This image above is a lynching in Marion, Indiana in 1930.
Origins Of Lynching In the United States
Lynching came over to the United States almost at the beginning of our country, and has been used all for one reason: to punish those who are presumed of a crime. As in most cases of lynching, they are always assumed to be guilty, and for the most part, there was racial profiling involved in their presumed guiltiness. Between the years of 1880 and 1951 alone, 3,437 African Americans and 1,293 whites were lynched. 2,144 more African Americans than whites were lynched due to the fact that most of the lynchings of the African Americans were because of the color of their skin. The KKK and other white supremacy groups adopted this method of killing after the Revolutionary war to punish groups of people who went against their beliefs. Even though this crime was often committed against African Americans, in the late 1800's and early 1900's, the victims were often immagrants. The largest case of mass lynching in United States history was eleven Italian immigrants in New Orleans in 1891.
Lynchings in the 1920's-1930's
The Klu Klux Klan was often behind the lynchings of African Americans throughout American history, but some of the most brutal lynchings committed by them were in the 1920's and 30's. One of the more famous ones include the Rosewood Massacre, which resulted in the lynchings of three men and the burning of an entire community. This case, like many others, was started by the false accusation of sexual assault on a white woman by a black man and a wide spread man hunt causing the lynching of three men who were supposedly connected to the accused. Most of the Lynchings occurred in southern states where the KKK thrived and were a common hate group with members in almost every town.