Lynching in North Carolina: A History, 1865-1941

Front Cover
McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers, Nov 3, 2008 - History - 212 pages
From the end of the Civil War through 1941, there were 168 North Carolinians who lost their lives to lynching. This form of mob violence was often justified as a means of controlling the black population; "protecting" white wives and daughters; and defending family "honor." Legal attempts to deter lynching--including the 1893 law that classified it as a felony and sought to hold a county liable for damages--generally failed because of a lack of local support and ineffectual enforcement by state officials. After 1922, however, in a phenomenon unique to North Carolina, incidents of lynching inexplicably and rapidly declined, prompting the state to head a national movement to end it. Appendices provide an account of all 168 known lynching occurrences.

About the author (2008)

Vann R. Newkirk is an associate vice president for Academic Affairs and associate professor of history at Fort Valley State University in Fort Valley, Georgia. He has extensively researched the development of the NAACP in North Carolina and the subject of crime and punishment in general and has served as an educational consultant for colleges across the South.

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