lynchings
Vigilante murders by rope
Lynchings is the plural of lynching—the killing of a person by a mob without legal authority, typically by hanging.
The term is especially associated with the extrajudicial murder of Black Americans in the post-Civil War South, where thousands were lynched through the mid-twentieth century.
Photographs of lynchings were sometimes made into postcards.
The verb lynch extends to any mob killing or vigilante execution.
Disorderly, aggressive crowd
- hangingExecution by noose
- murderDeliberate unlawful killing
- vigilanteExtralegal justice-seeker
- nooseLoop that constricts
tree · rope · killing · torture · mutilation · spectacle · crowd · brutality
Racial separation laws
- ReconstructionPost-1865 national reunification period
- segregationForced separation by group
- TulsaNortheastern Oklahoma metropolis
- postcardsMailable souvenir notes
Emmett Till · photographs · memorial · documentation · archive · record · testimony · witness
US citizens of African descent
- terrorExtreme, overwhelming fear
- white supremacyDoctrine of racial superiority
- racismPrejudice based on ethnicity
- Ku Klux KlanWhite supremacist hate organization
intimidation · oppression · discrimination · hatred · persecution · dehumanization · subjugation · targeting
Freedom from consequences
- prosecutionPursuing legal charges
- accountabilityObligation for one's actions
- reparationsCompensation for historical wrongs
- memorialThing preserving remembrance
apology · reconciliation · truth · recognition · legislation · cold case · investigation · closure
Structure honoring someone remembered
- markerSomething that signals location
- commemorationAct of honoring memory
- plaqueInscribed memorial tablet
- museumPublic exhibit space
documentation · remembrance · pilgrimage · ceremony · tribute · education · awareness · healing
mob
Disorderly, aggressive crowd
noose · tree · rope · killing · torture · mutilation · spectacle · crowd · brutality · victim
Jim Crow
Racial separation laws
- ReconstructionPost-1865 national reunification period
- segregationForced separation by group
- TulsaNortheastern Oklahoma metropolis
Emmett Till · postcards · photographs · memorial · documentation · archive · record · testimony · witness · investigation
Black Americans
US citizens of African descent
- terrorExtreme, overwhelming fear
- white supremacyDoctrine of racial superiority
- racismPrejudice based on ethnicity
Ku Klux Klan · intimidation · oppression · discrimination · hatred · persecution · dehumanization · subjugation · targeting · scapegoating
impunity
Freedom from consequences
- prosecutionPursuing legal charges
- accountabilityObligation for one's actions
- reparationsCompensation for historical wrongs
memorial · apology · reconciliation · truth · recognition · legislation · cold case · investigation · closure · acknowledgment
monument
Structure honoring someone remembered
- markerSomething that signals location
- commemorationAct of honoring memory
- plaqueInscribed memorial tablet
museum · documentation · remembrance · pilgrimage · ceremony · tribute · education · awareness · healing · recognition
- crime historyorganized crime, trial records, criminal records, Al Capone, Bonnie and Clyde
- Alabama HistoryMontgomery, Birmingham, Selma, Montgomery bus boycott, Martin Luther King Jr.
lynchingstrials
Formal legal proceedings
due process · fair trials · legal proceedings · court hearings · jury trials
lynchingsrescues
Frees from danger
sanctuary · protection · asylum · safe harbor · sheltering
lynchingsacquittals
Verdicts freeing defendants
exonerations · pardons · vindication · absolution · clemency