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Inventory for MSA SC 5339-70



MSA SC 5339-70 contains 52 unit(s). Showing results 1 to 15.

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MSA SC 5339-70-1
Dates01-intro
Medium
StorageContact the Department of Special Collections for location.
Description
"Lynching" and "Legal Lynching" Defined

"Lynching" has likely evolved from its original meaning to one that may uncomfortably, and often inaccurately serve as an umbrella for many types of mob activity resulting in the death of individuals.  The term "lynch" likely has its origins in eighteenth century Virginia.  Charles Lynch, a Revolution Era Virginia Planter and Justice of the Peace, became infamous among loyalists for his willingness to circumvent legal convention and due process in efforts to frustrate Toryism.  In its earliest manifestations, "lynching" was a form of vigilantism perpetrated for a number of reasons.  During the time period under consideration, lynchings often took place after court trials, and in lieu of sentencing and/or capital punishment scheduled to be carried out by the state.  Though the act represented a usurpation of the due process system (if only the last stages of it), lynchings often received the support and approval of the general citizenry across lines of race, ethnicity, and gender.  Lynchings of this type -- presumably the most common type -- appeared to benefit from a presumption of moral defensibility.  In many cases the guilt of the person lynched was beyond question.  Only in a few instances were lynch mob members pursued with any vigor or zeal, even when authorities knew their identities. 

During the time period under consideration, lynchings were also perpetuated as a form of social control, especially it seems, the maintenance of white supremacy.  In such cases, "lynching" not only connotated death by execution, but often execution with guilt of the executed in doubt, or at least guilt for the crime for which he/she was being punished.  Often the lynched represented some threat to the established order of white supremacy, or a potential threat thereto.  In these cases where the act of lynching seemed intended to serve as an example to other possible social transgressors, the execution (or murder) was accompanied by mutilation, dismemberment, and display.  Historically, one question has presented itself: at what point did lynching evolve from its earlier, moralistic, vigilantism to its latter expression of criminalistic social control?  We hope to uncover the resources for entertaining such a question.

"Legal Lynching" may be characterized as capital punishments administered by the state with apparent disregard for due process.  A special look into "legal lynching" considers the execution of John Snowden in 1919 by the State of Maryland.  Snowden was put to death after being falsely accused and convicted of murder.  During the summer of 2001, Snowden received a post-humus pardon from Governor Parris N. Glendening.

In his Maryland, A Middle Temperament, 1634-1980, Robert Brugger points out:

The race control issue exposed the old fracture in Maryland between whites who lived amidst blacks and those who did not. Manners and mores in Southern Maryland and on the Eastern Shore kept the races sharply separate. As in the old days, whites there took a paternal, sometimes patronizing, view of the Negro. They treated politely, even kindly, the black who "kept his place." They could be quickly harsh with one who did not; Princess Anne natives, for example, ostracized John Wilson, a Wilmington Methodist churchman, because on his visits to the Negro academy he shook hands with blacks, ate with them, and called black men mister. Between 1889 and 1918 the 17 lynchings that took place in Maryland numbered no more than in Nebraska (there were 78 in Virginia, 368 in Georgia). But in 15 instances blacks were victims, often for an alleged assault on a white woman, and in 12 they took place on the Shore [i.e. Eastern Shore] or in the counties of Southern Maryland. ... (p422)

... it took only a black suspected of a heinous crime to put match to gasoline. One explosion occurred in December 1931 at Salisbury, wher Mack Williams had been accused of murdering his white employer. A mob broke into the hospital where he lay and lynched him. Many Marylanders joined [Governor] Ritchie in condemning this crime, but the local newspaper spoke of "outraged feeling" and "heroic methods"; hard up for support, townsmen also portrayed Williams ahs having been under the influence of communists. In November 1933 another lynching took place a few miles below Salisbury, in Princess Anne. About five thousand men thrust authorities aside and lynched a Negro who stood accused of attacking an elderly white woman. After hanging him, the mob tor apart and burned the body. In this case Attorney General William Preston Lane, Jr., an army veteran and son of a Hagerstown newspaper publisher, learned the names of the ringleaders, who were Wicomicans, and pressed the State's attorney for action. When nothing happened Ritchie sent five hundred troops of the 5th Maryland, led by General Reckord, to Salibury to serve warrants on the suspected mob leaders. Though Reckord captured four of the nine men on Lane's list (several were "on vacation" in Virginia), a mob gathered to taunt the militiamen. Local firemen, called on to cool off the mob, turned their hoses on the troops instead. Later a Wicomico judge released the suspects before they could be taken to Baltimore for trial. ..." pp. 508-509.


