress blog November 27, 2018

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