Claim: Flossie Bailey, who established a local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in Marion, Indiana, in 1918, tried to obtain police protection when two African American men, Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith were hanged from a tree after a mob broke out in Grant County in August 1930.
Evidence: She established a local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in Marion, Indiana, in 1918 and became especially active fighting for justice and equality following the double lynching of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith in 1930. Bailey, who was the president of the local branch of the NAACP, tried to obtain police protection for the jailed men prior to the lynching. On August 7, 1930, a mob broke into the Grant County, Indiana, jail in Marion, dragged two African-American men, Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith, to the Courthouse Square and lynched (hanged) them from a tree.