Without Sanctuary

Ly n c h i n g s i n A m e r i c a

A Nationwide Epidemic

LEFT: 1930 lynching of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith in Marion, Indiana. Shipp and Smith were African American men who were taken from jail by a mob, beaten then lynched on 7 August 1930. 

RIGHT: A scene that was far too common throughout the south and probably one that served to inspire Billie Holiday’s Strange Fruit:

Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

RIGHT: The charred corpse of Jesse Washington on

display in Robinson, Texas, after he was lynched in nearby Waco, Texas, on

May 16, 1916

LEFT: A large mob attends an 1882 lynching; location unknown.

LEFT: A postcard showing the 1920 Duluth, Minnesota lynchings

RIGHT: Spectators at the lynching of Jesse Washington, 

one man raised for a better view. May 16, 1916, Waco,

Texas. 

RIGHT: Bennie Simmons, alive, soaked in coal oil before being set on

fire. June 13, 1913. Anadarko, Oklahoma. Gelatin silver print. Real photo postcard. 31/4 x 5 in. Itched

into negative, “Edies Photo Anadarko Oklo”.

ABOVE: The lynching of Laura Nelson in Okemah, Oklahoma, on May 25, 1911

ABOVE: The corpses of three Georgia men hanging from a tree after being lynched in May 1892.

ABOVE: The lynching of Laura Nelson in Okemah, Oklahoma, on May 25, 1911

ABOVE: Lynching of Rubin Stacy in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, 1935

LEFT: Klansmen (KKK) with an unidentified victim, date unknown

The last recorded lynching was on the 21st of March, 1981. The young man’s name was Michael Donald, and he was lynched at the age of 19 in Delaware by members of the KKK.