In 1984 as a 4^th grade student in a predominantly typical southern community, I first heard about lynching from a first year female teacher, in our all white class. Zealous to stomp-out racism and pro-Southern sentiments, despite her family’s proud Southern heritage, she explained the typical politically correct bunk – white Southerners were evil racists, hell-bent on lynching every black they could lay their dirty hands upon. For this reason she explained, we needed to loathe our Southern ancestors, and go out-of-the-way to be polite to every black we met. She ended the session telling us her greatest deed was apologizing to blacks for her ancestor’s possible racist sins.

During question time, numerous students, including myself told this newbie teacher we were proud of our family. I remember distinctly telling her that I had a grandfather that loved to tell the occasional black joke, but as a whole there wasn’t anyone I knew in the family that hated blacks. She countered and told me that was great, but I needed to remember my ancestors hated blacks, at which point she blamed the problems blacks face on our Southern ancestors.

Stories like this are all too common, and have gained much momentum in the 27 years since my introduction to lynching, having taken on an authoritative position that is never questioned, lest you be labeled racist. As a result the general consensus is that lynching was always done at the hands of uneducated white supremacists, with their victims being falsely accused blacks, or white civil rights workers. Statements like the following found on Wikipedia’s article on lynching in the United States are the norm.

“It is associated with re-imposition of White supremacy in the South after the Civil War. The granting of civil rights to freedmen in the Reconstruction era (1865–77) aroused anxieties among white citizens, who came to blame African Americans for their own wartime hardship, economic loss, and forfeiture of social privilege. Black Americans, and Whites active in the pursuit of equal rights, were frequently lynched in the South during Reconstruction.”[i]

This type of sentiment is pumped out of every university and school, whether public or private, Christian or other, without question as if it represents the entire truth. However, as an in-depth study of any historical resource from prior to the 1940s illustrates, this broad sweeping statement isn’t true, but is filled with numerous lies and half-truths. But before the modern view of lynching is dissected, an understanding of what exactly lynching is must be covered.

The History of Lynching

Lynching by definition is an extrajudicial means of justice, in which a presumed guilty party is punished usually by execution, but occasionally by a lesser punishment of humiliation[ii], by citizens of the community for crimes where there is an abundance of incriminating evidence. Examples of the evidence would be if the accused was caught in the act of committing a murder or if they were found with blood on their clothes and had the murder weapon on their person. Although, as in the case of British loyalists, if there was a litany of credible witnesses, that might be damning enough for a lynch mob to form and demand justice to be served.

The origin of this vigilante practice lies in the biblical belief that a victim’s family had the legal right to stone an offending person, if they were found guilty of a crime worthy of a death sentence. While lynching forgoes a formal trial, this practice arose out of what was seen as a means to seek retribution for the family, as well as carry out a swift and humane sentence that wouldn’t burden the tax payers with a lengthy, expensive trial. While most lynchings took place prior to a trial, some happened after a judge decreed a lesser sentence than the townsfolk felt the guilty deserved, as in the case of Leo Franks[iii]. But, no matter when it was carried out, this practice was one that worked well to curb violent crime in the early days of America, by keeping riffraff out-of-town.

As for the manner of death, the common misconception is that lynching means death by hanging, which isn’t true; there were other means of carrying out the execution like burning at the stake, shooting, beating, stoning, drowning, dragging, and stabbing; with sometimes a combination of two or more to ensure the party was dead. However, prior to 1830 non-lethal lynchings were fairly common, and usually were carried out by tar or turpentine and feathering, beating, lashings with a whip, or combinations of more than one of these to humiliate the accused. Often times the non-lethal lynched were handed over to authorities after their lynching to have a formal trial.[iv]

Of late, amnesty groups posit that hanging as was administered by courts of law of old, as in the case of those given by the hanging judge Isaac Parker, were lynchings. However, lynching was never a judicial sentence carried out by authorities to fulfill a death sentence. In that same vein, these groups would have us believe public hangings were a product of the Wild West. However, just a bit of research shows the practice of hanging has deep roots in Europe, from before the time of Christ, and was even initiated by the founders of America during the Revolutionary War for traitors or British spies, as regulated by the rules of war. It’s not some crude practice dreamt up in a saloon full of wild and wooly outlaws.