MSA SC 5339-70-2
Dates01-bibliog
Medium
StorageContact the Department of Special Collections for location.
Description
Selected Bibliography

Web sites: There are several web sites worth viewing including: one in England which provides a good introduction to the literature.

Brundage, W. Fitzhugh. Lynching in the New South : Georgia and Virginia, 1880-1930.  Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1993.

Capeci, Dominic J. The Lynching Of Cleo Wright.  Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1998.

Chadbourn, James Harmon.  Lynching And The Law.  Chapel Hill, The University of North Carolina Press, 1933.

Cutler, James Elbert.  Lynch-Law; An Investigation Into The History Of Lynching In The United States. Montclair, N.J., Patterson Smith, 1969.

Downey, Dennis B.  No Crooked Death : Coatesville, Pennsylvania, and the lynching of Zachariah Walker. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1991.

Gambino, Richard.  Vendetta: A True Story Of The Worst Lynching In America, The Mass Murder Of Italian-Americans In New Orleans In 1891, The Vicious Motivations Behind It, And The Tragic Repercussions That Linger To This Day. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1977.

Gunning, Sandra. Race, rape, and lynching : the red record of American literature, 1890-1912. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.

Hall, Jacquelyn Dowd.  Revolt Against Chivalry: Jessie Daniel Ames And The Women's Campaign Against Lynching. New York: Columbia University Press, 1979.

Howard, Gene L.  Death At Cross Plains: An Alabama Reconstruction Tragedy. University, Ala: University of Alabama Press, 1984.

Johnson, James Weldon. "Lynching: America's National Disgrace," pamphlet, 1924. In Koger papers, Jefferson Patterson Park.

Koger, A. Briscoe. Link to inventory of Koger papers, Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum, St. Leonard, Maryland. (Collection is the property of the Banneker-Douglass museum, Annapolis.)

Koger, A. Briscoe. "A Generation of Lynching in the U.S. 1921-1946," lynchings in the southern states, 1921-1945. In Koger papers, box 5, Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum, St. Leonard, Maryland.

Koger, A. Briscoe. "52-Year Lynching Record Ranks Maryland 27th with 30 of 4,361 Crimes," c. 1933; "Maryland's Lynching Record," undated. In Koger papers, Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum, St. Leonard, Maryland.

Miller, E. C.  Invitation To A Lynching.  Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1975.

Moses, Norton H.  Lynching And Vigilantism In The United States : An Annotated Bibliography.  Compiled by Norton H. Moses. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 1997.

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Burning At Stake In The United States : A Record Of The Public Burning By Mobs Of Five Men, During The First Five Months Of 1919, In The States Of Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, And Texas. Baltimore, MD : Black Classic Press, 1986.

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.  Thirty Years Of Lynching In The United States, 1889-1918. New York, Negro Universities Press, [1969].

Raper, Arthur Franklin.  The Tragedy Of Lynching.  Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 1933.

Ross, John.  At The Bar Of Judge Lynch : Lynching And Lynch Mobs In America. 1983.

Shay, Frank.  Judge Lynch, His First Hundred Years.  New York, I. Washburn, Inc. [c1938].

Royster, Jacqueline Jones, ed. Southern Horrors and Other Writings: The Anti-Lynching Campaign of Ida B. Wells, 1892-1900. Boston: Bedford Books, 1997.

Smead, Howard.  Blood Justice : The Lynching Of Mack Charles Parker. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986.

Wells-Barnett, Ida B.  On Lynchings: Southern Horrors, A Red Record, Mob Rule In New Orleans.  New York, Arno Press, 1969.

White, Walter Francis.  Rope And Faggot : A Biography Of Judge Lynch.With a new preface by Roy Wilkins. Salem, N.H: Ayer, 1992.

White, Walter Francis.  The Work Of A Mob. Indianapolis, Indiana: College Division, Bobbs-Merrill Company, [19--?].

Wright, George C. Racial Violence In Kentucky, 1865-1940 : Lynchings, Mob Rule, And "Legal Lynchings." Baton Rouge : Louisiana State University Press, 1990.

Zangrando, Robert L. The NAACP Crusade Against Lynching, 1909-1950. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1980.

MSA SC 5339-70-3
Dates1869/10
Medium
StorageContact the Department of Special Collections for location.
Description
Yet to be identified victim
black
Lynched in Prince George's County
October 1869

Source: unknown

No research or survey form completed.

Link to Bio Page
MSA SC 3520-13729


MSA SC 5339-70-4
Dates1875/03/23
Medium
StorageContact the Department of Special Collections for location.
Description
John Henry Scott
black
Lynched near Notley Hall Estate, Oxon Hill, Prince George's County
March 23, 1875

Source: "Lynch Law in Maryland." The Baltimore Sun, 24 March 1875.

