LYNCHINGS IN THE UNITED STATES SINCE 1865

Lynching has been a major component of racial violence in the United States since the end of the Civil War.  While Americans of every racial background have been subjected to this violence, a disproportionate number of lynchings have been in the U.S. South and most of the victims were African American women, men, and children. This page brings together a variety of information on lynchings of blacks in the U.S. It includes an overview of black lynchings by the Equal Justice Initiative titled, Lynching in America, which with its listing of over 4,000 murders, is the most comprehensive report on lynching now available.  The page also includes individual descriptions of some of the most horrific lynchings, documents from the campaign to end lynching, and a bibliography of the major works on the subject.

The Shame of America. Evening Star, November 23, 1922
Photo from the Library of Congress (Public Domain)