Another mistruth presented by amnesty groups is that any modern death sentence handed to a black person is a judicial lynching, because they view the judicial system as the product of white people. In doing this they claim that the blacks are still being lynched by whites in record numbers, but they claim the lynch mob has donned a suit and tie and is now hiding behind a stack of law books. This tactic reared it’s ugly head in full force in the case of Troy Davis, as throngs of liberal media outlets sought for not only his death sentence to be commuted, but for him to be exonerated of his crimes. Davis, who was found guilty of viciously executing a white police officer in Savannah, GA, was executed in September 2011 for his crimes. Regardless of the evidence against him, including seven eye witnesses to his crime; countless bloggers and media spin doctors claimed it was the worst example of a judicial lynching in history.[v] Soon after there were cries to commute the sentences of every black that sits on death row, including the numerous black serial killers, without question, with some even suggesting new trials be granted.

Therefore it quickly becomes apparent that in amnesty’s fight against the death penalty, they’ve sought to borrow a term that evokes fear and strums up in the hearts of guilt ridden people. This ploy has been effective in them adding millions to the cause of amnesty, by misrepresenting what lynching is, as well as the history of lynching in this country. Ultimately, the tactic has been used as another blow to the white race.

General Misconceptions

The first common misconception is that lynching was always administered by Southern white supremacists against innocent blacks, of whom they blamed their poor economic conditions during the Reconstruction on. This idea is full of numerous flaws, as there were numerous examples of lynching prior to 1865, in every state. However this lie is continually perpetuated by the NAACP and SPLC, because of a study the NAACP did on lynchings from 1889-1918[vi], as well as a study of the years 1882-1965 by the Tuskegee Institute[vii]. As a result of this propaganda the average citizen is left with the impression that lynching came into vogue soon after Lee’s surrender to Grant at Appomattox, VA, because Southerners had an axe to grind and decided to take their rage on blacks. Yet no matter how romantic they try to paint this faux picture of lynchings being strictly a Southern invention, it ends up resembling a low-budget D class film that everyone pokes fun at.

The first example of lynching, in which its thought gave birth to the term lynch-law, was the lynching by whipping and occasional hanging of white British loyalists between 1780 and 1781 in Virginia by Judge Charles Lynch. Because of the Revolutionary War, often times he didn’t have the resources or time to hold a formal trial. Therefore he made a list of rules, later called the Lynch-Law, which was to be used against British loyalists in an effort to expedite the process. This practice wasn’t widespread, yet by 1790 it was gaining steam in much of the country, as numerous examples of men and women getting tarred and feathered according to Lynch’s Law before 1830 exist. Even execution styled lynchings, which started off slowly, steadily grew in frequency across the country for members of every race. Following are but a few of the numerous examples:

• May 1795 in St. Clair, IL country, two Indians were lynched as they were sitting in jail awaiting trial. [viii]
• September 23, 1831 in Wilmington, NC, three white men were lynched by hanging.[ix]
• 1835 in Vicksburg, MS, five white gamblers were lynched by hanging, for ripping off town residents. As a result all gamblers left town.[x]
• November 1836 in Arkansas, a negro slave was lynched by burning, for confessing to having murdered his master, as well as several of his fellow slaves in a maddened frenzy. [xi]
• June 27, 1844 in Carthage, MO, the founders of the Mormon Church, Joseph and Hyrum Smith were lynched while awaiting trial in jail, for inciting a riot, treason and destroying public property. [xii]
• May 1855 in Fort Leavenworth, KS a white lawyer shot and killed a political opponent and was lynched.[xiii]
• September 20, 1857 in Platte River, MN, two Indians and a mulatto were lynched after caught bludgeoning a peddler with stones, then burying the body.[xiv]
• October 1859 in New Orléans, LA a white man was lynched for stealing slaves from farms and re-selling them at auction.[xv]
• November 7. 1860 in Fulton, MO a black woman named Teney was caught after murdering her master’s wife; she was lynched by a mob of 40-50 angry townsfolk.[xvi]

Numerous other examples can be found with a little research, which shows there were numerous lynchings prior to 1865. Notice as well, of the eight examples shown twelve of the executed were white men, four were Indian, two were black, and one was listed as mulatto. This is fairly typical of the pre-1965 records, whites make up at a majority of the cases, but over all from 1780 to 1968 make up at least half of known lynchings.

