On August 7, 1930, a mob of ten to fifteen thousand whites abducted three young black men from the jail in Marion, Indiana, lynching Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith. Sixteen-year-old James Cameron narrowly survived after being beaten by the mob. Lawrence Beitler’s photograph of the two victims’ hanging bodies … Read MoreMarion, Indiana Lynching (1930)
James Byrd, Jr. is considered one of the last lynching victims in the United States. On the morning of June 7, 1998, 49-year-old Byrd left his parents’ residence and was walking home alone along Huff Creek Road in Jasper, Texas. He was approached by three white men, John William … Read MoreJames Byrd, Jr. (1949-1998)
On Thursday, March 3, 1910, a Dallas, Texas mob lynched Allen Brooks, a fifty-seven-year-old African American man. His murder was one of a number of lynchings in major Texas cities. Little is known about Brooks’s early life. He was born in either Maryland or Texas around 1853. By the … Read MoreAllen Brooks (ca. 1853-1910)
On July 14, 1946, four African American sharecroppers were lynched at Moore’s Ford in northeast Georgia in an event now described as the “last mass lynching in America.” Yet the killers of George Dorsey, Mae Murray Dorsey, Roger Malcolm, and Dorothy Malcolm were never brought … Read MoreThe Moore’s Ford Lynching (July 1946)
Mary Turner was a young African American woman whose 1918 lynching in Lowndes County, Georgia, prompted National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) officials to ask Missouri Congressman Leonidas Dyer to craft the 1922 Dyer Anti Lynching Bill. The bill passed the U.S. … Read MoreMary Turner (1899-1918)
The murder of Mack Charles Parker is considered one of the last civil rights era lynchings. On the night of April 24, 1959, a mob abducted Parker from the Pearl River County Jail in Poplarville, Mississippi, where he was awaiting trial for the alleged crime … Read MoreMack Charles Parker (1936-1959)
Cubah Cornwallis was a former slave to Captain William Cornwallis and became well known in the Caribbean as an accomplished nurse. Few documents exist about her 18th century life, and her name has various spellings including Coubah, Couba, Cooba and Cuba. References to her indicate … Read MoreCubah Cornwallis (?-1848)
The National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs, Inc. (NACW), was established in July 1896 as a merger between the National League of Colored Women and the National Federation of Afro-American Women. The merger enabled the NACWC to function as a national umbrella group for local … Read MoreNational Association of Colored Women’s Clubs, NACW (1896– )
The city of East St. Louis, Illinois was the scene of one of the bloodiest race riots in the 20th century. Racial tensions began to increase in February, 1917 when 470 African American workers were hired to replace white workers who had gone on strike … Read MoreEast St. Louis Race Riot, 1917
Jack Turner, political activist and martyr, was born a slave in Choctaw County, Alabama around 1840. Choctaw County was situated in Alabama’s “Black Belt,” a large swath of cotton growing land in the central part of the state historically known for its dark, mineral-rich soil, … Read MoreJack Turner (ca. 1840-1882)
