Lynching: Acting out of Fear

Lynching: Acting Out Of Fear

The term lynching has carried many definitions and several reputations throughout time. The background of where this term originated has been narrowed down to either a Judge Charles Lynch, or Lynche's Creek in South Carolina. The OED gives both as plausible backgrounds for the term lynching or "Lynch Law." In the first case of Judge Lynch, British loyalists were falsely imprisoned and fined. After that incident lynching stood for any act of punishment that is not sanctioned by the law. This meant things such as tarring, whipping, and public humiliation at first, but over time became known for unlawful death sentences. In the case of Lynche's Creek, it became notorious because of a group of Regulators that would band together to commit acts of violence against those competing with them for political and economic power. The people that were committing these acts of lynching were comprised mostly of southern white men. They justified their actions by declaring that punishment outside the law was necessary on two accounts. One when there is no law and order, so in the developing west. They believed that people had to take matters into their own hands in order to pave the way for the legal systems. Second is the position that most southern whites took. It declared that acts outside the law are justifiable when law and order has not met the standards necessary for justice. They used this firepower to justify their actions of brutality and murder against African Americans. They believed that the blacks were after their women, hence the urgency for justice in their mind called for unlawful action and lynching. African Americans lost their lives and lynching

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occurred because the southern white man was intimidated by them and their rising social, political, and economical statuses.

The fact that African Americans had gained their freedom infuriated the southern whites, but the fact that they were moving up socially intimidated the white man. The African Americans now had schools, businesses, money, freedom, and a place in society. They were making the most of their opportunities and climbing the social hierarchy. This made the same men who had previously taken part in the enslavement of African Americans very nervous. They started to use stereotypes that classified both genders of the blacks and whites. White women were thought of as pure and always honest, their word was gold. The black women were classified as dirty, promiscuous, and unable to keep their men from swaying lustfully to the white women. White men were classified as incapable of raping bad women. Black men were classified as lustful and untrustworthy. (Royster, 30). These stereotypes were the white man's way of justifying their actions, they honestly believed they were protecting their women from Afro-American men and ridding the world of scum. They believed so strongly in the integrity of white women that a simple accusation would stir up a mob. In the case of William Offett, a white woman accused him without claiming to even know his name. " Mrs. J. S. Underwood, the wife of a minister of Elyria, Ohio, accused an Afro-American of rape. She told her husband that during his absence in 1888, the man came to the kitchen door, forced his way in the house and insulted her. She tried to drive him out with a heavy poker, but he overpowered her and chloroformed her, and when she revived her clothing was torn and she was in a horrible condition." (Wells, 54). Later down the road, after the trial the woman confessed to her husband that the sex was consensual and she had in fact not been raped, the man was let go. This instance is one of few where justice was

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rightfully served, but it stills shows how the social uprising of African Americans intimidated the whites. The southern white men had so much faith in their women and their purity that they believed everything they said. When a white woman would claim rape she would, in most cases, be trying to cover her own tracks because for a white woman to be with a black man or have his child was looked down upon strongly and she herself would risk the brutalities of a mob. The fact of the matter is, the white women along with the black men had gained freedoms. The woman was no longer subject to listening to everything the man said as they were gaining rights, and the black man was free to do as he pleased. This allowed for a prohibited attraction to develop. White women were attracted to black men, just as white men were attracted to black women. In most rape accusations the white woman lied and said she had been raped when really she was just as guilty of miscegenation. The fact that the white men had so much faith in the white women shows how naive they were. They were intimidated that their women might really be accepting black men as socially acceptable partners. The violence however did not just come to blacks when social equality was at question.

The racist southern white men responsible for lynching African Americans were not partial to acceptance of the black race. Even though the civil war had granted blacks their freedom, the whites still felt superior. Any questioning of that by blacks or white supporters was quickly stopped by violence. They could not stand to allow blacks the same privileges and rights they enjoyed. Raising support from the white community scared the racist southerners. People were starting to accept the fact that blacks were indeed people of equal being.