Another fact PC groups don’t let out often, is lynchings didn’t always occur in the south, as every northern state and territory had lynchings prior to 1865. While the states of Missouri, Virginia, Ohio, Indian Territory, and Texas registered the most, every state and territory had its fair share of lynchings prior to the end of the war.

After the war, firm records of lynchings began to be collected, as provided by research from the Tuskegee Institute concerning the years 1882-1968, there were still numerous lynchings in the non-confederate states, as the below table shows.[xvii] It should be noted, the Institute was primarily concerned with black lynchings occurring in the South, as they had a black first agenda, that wasn’t kind white Southerners. For instance, there is evidence of more lynchings in the North,that didn’t get recorded. For instance some speculate that the Western states might have had double or more the white lynchings reported. However to give the Institute the benefit of the doubt, their study was conducted in 1919, in an age when information wasn’t as readily available as it is now. Another more detailed study could change their figures drastically. Therefore the figures they have will have to suffice.

Notice from their figures, there were 1,197 whites executed during this time period, yet we are never told of this information, save the story of the occasional white abolitionist being killed. Nor is it ever mentioned that lynch mobs stormed numerous jails, in an attempt to execute whites charged with violent crime; yet were detoured time and time again by sheriffs. Almost without exception, almost every white outlaw jailed for the crimes of murder, or rape, had the threat of lynch mobs arising to carry them away.

As for the ploy that white civil rights activists being the sole representatives of white lynching, isn’t true either. Sure there were a few executed, but in each case they had been accused of either inciting riots, sewing discord, stealing property, committing acts of violence against slave holders, or harming innocent people. There’s not a single case of a civil rights activist that was lynched, simply for being a peaceful demonstrator; in nearly every case there was a serious crime they were suspected of committing.

For further proof of the white civil rights lynching sham, look to the number of whites lynched in the non-confederate states, which stood at 805. Oklahoma for instance clocked the most white lynchings during this time with 82. This was an outlaw territory that became a state in 1907, of which there were only a few lynchings recorded after statehood. In every case, it was a fugitive from justice or suspected criminal that was lynched, as in the infamous Ada lynching of 1909, where white three men were lynched for killing a lawman.[xviii] But it should be remembered, there was never an abolitionist movement in Indian Territory, nor was Oklahoma known for its white civil rights activism! The same goes for the entirety of the non-Confederate states, they weren’t a hostile place for white civil rights activists, and in fact all of civil rights groups have their roots in the north. As a result every instance of white civil rights activists being lynched, of which there’s only a small handful, are in the South.

The Black Lynch Mobs

Another common myth is that whites were the only participants in lynch mobs. Hollywood reinforces this stigma by showing lynch mobs composed of trashy looking whites, which look the part of characters from the movie Deliverance. Never do they show blacks in the mobs, nor would they dare portray a black mob lynching anyone. Instead they cast the blacks as the calm educated ones, warning the idiot whites of their behavior, and then hiding their families to prevent them from becoming the next victims.

In reality, blacks often times played a vital role in lynch mobs. On more than one occasion blacks were called upon as material witnesses. However in other times their family had been hurt by the person the lynch mob sought, fearing the court system would fail them, they avenged their loved ones by joining the mobs. Proof of this can be seen in the following newspaper clipping from the Rochester Evening Journal, dated July 30, 1935, in which some blacks were present in the lynch mob.

The liberal types might shutter and ask why? The answer is simple; they were upset that one of their friends, a much beloved white farmer from the community was dead at the hands of an axe wielding monster. In their minds, swift justice had to be taken. But this wasn’t an isolated case, nor was it a case of bad reporting. Blacks also lent a hand in lynching other blacks again on February 10, 1913 in Houston, TX[xix], as they did in New Orleans, LA on October 3, 1884, as seen below.

