The Practice of Lynching: An In-Depth Analysis by Dylan Barahona

aclancy26 — 2024-04-19 12:33:05 UTC

Questions Explored:

Why were Black Codes created?
Why did Southerners begin lynching Blacks?
What are the statistics of those lynched, convicted, etc.
What are the “three distinct excuses” southerners made for lynching?
What is Well’s reasoning for why Southern White men were hypocrites when it came to “chivalry”?
What was Billie Holiday’s song about & why is it so powerful?

Let's look at the stats:

dbarahona26 — 2024-04-19 17:14:32 UTC

According to Ida B. Wells, 10,000 black men had been killed without the formality of judicial trial, or due process.

Lynching

dbarahona26 — 2024-04-19 17:18:44 UTC

"...with freedom, a new system of intimidation came into vogue; the Negro was not only whipped and scourged; he was killed," (Wells, 1895).

Why did Southerners begin the practice of lynching blacks?

dbarahona26 — 2024-04-19 17:30:57 UTC

Inevitably as a result of unbridled power exercised by white plantation owners over black slaves, "conscienceless outlawry" began to crop up.
Emancipation came with the slave owner's loss of a stake in the preservation of the "Negroes" life.
Lynchings were aimed at limiting the economic and physical freedom of the formerly enslaved, through the use of terror and oppression.

(Wells, 1895)

Southern Justification (Excuses):

dbarahona26 — 2024-04-19 18:05:10 UTC

Excuse #1

dbarahona26 — 2024-04-19 20:23:22 UTC

The first excuse was the "necessity of the white man to repress and stamp out alleged 'race riots.' "

This was far from the truth, as despite the execution of hundreds of black men and women for the given reason, no individual had ever been proven guilty of insurrection of riot.
But soon enough, the story was too unconvincing and another excuse had to be invoked.

(Wells, 1895)

Excuse #2

dbarahona26 — 2024-04-19 20:25:12 UTC

The second excuse was that the South was a "white man's government" and any action that would prevent the domination of the black race (considered inferior) to the white race (considered superior) would be deemed justified for the cause of white rule.

This was as a response to the 15th Amendment, which had given the right to vote to black men.
"It was a long, gory campaign...in Yazoo, Hamburg, Edgefield, Copiah, and the countless massacres of defenseless Negroes, whose only crime was the attempt to exercise their right to vote."

(Wells, 1895)

Excuse #3

dbarahona26 — 2024-04-19 20:26:17 UTC

The third and final excuse was that "Negroes" had to be killed as justice and to avenge their alleged assaults upon women.

Because of the natural human disdain and hatred for anyone who violently hurts women, this "charge" finally, and falsely, put Black people in a position where sympathy towards them was impossible as anyone can now mistake their plea for justice as an excuse for their wrongs.
The charge of r*pe was brought up in cases where r*pe had not been proven, because to the "Southern white man" no voluntary alliance could exist between a white woman and a black man, and so mere proof of any alliance was grounds for r*pe.

(Wells, 1895)

Creating Black Codes

dbarahona26 — 2024-04-20 15:54:13 UTC

Efforts to disenfranchise blacks began the very moment the Civil War ended. The South immediately set out to implement "Black Codes" that would legally bind southern Blacks as inferior, both economically and politically, to whites. Sure, the federal government did attempt to prevent these actions, they didn't do so effectively enough to ultimately stop the spread of a new (as a continuation of slavery) wave of racial oppression.

Violence and vigilante terrorism dominated the South in the 1860s and 70s as many groups successfully terrorized black voters who supported the Republican Party.
Black votes in the South were eliminated by vigilantism, election fraud, manipulation, and compromise everywhere.

(Davis, Ronald. Creating Jim Crow: In-Dept Essay.)

Hypocritical "Chivalry":

dbarahona26 — 2024-04-20 16:09:07 UTC

dbarahona26 — 2024-04-20 16:11:28 UTC

Ida B. Wells argues that chivalry knows no color line, and if chivalry defends upon "complexion of skin and texture of hair can command no honest respect."

When brave white women answered the call to educated newly freed slaves, white men called them "N*gger Teachers."

"The N*gro may not have known what chivalry was, but he knew enough to preserve inviolate the womanhood of the South...but his heart was full of gratitude to the white women of the North who blessed his home and inspired his soul in all these years of freedom."

(Wells, 1895).

dbarahona26 — 2024-04-20 18:51:04 UTC

(Waud, Alfred R. The First Vote, November 1867)

Billie Holiday's Song

aclancy26 — 2024-04-23 12:03:39 UTC

This song was written as a response to the mass amounts of lynching during this time towards Black Americans. This song was able to bring attention through music to this murder and the evil of it. It uses music to provide a visual to the horrific images such as "Black bodies swingin' in the southern breeze." It adds a tune to a very disturbing description of how these people are being murdered and left to rot hanging from the trees.

Strange Fruit Song

aclancy26 — 2024-04-23 12:09:12 UTC