Lynching Cases - Alabama, 1929-1949, 1960

Scope and Contents

Named lynching victims include Viola Ayer, Esau Robertson, John Robertson, Jacob Robertson, Tom Robertson (Emelle, 1930), John Williams (Hainesville, 1931), Thomas Jasper (Huntsville, 1931), Oscar Livingston (Pont-a-la-Rache, 1931), Dan Pippen and A.T. Harden (Tuscaloosa, 1933), George Taylor (Birmingham, 1934), Wes Johnson (Abbeville, 1937), Sam Holly (Carbon Hill, 1939), Jesse Thornton (Luverne, 1940), Elmore Bolling (Lowndesboro, 1947), William Turner (1948), Robert Mallard (1948), and Elijah Ramsey (Lafayette, 1960). Survivors of attempted lynchings inclue Elmore Clark (Tuscaloosa, 1933), Woodrow Mills, Eugene Hamerick, Ira Jolly, and James McCallie (Birmingham, 1936), Jimmy Harris (Speigner, 1947), Willie Galon (Jackson, Miss., 1934), Willie Peters (Monroe, La., 1934), and an unnamed man (Birmingham, 1934). A lynching of an unnamed enslaved man in 1864 is reported in a 1930 clipping.

Extent

2 folders

Dates

Creation: 1929-1949
Creation: 1960

Document Types

Clippings

Legacy Description

Lynching Cases in Alabama, International Labor Defense, Tuskegee Institute, Montgomery, Alabama, Sheriff, Mob Violence. One headline reads, "They Know How it Feels to be Almost Lynched." Caption reads, "Left to right, Woodrow Mills, Eugene Hamerick, Ira Jolly, and James McCallie, who were protected by the national guards in Birmingham, Ala., recently when an angry mob all but had possession of them. The youths were arrested in Huntsville for an alleged attempted attack on a white woman. Now they are in the same jail with the Scottsboro boys, where they are held for safe-keeping" (from April 11, 1936). Hugh Vann, mayor of Hurtsboro, AL, saved Jimmy Harris, 23, African-American, from a lynching in 1947 (clipping from PM, Wednesday, June 11, 1947). Headline reads, "Alabama Slayer Given Bodily but No Legal Protection: 200 Armed Soldiers Prevent Lynching of Slayer Who Pleads Guilty and Has No Lawyer" (from August 3, 1929). From clipping, "Lester Bouyer was tried, convicted and sentenced to die for the murder of Jack Hines, a white mechanic, here Wednesday" (August 3, 1929). The event took place in Eufaula, AL.

Additional Description

Arrangement

Arrangement is geographical; when multiple items referring to a single individual exist, a separate folder has been created with their name and the location in the folder title.

Processing Information

Lynching files have been processed using detailed processing procedures. All the information in the finding aid has been verified against folder content, dates and document types have been added, and more detailed arrangement and description work has been performed.

In files on lynching cases, names of victims are listed in the scope and content note for that folder, along with the locality and year of the incident. Unnamed victims are listed with location and date, and victims of attempted lynchings are also listed when named. When many documents are found for a specific victim, they are arranged in a separate folder with the victim's name in the folder title. Content warnings have been added to folder records where photographs of lynching victims are filed, or clippings with particularly graphic headlines, and such items are encapsulated within the main folders to allow researchers to choose whether or not to engage with this content.

The lynching legislation files appear to have been originally compiled around 1941, when correspondence is found between an AFRO librarian and a Congressional Research Service librarian. A 1939 report created by the Congressional Research Service is found, which may serve as an index to the content of these files.