There are numerous other examples of blacks participating, but the sly liberal will brush this off as a formality. They’ll quip, that having blacks present is one thing, but that black lynch mobs never existed. To their disappointment there wasn’t just one black lynch mob, but dozens of examples. In fact, in the hour I devoted to searching old newspaper articles, of which only a fraction of the papers prior to 1900 are online, I found 15 examples of black only mobs, that lynched numerous people. In addition to this, there were numerous articles I found that detailed black lynch mobs forming, but being thwarted by law enforcement. Here area few examples of black lynch mobs:

Aside from this, here are the particulars of ten lynchings and two almost lynchings by black mobs, found in my short research:

• October 21, 1878, in Memphis, TN, an innocent white man was lynched, because blacks were angry that a black man in town had been killed by another white man.[xx]
• August 27, 1895, in Eureka, CA, four blacks were hanged by a mob of 250 black men.[xxi]
• September 29, 1897, in Richmond, VA a white tramp that seduced black men was hanged by a black mob, which included some of her sexual cohorts.[xxii]
• November 19, 1897, in Bryan, TX, a black man shot another black man, and was taken from the sheriff by a black lynch mob, and hanged from a tree.[xxiii]
• August 4, 1900, in Vicksburg, MS, a black man that killed another black man was hanged, then cut loose and sunk in the bayou with weights by a black mob. [xxiv]
• March 4, 1901, in Matawan, NJ, a white man was beaten to death by a mob of angry blacks that had observed him fighting with another man.[xxv]
• July 18, 1903, in Lake Butter, FL, a black man killed a prominent black man and raped his wife, a black mob assembled and hanged him, then everyone cut him with a knife, over 100 times.[xxvi]
• January 24, 1904, in Guthrie, KY, Lewis Radford, a black man suspected of killing a black woman, was shot in his cell by a mob of 30-40 black men, then hanged from a tree.[xxvii]
• October 8, 1905, Bainbridge, GA, a black man that assaulted a black girl and another black man, was taken from the sheriff by a mob of angry blacks, then hanged and shot to death.[xxviii]
• March 31, 1908, Atlanta, GA, B. R. Chapin, a white man, was claimed to have been found in a black’s home. A black lynch mob surrounded him and was going to execute him. Police stepped in an thwarted their efforts. [xxix]
• November 28, 1909, Washington, PA, a white man shot a black man and ran into a hotel. Over 150 black men formed a lynch mob and were trying to get him, but the police were able to take him to safe haven. [xxx]
• February 22, 1913 in Drew, MS, Willis Webb, a black man was hanged by a black lynch mob, for being suspected four murders.[xxxi]
• December 24, 1920, in Purvis, MS, Coleman Brown a black preacher, was hanged and shot by a black mob, for being a suspect in the murder of a 14 year old black girl. [xxxii]

Mind you the preceding wasn’t a detailed search, but a very brief study to illustrate blacks were present in lynch mobs, and even formed their own all black lynch mobs. Just from the sources cited in this article, there were 20 blacks and 5 whites executed by either lynch mobs that were either entirely black, or had blacks in participation. A more in depth study would surely find numerous other examples, much to the chagrin of the NAACP, SPLC, Tuskegee Institute, and other PC groups that have an agenda to interpret data in the most liberal way possible. However this tidbit of information, had they presented it along with their books on lynchings, would have been detrimental to their political agenda.

In studying these stories, I found myself asking, why hasn’t the truth been told in these cases? The answer, because it’s a concerted effort to label white Southern Christians as racist, bigots that sought to destroy the black race. Their agenda is to make modern descendents of Confederates ashamed of their past, as my teacher told me years ago. They recommend we forget that chapter in American history ever happened, then distort reality, by claiming white lynch mobs scrambled across the countryside lynching blacks in gross numbers.

