BEFORE THE NEEDLES
SOUTHERN LYNCHINGS

Between 1882 and 1951 there were a reported 4,730 incidents of vigilante justice in the form of lynchings. 2,806 (59.3%) of these occurred in the following 10 southern states. The racial breakdown of these victims is White 289 (10.3%), Black 2,462 (87.7%), Unknown 50 (1.8%) and Other 5 (0.2%). Click on the state to view details about these illegal executions.

Alabama 300, Arkansas 241, Florida 250, Georgia 458, Kentucky 191, Louisiana 360
Mississippi 538, North Carolina 98, South Carolina 156, Tennessee 214

Alphabetical Listing,  A thru G,  H thru N,  O thru Z
 Sequential Listing, 1 to 1,000,  1,001 to 2,000,  2,001 to 2,806

Any excuse will do. Below is a listing of some of the reasons used to justify lynching some poor victim.

 "Reproving" white youth  Grave robbery  Political activity
 Acted suspiciously  Hiding in girl's room  Political causes
 Aided in lynching  Hiding under bed  Praised murderer
 Aiding outlaw  Horse theft  Preaching Mormonism
 Altercation  Improper with white girl  Quarrel with white man
 Arrested a coal miner  In company of white woman  Quarrelling
 Arresting whitecappers  Incendiarism (arson)  Race hatred
 Attacked teacher  Incendiary language  Race prejudice
 Attacking children (girls)  Indecent proposals  Railroad striker
 Attempted train wrecking  Indolence  Refused information
 Bad reputation  Injuring livestock  Refused to aid lynch posse
 Barn-burning  Insolent letter to woman  Reported moonshiners
 Being foreign worker  Insulted white woman  Seditious utterance
 Being of bad character  Insulting notes to wh. Woman  Sexual molestation
 Bit off man's chin  Insurrection Jilted girl  Shooting at farmer
 Boasting about race riot  Intimate with white woman  Shot man & adultery
 Child abuse  Invaded girl's "chamber"  Shot men
 Cohabitation  Jailbreak  Slapped white boys
 Colonizing Negroes  Keeping white woman  Son of murderer
 Conflict over fishing rights  Knowledge of theft  Spouse abuse
 Counterfeiting  Larceny  Strike activity
 Criticized mob  Lived with white woman  Suing white man
 Cursed white woman  Making indecent remarks  Swindling
 Cutting levee  Maltreatment of woman  Theft
 Cutting white boy  Miscegenation  Threating to give evidence
 Dangerous character  Mistaken identity  Threats to kill
 Daughter of murderer  Moonshining  To prevent evidence
 Defending rapist  Mother of arsonists  Train wrecking
 Desperado  Obscene language  Trouble with white man
 Disorderly conduct  Obscene phone call  Turned State's evidence
 Dynamiting  Operated bordello  Unwise remarks
 Dynamiting house  Outrage of girl  Violated a ferry law
 Eloped with white girl  Outraged young girl  Violated contract
 Entered girl's bedroom  Outrageous act  Violated quarantine
 Father of murder  Peeping Tom Informer  Voodooism
 Fighting white men  Planning rape  Wife-beating
 Flirting with wh. Girl  Poisoned boys  Writing insulting note
 Frightened woman  Poisoning horses  
 Giving information  Poisoning well water  

Return to Executions

This page was developed with data from "Project HAL: Historical American Lynching Data Collection Project", Elizabeth Hines Ph.D. and Eliza Steelwater Ph.D., Principal Investigators. University of North Carolina at Wilmington. This dataset is part of an ongoing project to compile a complete listing of lynchings in the United States.