Scott Lynching Profile Questionnaire

Link to Bio Page
MSA SC 3520-13730


MSA SC 5339-70-5
Dates1884/11/26
Medium
StorageContact the Department of Special Collections for location.
Description
George Briscoe
black
Lynched in Magothy, Anne Arundel County
November 26, 1884

Source: "Briscoe reported lynched." The Baltimore Sun, 28 November 1884.

Briscoe Lynching Profile Questionnaire

Link to Bio Page
MSA SC 3520-13731


MSA SC 5339-70-6
Dates1885/06/02
Medium
StorageContact the Department of Special Collections for location.
Description
Townshend Cook
black
Lynched in Westminster, Carroll County
June 2, 1885

Source: "The Lynching of Cook." The Democratic Advocate, 6 June 1885.

Cook Lynching Profile Questionnaire

Link to Bio Page
MSA SC 3520-13732


MSA SC 5339-70-7
Dates1885/07/12
Medium
StorageContact the Department of Special Collections for location.
Description
Howard Cooper
black
Lynched in Towson, Baltimore County
July 12 or 13, 1885

Source: "Lynched: Howard Cooper Hanged." The Hagerstown Daily News, 14 July 1885.

Cooper Lynching Profile Questionnaire

Link to Bio Page
MSA SC 3520-13733


MSA SC 5339-70-9
Dates1885/09/18
Medium
StorageContact the Department of Special Collections for location.
Description
Nicholas Snowden
black
Lynched in Columbia, Howard County by blacks
September 18, 1885

Source: "The Lynching of Snowden at Ellicott City." The Baltimore Sun, 19 September 1885.

Snowden Lynching Profile Questionnaire

Link to Bio Page
MSA SC 3520-13735


MSA SC 5339-70-10
Dates1886/06/06
Medium
StorageContact the Department of Special Collections for location.
Description
Charles Whitley
black
Lynched in Prince Frederick, Calvert County
June 6, 1886

Whitley Lynching Profile Questionnaire

Source: "Lynched By A Mob." The Calvert Gazette, 12 June 1886.

Link to Bio Page
MSA SC 3520-13736


MSA SC 5339-70-11
Dates1887/06/17
Medium
StorageContact the Department of Special Collections for location.
Description
Benjamin Hance
black
Lynched in Leonardtown, St. Mary's County
June 17, 1887

Source: "The Lynching." St. Mary's Beacon, 23 June 1887.

Hance Lynching Profile Questionnaire

Link to Bio Page
MSA SC 3520-13737


MSA SC 5339-70-12
Dates1889/12/11
Medium
StorageContact the Department of Special Collections for location.
Description
Joe Vermilion
white
Lynched in Upper Marlboro, Prince George's County for destruction of property
December 11, 1889

Source: "The Prince George's County Lynching." The Baltimore Sun, 4 December 1889.

Vermilion Lynching Profile Questionaire

Link to Bio Page
MSA SC 3520-13738


MSA SC 5339-70-13
Dates1891/05/13
Medium
StorageContact the Department of Special Collections for location.
Description
Asbury Green
black
Lynched in Centreville, Queen Anne's County
May 13, 1891

Source: "The Lynching of Green." Centerville Record, 16 May 1891.

Green Lynching Profile Questionnaire

Link to Bio Page
MSA SC 3520-13739


MSA SC 5339-70-14
Dates1892/05/17
Medium
StorageContact the Department of Special Collections for location.
Description
James Taylor
black
Lynched in Chestertown, Kent County
May 17, 1892

Source: "The Kent Lynching." The Baltimore Sun, 23 May 1892.

Taylor Lynching Profile Questionnaire

Link to Bio Page
MSA SC 3520-13740


MSA SC 5339-70-15
Dates1894/06/08
Medium
StorageContact the Department of Special Collections for location.
Description
Isaac Kemp
black
Lynched in Princess Anne, Somerset County
June 8, 1894

Kemp Lynching Profile Questionnaire

Source: "Lynched at Princess Anne." The Cambridge Democrat and News, 16 June 1894.

Link to Bio Page
MSA SC 3520-13741


MSA SC 5339-70-16
Dates1894/10/20
Medium
StorageContact the Department of Special Collections for location.
Description
Stephen Williams
black
Lynched in Upper Marlboro, Prince George's County
October 20, 1894

Source: "State of Maryland: Lynching of Stephen Williams, Colored, in Prince George's County." The Baltimore Sun, 22 October 1894.

Williams Lynching Profile Questionnaire

Link to Bio Page
MSA SC 3520-13742


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