To Lynch or not to Lynch

Not only did I research black lynch mobs, but I also investigated the evidence against the average accused black that was lynched by a white mob. What I found, was in most cases there was probable cause for the sheriff to arrest the suspect, or the suspect was caught in the act of the crime by a neighbor, who quickly rallied other neighbors to form a mob. Rarely found was a black man minding his own business, that wasn’t seriously incriminated by a mass of evidence that was lynched. In fact in a study of all lynchings conducted from 1900-1903, less than 5% were as a result of racial prejudice, either on the part of whites or blacks.[xxxiii]

In this same study it was found that of the 115 lynchings of any race in 1900, 53 were for murder and 31 were for rape, 9 for robbery, 6 for assault, 3 for arson, with the rest for lesser offenses. This means that 87% of all lynchings were as a result of what is now classified as violent crime. Hardly the image of innocent people getting executed.

Another thing not found was valid proof of a white lynch mob executing a black, and then quickly turning on any blacks in the area not connected to the crime, just to hang them as well. The lynch mob’s sole purpose was to execute vigilante justice on the excused, not innocent people. It should be remembered, as in the case of the Southerners that after Reconstruction, many former slaves stayed close to their prior slaveholders, because they’d developed a love and respect for them. Not only this, but after the war blacks continued working the plantations, whites lynching every Negro in sight, would have been detrimental to the struggling economy, that was practically shut down by the North’s war. Whites were wise enough to realize the blacks were a much needed element in helping them care for plantations, therefore it’s preposterous to assume the obnoxious ideas modern PCers impose on Southern whites prior to 1965.

A typical example of what lead up to a lynch mob executing a black can be found in the following well documented story. Note, the lynch mob was mixed and consisted of numerous neighbors and their slaves.

In Daindridge, TN in June 1854, a tragedy struck the home of Elijah Moore. He had a 22 year old black slave named Tom, who’d been raised by his family. By all accounts, he gave Tom far more privilege normally afforded slaves and even let the slave verbally abuse his wife and sister-in-law.

On the 20^th Tom sneaked into his master’s home with an axe in hand, when they’d fallen fast asleep. When he happened upon the Moore’s bed, he hacked Mr. Moore with the axe in the face, killing him instantly. Mrs. Moore awoke to the noise and was quickly hacked numerous times, and then thrown to the floor, where she bled to death.

At the commotion, Mrs. Moore’s younger sister Miss Lotspeech came to see what the commotion was. Surprising Tom, he broke her arm, and then raped her on the bed where Mr. Moore lay dead. When finished, he killed her with one chop to the back of the skull with the axe.

The next day when a neighbor came to pay a visit, he discovered the blood about the porch, and went in to check the welfare of the family. After making the horrific discovery, he alerted neighbors, who all expected the insolent slave Tom.

A search about the area was conducted, until he was found hiding in the woods, covered in dry blood. Upon discovery, he fled, but was stopped when someone shot him in the cheek with a musket. After he turned himself over to the small mob, made up of both whites and black, he confessed to the crimes and gave details of how he killed each victim. Instead of turning him over to the sheriff, he was chained to a stake, and then fagots were placed about him. The mob then offered a prayer, for the family, as well as Tom, after which he was burned to death. [xxxiv]

This story was documented in numerous newspapers of the time, as well as a few books that give the story in great detail. While his crimes are an extreme example of human violence, the treatment of the confessed criminal is not. Lynchings didn’t happen as movies portray, where an angry all white mob snatches an innocent black man from his family, then hangs him without question. Lynch mobs, despite their modern nasty reputation sought justice, which meant they had to have the right perpetrator. There are even numerous instances in which material witnesses were brought to give their account, as well as evidence presented to the bystanders. Almost unanimously the accused was given time to confess, or had already given a full confession to authorities. The last thing a mob wanted was innocent blood on their hands, for which they would be liable for murder.

