Black Freedom Struggle in the United States:

Category Archives: Lynching

  • Demand Action Now! Stop Lynching

    • Text of NAACP pamphlet that describes reasons to support passage of the Wagner-Van Nuys antilynching bill, 1937

  • Document 119: March 16, 1936 Letter with attachment

    • Documents from Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Library: Acknowledgment of letter concerning presidential support for the Costigan-Wagner Bill, the president’s desire to focus Congress on other legislation, and the assurance that the president is still in support of antilynching efforts, 1936

  • Document 126: January 2, 1936 Memorandum with attachments

    • Documents from Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Library: Provides statement on issues of concern to African Americans, including lynching problem; discrimination in relief and public works, the postal service, and civil service; white-only primaries; and discrimination in the army and navy, 1936

  • Document 132: February 24, 1936 Letter with attachment

    • Documents from Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Library: Transmittal of article alleging Roosevelt’s approval of lynching due to his failure to publicly support the Wagner-Costigan antilynching bill, 1936

  • Document 148: November 9, 1936 Note with attachment

    • Documents from Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Library: Transmittal of NAACP weekly press release, 1936

  • Document 155: January 21, 1937 Memorandum

    • Documents from Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Library: Analysis of salient features of NAACP proposed antilynching bill, 1937

  • Document 158: February 11, 1937 Letter with attachment

    • Documents from Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Library: Progress in formulating an antilynching bill that will meet constitutional tests and transmits a Justice Department memorandum assessing the NAACP proposed antilynching bill, reviewing distinctions between the present bill and previous antilynching bills, and examining the constitutional basis for the statute, with a review of relevant case law, 1937

  • Document 195: November 13, 1937 Letter with attachment

    • Documents from Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Library: Transmittal of compilation of NAACP press releases on the anti-lynching bill, 1937

  • Document 219: February 18, 1938 Letter with attachment

    • Documents from Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Library: Comments on and arguments in favor of NAACP proposal to permit Senator Robert Wagner to suspend debate on the antilynching bill and to set a day certain to resume debate on the bill in April, in light of the bill’s filibuster and danger that the bill would be dead if displaced as unfinished business, 1938

  • Document 28: April 20, 1934 Letter with attachment

    • Documents from Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Library: The progress of the Costigan-Wagner antilynching bill, impediments to passage of bill from southern politicians, necessity for Congress to remain in session to review and approve the bill, and the possible lynching backlash if the bill does not pass, 1934

  • Document 33: January 13, 1934 Letter with attachments

    • Documents from Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Library: Resolution of anti-lynching legislation in Cleveland, Ohio, 1934

  • Document 78: December 19, 1934 Letter with attachment

    • Documents from Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Library: Request for suitable date for delegation to meet with president in Washington, D.C., to discuss Wagner- Costigan antilynching bill and to present him with a memorial urging federal action against lynching, 1934

  • Lynching–Hearings, 1918-1950.

    • National Archive Records: Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on lynching in 1948 and 1918, proposed antilynching legislation, statistical data on lynching, and antilynching legislation and black troops, from files of assistant attorney general W. Wilson White, 1918-1950, 1918-1950

  • Lynchings and International Peace

    • Article by Booker T. Washington, 1912

  • The Mob Still Rides: A Review of the Lynching Record, 1931-1935

    • Text of pamphlet summarizing results of studies of lynchings across United States between 1931 and 1935, 1936

  • The Work of a Mob

    • Article on mobs and lynching in The Crisis by Walter White, 1918

  • This Business of Lynching

    • Text of pamphlet that provides an overview of the nationwide lynching problem, with listings by state, 1935

  • Wagner-Van Nuys Anti-Lynching Bill

    • Text of the Wagner-Van Nuys Anti-Lynching Bill: A Bill for the better assurance of the protection of persons from mob violence and lynching, 1937