Jim Crow Laws Against Lynching Essay

After the Jim Crow Laws of the 1890s, white mobs flourished. With the black’s banned from voting, jury service, and public office, no one felt the need to respect the minority. “Between 1882 (when reliable statistics were first collected) and 1968 (when the classic forms of lynching had disappeared), four thousand seven hundred and forty three persons died of lynching, three thousand four hundred and forty six of them black men and women” (Zangrando). There were many more cases of lynching’s that were never reported beyond their community. White families would bring their children, newspapers would give advanced notices, and railroad agents sold tickets announcing the lynching sites. Mobs would even cut off black victims fingers, ears, genitalia, and toes as souvenirs. Lynching started as a punishment for crime, but became a ritual for interracial social control. (Zangrando) In spring of 1892, a 15 year old girl from Louisiana was hung with a charge of poisoning a white person. With more investigation, after the 15 year old had died, they found out that the husband did it. The husband died a raving manic, and his ravings showed

Martin Luther King Jr., the leader of the modern American civil rights movement. He let everyone know, during his speech, a law against lynching would help stop all the lynching that is occurring, without anyone’s help to stop it. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “It may be true that the law cannot make a man love [him], but can keep him from lynching [him], and [he] thinks that’s pretty important.” He was saying that if anyone could do anything about it, it would stop lynching from happening. There are many cases of lynching were people of the town or city would make posters and tell who, when, and where, people were being lynched. City or town officials would even join out in the crowd and watch with all the other towns’ people. It was a joy or an activity for them to sit there and watch people get hurt and