Conclusions

Now before you yell racist and accuse me of advocating modern lynch mobs, understand I’m not. Instead, my goal is to show history has been shellacked with a liberal coating of politically correct garbage, meant to make whites feel guilty. Because we’ve not been told who lynched who, nor has it been adequately illustrated how the events actually happened, we’ve been hoodwinked into believing a heap of lies. As a result the average person has the perception that all lynch mobs looked like a KKK rally gone mad, slaying every black in sight in a drunken rage! This myth is reinforced continuously by media and anti-white groups such as the ADL, SPLC, and NAACP. As a result even blacks have been duped, and many that have grown up in the North refuse to visit the South, for fear they’ll be lynched. An example of that can be seen in a paper written by Henry A. Rhodes, in a guide written to help teachers instruct students in the typical skewed history of lynching:

“One of the effects of lynching is the deep-seeded hatred and fear that has been passed on from generation to generation of Afro-Americans. Even though lynchings are almost non-existent nowadays in comparison to the past, racial prejudice and tension still persists. To this very day I am still afraid to travel into the deep South due to the lynchings of the past.”

While laughable, this superstitious attitude typifies a pathological fear many northern blacks have. However, it’s not based in reality. Mr. Rhodes stands a much bigger chance of being murdered by a black person in a mostly black city like East St. Louis, Detroit, Camden, NJ, or Atlanta than to be lynched in the south. As a matter of fact, the only recorded lynchings since the civil rights movement, number a whopping two cases (1981 in Alabama & 1998 in Jasper, TX). In both cases, the crimes weren’t preformed by a lynch mob, but instead were murders of innocent men committed by misguided murderers. But to the spin doctors of our modern era, these were lynchings because they involved two or more white men guilty of killing a black man. What isn’t told though is that in 46 years since the civil rights movement, there have been thousands of white people murdered by groups of black men, however no one even dreams accusing these blacks as being a lynch mob – we call them what they are, monsters killing innocent victims. If we were to label them as lynch mobs, as we would be almost justified with groups like the de Mau Mau of the Zebra Killers, we’d be denounced as racists.

In the same journal, Mr. Rhodes goes on to instruct teachers how to properly guide black students as they learn about lynching.

“If you have Afro-American students in your class you should expect a great deal of anger after they have read these accounts. This anger needs to be channeled so as not to allow these young impressionable minds to use these accounts as a reason to hate all white Americans. They need to understand that some southern whites considered these acts of violence perpetrated against the American Negro as grotesque and intolerable. It was these southerners who played an active role in such organizations as the NAACP, the Commission on Interracial Cooperation, and the Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching.” [xxxv]

While on the surface it seems he’s offering a plausible solution for combating possible hate crimes committed by blacks who’ve recently learned from his manual, it goes deeper than that. His take is characteristic of most PC specialists. Aside from him not telling the entire truth, there is a more disturbing message. In his mind there are only two kinds of whites – those that persecute blacks wishing them dead, and those that lift up the Negro by joining arms in their march for equality. Therefore, if you’ve not participated or financially supported in some fashion equal rights for blacks, you’re a racist, probably ready to lynch blacks.

There are oodles of white Americans that have never had a hateful thought about blacks in their life, but are wise enough to understand the egalitarian paradigm as proposed by the civil rights crowd is a Marxist worldview juxtaposed to the Christian worldview. Yet because they serve Christ and not Marx, they’re deemed racist for not succumbing to the demand of these cultural Marxists. They’re also called racist, if they believe the white race ever did anything good, because they’re told is that whites are the bane of humanity, enslaving and poisoning other races in their fight to be on top. As a result, love they neighbor is turned into, “Hate thy neighbor, and give other everything to a foreigner you’ve never met.”

By sacrificing their own race, whites are told they’re doing the world a favor. Therefore, it shouldn’t be a surprise that whites are in a war for their existence. The modern spin on lynching is yet another tactic in the multifaceted attack on the white race. Therefore it’s important for whites to once again enjoy history, by studying the tales of old. We can no longer subside on a diet of PC filtered history, that’s as incomplete as a human body that consists of only skin. Their version of lynching is shallow, lacking the necessary information to make a well rounded opinion on what really happened. Hopefully this paper will stir others to dive into this research, digging up many more cases that thrust the PC version on its nasty head.

Phinehas Fury