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The Lynching Industry
The Crisis, February 1921

During the year 1920 there were 69 persons lynched in the United States; of these lynchings 60 were Negroes, of whom one was a woman, and 9 were white men.

Compared with the year 1919 this record shows a decrease of 17 among Negroes and an increase of 5 among white people.

The alleged crimes for which these persons were lynched are as follows among Negroes: murder 23, attacking women 14, unknown 8, fighting 6, assault 5, insulting woman 1, threatening man 1, peeping into woman's room 1, refusal to sell whiskey to white soldiers 1; among whites: murder 6, unknown 2, insulting white woman 1.

The methods of lynchings among Negroes were: by hanging 35, shooting 20, burning 2, drowning 2, beating 1; among whites: by hanging 6, burning 3.

According to the number of lynchings, Texas leads the states, having 11, Alabama 8, Florida 8, Georgia 8, Mississippi 7, Oklahoma 4, North Carolina, Arkansas, Minnesota and California 3 each, Tennessee and South Carolina 2 each, Kentucky, Virginia, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, West Virginia and the Steamship Toledo 1 each.

The record for 1920 follows:

January 14—Florala, Ala.,
Jack Waters, shot; attacking woman.

February 5—Pine Bluff, Ark.,
unknown Negro; murder.

February 5—Osceola, Ark.
W.E. Hansel (white) ; burned by unidentified robbers.

March 4—Pike City, Ga.,
Cornelius Alexander.

March 11—Montgomery County, Ala.,
William Smith, shot; attacking girl.

March 30—Maysville, Ky.,
Grant Smith; attacking girl.

April 1—Laurens, S.C.,
George Robertson; cutting boys in dispute.

April 8—Laurens, S. C.,
James Steward; injuring men in fight.

April 20—Pittsburg, Kan.,
Albert Evans; assault.

May 8—Tampa, Fla.,
M. Scott; shot, insulting woman.

May 8—Beaumont, Tex.,
Charles Arling, flogged to death; threatening man.

June 15—Duluth, Minn.,
Isaac McGhee, Elmer Jackson, Nat Green; attacking girl.

June 21—Rincon, Ga.,
Philip Gaithers, shot; murder.

June 30—Wharton, Tex.,
Washington Giles and brother, shot, and
Jodie Gordan and Elijah Anderson, hanged; murder.

July 2—Paris, Tex.,
Irving and Herman Arthur, burned; murder.

July 5— Enterprise, Miss.,
J. F. Spencer; fighting.

July 8—Centerville, Mo.,
Fred Canafex, shot; attacking woman.

July 10—Durham, N. C.,
Ed. Roach; attacking girl.

July 13—Steamship City of Toledo,
Milton Harris, drowned; assault.

July 25—Fayetteville, W. Va.,
William Bennett, Jr., (white) ; murder.

July 30—Midland City, Ala.,
2 Negroes; killed by posse in search of a Negro who
attacked white woman.

August 2—Center, Tex.,
Lige Daniels; murder.

August 6—Ozark, Ala.,
Sills Spinks and Justin Jennings; attacking woman.

August 26—Graham, N.C.,
John Jeffress, shot; attacking girl

August 28—Corinth, Miss.,
Blutcher Higgins and Dan Callicut; assault.

August 29—Tulsa, Okla.,
Ray Belton; murder.

August 30—Oklahoma County, Okla,
Claude Chandler; murder.

September 1—Dallas, Tex.,
Frederick Douglass; murder.

September 9—Danville, Va.,
Leelie Allen, shot; wounding man.

September 10—Tulsa, Okla.,
Tom M. Owens (white) ; murder.

September 12—Quitman, Miss.,
Will Echols, shot; murder.

September 13—Hartford, Ala.,
Alto Windham (white) ; insulting white woman.

September 24—Houston, Tex.,
Oscar Beasley; murder.

October 5—McClenny, Fla.,
Ray Field, Ben Givens, Milton Smith, hanged,
Sam Duncan, shot; murder.

October 14—Greenville, Ala.,
Select Reid, shot; wounding man.

October 19—Fremont, N.C.,
Norman Artis; peeping into woman's room.

October 28—Johnson City. Tenn.,
Cooksey Dallas; refused to sell whiskey.

November 2—Ocoee, Fla.,
July Perry, shot; fighting.

November 6—Tylertown, Miss.,
Harry Jacobs; assault.

November 6—Leon County, Fla.,
unknown Negro; drowned.

November 10—Tylertown, Miss.,
Ben Jacobs.

November 14—Kent Junction, Tenn.,
Dave Hunt; attacking woman.

November 18—Douglass, Ga.,
Alex Byrd, Willie and Minnie Ivory, shot; murder.

November 24—Dewitt, Ga.,
Curley McKelvey, shot; brother of murderer.

November 29—Princeton, Fla.,
J. B. Harris; attacking woman.

November 30—Thomasville, Ga.,
unknown.

December—Doerun, Ga.,
unknown.

December 5—Holdenville, Okla.,
unidentified Negro, shot; attacking woman.

December 8—Billings, Mont.,
E.F. Lampson (white) ; burned.

December 10—Santa Rosa, Cal.,
Valento, Fitts and Boyd (white) ; murder.

December 23—Fort Worth, Tex.,
T. W. Vickery (white) ; murder.

December 24—Purvis, Miss.,
Coleman Brown, shot; murder.

December 26—Jonesboro, Ark.,
Wade Thomas; murder.

[The first five paragraphs (split by the dated death list in the orginial) are grouped together at the start in our reprint with the Georgia map also moved to the head of the presentation. An image of three lynched men is not republished here. This, and other reprinted texts in this suite can be found in digitized copies of the The Crisis at The Modernist Journals Project.—Blackbird editors.]

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   Contributor’s notes

   A White Man’s Party: Selections from The Crisis at the Century Mark

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