1. Lynching and African Americans

2. The lynching of Laura Nelson and her son, several dozen onlookers
The lynching of Laura Nelson and her son, several dozen onlookers. May 25, 1911, Okemah, Oklahoma.

3. Lynching
It is the execution of an accused person by a mob. (to execute or punish violently without a lawful trial)
Lynching was a system of punishment to African-American slaves.
“Lynching” comes from Charles Lynch, a justice of peace who administered rough punishments

4. Lynching (continued)
Whites lynch African-Americans because they sometimes broke a law such as to offend a white person.
Sometimes they lynch them because they simply hate them or of small offences such as public drunkenness or shoplifting.

5. Types of lynching Race murder, Murder, Rape.
Most of the lynching was done by hanging.
Mostly African-Americans and some whites were lynched

6. Why were they lynched?
Whites lynched African-American for punishment if they did something wrong.
Some Blacks were lynched mostly because of their skin color.

7. Ku Klux Klan Started in TN after the Civil War
An organization of white supremacy that suppress the rights of African-Americans and other minorities
Had over 2 million members in the 1920’s

8. 90% of the victims were Southern 73% of the victims were black
According to the Tuskegee Institute, 4,742 lynchings occurred between
90% of the victims were Southern
73% of the victims were black
27% of the victims were white
< Tuskegee Institute statistics

9. Jim Crow Violence: How did African Americans resist?
Spoke out against discrimination
Organized boycotts of segregated facilities
Tried to improve segregated facilities
Segregated School

10. The Great Migration
Because of lynching and the unfairness of sharecropping
Thousands of African American’s Moved to northern or western citites such as New York, Chicago, or Detroit.

11. An African American who wanted blacks to go back to Africa
Marcus Garvey
An African American who wanted blacks to go back to Africa

12. Ida B. Wells Ida B. Wells Born in Holly Spring, MS Newspaper writer
She spoke out against lynching in her newspaper in Memphis, TN
She had to town before she was lynched
1909- Wells managed to force Illinois to reprimand a prison official for releasing a prisoner to a lynch mob Wells was one of the first founders of the NAACP, along with W.E.B. Du Bois (Niagara Movement- full rights for black citizens)
She continued to write anti-lynching literature, such as her famous pamphlet. Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases, and The Red Horror, even though she was already involved in the fight for women’s suffrage- she refused to participate in the women’s parade (only white women were being considered for suffrage)
1. Digital image. [Ida B. Wells]. 03 June 2006 <

13. Primary Source By Ida B.Wells;
“Although lynching have steadily increased in number and barbarity during the last 20yrs, there has been no single effort put forth by the many moral and philanthropic forces of the country to put a stop to this wholesale slaughter”.

14. NAACP National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
Founded in 1909 by W.E.B. DuBois and others
Called for the equal treatment of African Americans
“The negro has confessed says he is ready to die, and nobody can keep the inevitable from happening.” (Theodore Bilbo) At the Hands of Persons Unknown p. 257
W.E.B. Du Bois’ poster: “A Man Was Lynched Yesterday” on Fifth Avenue

15. The Harlem Renaissance
A cultural and literary movement centered in Harlem.