Learn about African American history with these old magazine articles. Find information on Black Civil Rights violations in the 1920s.
An end of the year round-up of the 1916 lynchings concentrating on the state of Georgia as the lynching champion for the second year in a row (Louisiana, Mississippi and Missouri were all tied for the 1914 title).
The Lynchings of 1916 (Literary Digest, 1917) Read More »
A short, uncredited article written in response to a report by Booker T. Washington (1856-1915) concerning a series of lynchings in 1914. There is a minute breakdown, by state, showing where each of the murders took place.
The 1914 Lynchings (Harper’s Weekly, 1915) Read More »
A dreary news story relaying the violent end that came to one R.C. Williams of Ruston, Louisiana.
‘Lynching No. 3” (Pathfinder Magazine, 1938) Read More »
This article was published during the opening days of 1933 and reported on the deep spirit of optimism that was enjoyed by the Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching, and their executive director, Mrs. Jessi Daniel Ames (1883 – 1972). This group of Southerners were hoping that, through their efforts and those of other like-minded Southern organizations, 1933 would be a year without a single lynching:
If Mississippi can have a lynchless year, a lynchless South is a possible and reasonable goal…
The reporter dryly noted that a few days after the above remark was recorded, a lynching was committed – one of the twenty-eight that took place throughout the course of 1933.
1933: A Lynchless Year? (Literary Digest, 1933) Read More »
(The article can be read here)
This article from 1921 reported on a disturbing series of lynchings that took place between the years 1917 through 1919 by U.S. Army personnel serving in France during the First World War. The journalist quotes witness after witness who appeared before a Senate Committee regarding the lynchings they had seen:
Altogether…I saw ten Negroes and two white men hanged at Is-Sur-Tille. Twenty-eight other members of my command also witnessed these hangings and if necessary, I can produce them.
It was alleged that the murders were committed under the authority of American officers who willingly acted outside the law.
If you would like to read more about African-American service during W.W. I you may click here.
American Lynchings on French Soil (NY Times, 1921) Read More »
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); KEY WORDS: Anti-Lynching Laws in Ohio,midwest Anti-Lynching Laws,mid-west Anti-Lynching Laws
Lynch Mobs in Ohio and Elsewhere (Literary Digest, 1897) Read More »
A two page article reporting on the growth of the KKK throughout the United States in the early Twenties, it’s general rise in popularity and the resolve of elected officials at both the state and Federal levels to contain the Invisible Empire.
Interesting comments can be read by a reformed Klansman named H.P. Fry, who authored a cautionary memoir titled, The Modern Ku Klux Klan
The Klan as a National Problem (The Literary Digest, 1922) Read More »
A couple of years after the membership lists of the Ku Klux Klan had swelled to record levels, and just seven years after a chic Hollywood film director made a movie that ennobled their crimes,the Administrative Committee of the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America issued a statement which served to distance the Protestant churches from that hate-filled organization.
From Amazon: Gospel According to the Klan: The KKK’s Appeal to Protestant America, 1915-1930
Protestant Churches Condemn the KKK (The Literary Digest, 1922) Read More »
Attached is a two-page article about that day in 1928 when the KKK stood before Judge W.H.S. Thomson in a Federal Court in Pittsburgh:
A Daniel has come to judgment, in the opinion of many a newspaper writer, when a Federal judge in a formal opinion read the bench delivers a denunciation of the Ku Klux Klan in terms as strong as any of the private enemies of that organization have ever used. Federal Judge W.H.S. Thomson, in concluding that complicated KKK trial, remarked that the Klan was an ‘unlawful organization’ coming into court ‘with filthy hands after open and flagrant violation’ of the law…
CLICK HERE to read about African-Americans during the Great Depression.
The KKK in Federal Court (The Literary Digest, 1928) Read More »
The zeal of the Ku Klux Klan to ‘support the Church’ has been displayed by many signs, and intimations multiply, we are told, that certain Protestant ministers are in its confidence and would seem on occasion to be directing it’s activities. But to some ministers the Klan’s mark of approval appears to be embarrassing, a favor which they would much prefer to do without. Scarcely a Sunday passes without the publication of the news that a Klan has visited a church in a body, simply to signify approval, or to remain decorously through the service.
The Klan Influence Within the Protestant Churches (Literary Digest, 1922) Read More »
