Lynching Legislation - 73rd Congress (1933-1935), 1933-1934
Scope and Contents
Contains documentation of S. 1978 also known as the Costigan-Wagner bill, and H.R. 6559. Documents include transcripts of Walter White and Charles Houston statements before congress, press releases, and pamphlets from the NAACP. Also contains a petition by the Elks of New Orleans with 10,000 signers listed in support of the legislation.
Extent
3 folders
Dates
- Creation: 1933-1934
Document Types
Correspondence, Pamphlets, Transcripts, Memoranda, Clippings
Legacy Description
Lynching Legislation 73rd Congress 1933-1934 S1978 introduced by Messrs Costigan and Wagner 4 January 1934, Carl Murphy, Federal Anti-Lynching Bill, Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the World. Headline reads, "7th Anti-Lynch Bill is put in Congress Mill" (clipping from January 20, 1934). Anti-lynching bill, H.R. 6559, was presented by Representative Emanuel Celler, Democrat, of New York, on January 8, 1934. Statement from Walter White, Secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP); Roy Wilkins, Assistant Secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP); Statement of Charles H. Houston before the Sub-Committee of the United States Judiciary Committee in Hearings on the Costigan-Wagner Bill, S. 1978, 73rd Congress, Second Session from February 20, 1934. Alphabetical list of witnesses to appear at hearings on the Costigan-Wagner Anti-Lynching Bill, before the Senate Sub-Committee on the Judiciary, Senator Frederick Van Nuys, Chairman, February 20-21, 1934. Mob violence, Congressional Record--Senate. Poll of the United States Senate on the Costigan-Wagner Anti-Lynching Bill as of March 23, 1934; racial violence
Arrangement
Most of the morgue material on lynching is arranged in two main categories, Lynching Cases, and Lynching Legislation. Files documenting Lynching Cases are arranged by state. Specific lynching cases with a large volume of documents are arranged in their own folders. The lynching legislation files for federal legislation are arranged chronologically by congressional term, and state legislation by state, following the original order of the series. Additional material documenting lynchings is found elsewhere in the morgue collection, filed under the names of victims and others involved in incidents, subsequent trials, or political activity.
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.
Original Location
TN0606, TUB 105
Repository Details
Part of the AFRO American Newspapers Archives Repository