LYNCHING AND LYNCH MOBS

Martin, Parry, Klingelhoffer

G I V E A B R I E F H I S T O RY O F LY N C H I N G S I N A M E R I C A A N D T H E O R I G I N S O F T H E

LY N C H M O B .

Lynching, or publicly humiliating and hanging African

Americans, was a popular form of punishment in

American’s Southern states from 1882 and 1930.

Mob violence instilled fear and racial supremacy over

African Americans.

Reasons for lynching included rape, stealing, poisoning

water well, trying to vote and even acting suspiciously.

H O W D I D LY N C H I N G C O M E T O R E P R E S E N T W H I T E H AT R E D O F B L A C K S ? W H Y W E R E S O

M A N Y W H I T E P E O P L E S U P P O R T I V E O F T H E M ?

Lynching come to represent white hatred because of the

disproportionate numbers of black victims.

From 1882-1930 462 African Americans were killed in

Mississippi, 423 were killed in Georgia, and 262 in Alabama. 2,500

lynch victims were African-American while only 300 lynch victims

were white.

Many white people supported lynch mobs in the Southern states

because of Mob Mentality or going along with a group because

“everyone is doing it.”

E X P L A I N T H E R E C E N T R E - E M E R G E N C E O F S Y M B O L S O F LY N C H I N G ( T H E J E N A S I X , E T C . ) .

W H A T E F F E C T H A S I T H A D O N R A C I A L T E N S I O N S I N A M E R I C A ?

3 bullets of relevant and thoughtful information in

grammatically correct sentences

CONNECTION TO TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

Lynching and Lynch Mobs relate to To Kill a

Mockingbird because their even through Tom

Robinson wasn’t lynched, he was killed because of

racial tension and discrimination. Also, the chapter

where Atticus is protecting Tom from outside of the

jail shows Mob Mentality. This topic also helps us

understand what the era was like for African-

Americans and how difficult and scary everyday life

was for them when living in the Southern states.

WORKS CITED

Braziel, Evans. “History of Lynching in the United

States”. Urbana and Chicago: University of

Illinois Press. 1992. Online.

“The Case of Louisiana’s ‘Jena Six’”. NPR. 5 August

2008. Online.