Examples Of Lynching In The 19th Century

Lynching In The 19th Century
Lynching in the 19th century was an act of punishment caused by large groups, mobs, or vigilantes, in order to punish an alleged criminal, or to show authority over a certain minority group. Lynching was said to be first started in 1811, after William Lynch, who created “Lynch’s Law”. “This was an agreement with the Virginia General Assembly (Virginian state legislature) on September 22, 1782, which allowed Lynch to pursue and punish criminals in Pittsylvania County, without due process of law,” (New World Encyclopedia, Etymology, p.1)
Lynching was also an act of killing the criminal even after they have already been taken into custody. In the story Abe Wildner, the “posse”, a group of people or men who would help with the law enforcement back then, had already captured Wildner when suddenly word was released that “officers assisted by the military were coming to rescue the prisoner from them, had taken him into Bill Nelson’s field, about two miles southwest of Red Branch and had there burned him.” (1901, A Texas Lynching, p. 92) Lynching can be thought as being similar to murder, because immediately we think they are both forms of killing. But in some cases murder is far different then lynching, lynching can be seen as a form of punishment given to those who have committed a serious crime. Murder is an

These postcards were to show people what they had done, and were handed out to onlookers who watched the crime, as souvenirs. In an article written about a lynching of three black men in 1920 it read that at the location of the hate crime, pictures were taken where men seemed as if they wanted to be within the photo. As if these men were showing off a prize buck that had just been shot down in a hunting lodge, “this was a significantly posed photo.” (Julin, A Mob Lynches Three Black Men,