IB 

Union Calendar No. 212 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 35 

[Report No. 116–267] 

To amend section 249 of title 18, United States Code, to specify lynching 

as a hate crime act. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 3, 2019 

Mr. RUSH introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on the Judiciary 

OCTOBER 31, 2019 

Additional sponsors: Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Mr. MEEKS, Mr. BLUMENAUER, 

Mr. HASTINGS, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. NORTON, Mr. VELA, Mr. COHEN, 

Mr. EVANS, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. KHANNA, Ms. BASS, 

Mr. RUPPERSBERGER, Mr. CARSON of Indiana, Mr. FOSTER, Mr. 

CARBAJAL, Mr. SERRANO, Mr. SOTO, Mr. LAWSON of Florida, Ms. 

VELA ́ZQUEZ, Mr. BROWN of Maryland, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, 

Mr. CICILLINE, Mrs. BEATTY, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Mr. 

BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania, Mr. CASTRO of Texas, Mr. CARTWRIGHT, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mr. TED LIEU of California, Ms. CLARK of 

Massachusetts, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. VARGAS, Ms. SPEIER, Mr. 

SCOTT of Virginia, Mr. SEAN PATRICK MALONEY of New York, Ms. 

TLAIB, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Mr. MOULTON, Ms. KELLY of Illinois, Mr. 

CLAY, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Mr. DEUTCH, Mrs. LAWRENCE, Mr. 

HIGGINS of New York, Mr. GREEN of Texas, Mr. SIRES, Mrs. CAROLYN

B. MALONEY of New York, Mr. SCHNEIDER, Mr. LEWIS, Mr. PALLONE, 

Mr. COOPER, Mr. QUIGLEY, Ms. BONAMICI, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, Mrs. 

DINGELL, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. PAYNE, Mrs. 

MURPHY of Florida, Mrs. DEMINGS, Ms. JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. RYAN, 

Ms. FUDGE, Mr. NEAL, Ms. DEGETTE, Mr. WELCH, Mr. YARMUTH, Miss 

RICE of New York, Mrs. LURIA, Ms. CASTOR of Florida, Mr. PETERS, 

Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Ms. MENG, Mr. ENGEL, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mrs. 

BUSTOS, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. RICHMOND, Mr. CLYBURN, Mr. STANTON, 

Mr. SWALWELL of California, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia, 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
2 

•HR 35 RH

Mr. MCNERNEY, Ms. ADAMS, Ms. SHALALA, Ms. PRESSLEY, Ms. JUDY

CHU of California, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Ms. GABBARD, Ms. 

OCASIO-CORTEZ, Mr. ROUDA, Ms. ESHOO, Ms. SEWELL of Alabama, Ms. 

MUCARSEL-POWELL, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Mrs. DAVIS of California, 

Mr. LYNCH, Mr. PAPPAS, Mr. CISNEROS, Mr. SHERMAN, Mr. VEASEY, 

Mr. TURNER, Mrs. TRAHAN, Mr. SARBANES, Ms. DEAN, Mr. ROSE of 

New York, Ms. WATERS, Mr. RASKIN, Mr. VISCLOSKY, Ms. WEXTON, 

Mr. LOWENTHAL, Mr. PANETTA, Ms. SPANBERGER, Mr. GARAMENDI, 

Ms. CRAIG, Mr. GARCI ́A of Illinois, Ms. WILD, Mr. MALINOWSKI, Ms. 

MOORE, Mr. CASTEN of Illinois, Ms. OMAR, Mrs. KIRKPATRICK, Mr. 

HARDER of California, Mr. HUFFMAN, Mr. PHILLIPS, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. 

DESAULNIER, Ms. MATSUI, Mr. LUJA ́N, Mr. PRICE of North Carolina, 

Ms. SLOTKIN, Mr. CLEAVER, Mrs. MCBATH, Mr. HORSFORD, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. NORCROSS, Mr. MORELLE, Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER, Mr. 

JEFFRIES, Ms. UNDERWOOD, Mr. MCEACHIN, and Mr. NEGUSE

OCTOBER 31, 2019 

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union 

and ordered to be printed 

A BILL 

To amend section 249 of title 18, United States Code, to 

specify lynching as a hate crime act. 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
3 

•HR 35 RH

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Emmett Till 

5 Antilynching Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) In the 20th century lynching occurred most9 ly in southern States by White southerners against 

10 Black southerners. 

11 (2) In 1892, the Tuskegee Institute began to 

12 record statistics of lynchings and reported that 

13 4,742 reported lynchings had taken place by 1968, 

14 of which 3,445 of the victims were Black. 

15 (3) Most of the lynchings that occurred in the 

16 South were mass moblike lynchings. 

17 (4) Mass moblike lynchings were barbaric by 

18 nature characterized by members of the mob, mostly 

19 White southerners, shooting, burning, and muti20 lating the victim’s body, alive. 

21 (5) In ‘‘Anatomy of a Lynching: The Killing of 

22 Claude Neal’’, community papers readily advertised 

23 mob lynchings, as evidenced by a Florida local paper 

24 headline: ‘‘Florida to Burn Negro at Stake: Sex 

25 Criminal Seized from Brewton Jail, Will be MutiVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:32 Oct 31, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H35.RH H35

kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
4 

•HR 35 RH

1 lated, Set Afire in Extra-Legal Vengeance for 

2 Deed.’’ 

3 (6) Civil rights groups documented and pre4 sented Congress evidence of vigilante moblike 

5 lynchings. 

6 (7) Evidence by NAACP investigator Howard 

7 Kester documented the extreme brutality of these 

8 lynchings. An excerpt from ‘‘Anatomy of a Lynch9 ing’’ further illustrates this point: ‘‘After taking the 

10 nigger to the woods about four miles from Green11 wood, they cut off his penis. He was made to eat it. 

12 Then they cut off his testicles and made him eat 

13 them and say he liked it.’’ 

14 (8) Many civil rights groups, notably the Anti15 Lynching Crusaders, also known as the ALC, oper16 ating under the umbrella of the NAACP, made nu17 merous requests to Congress to make lynching a 

18 Federal crime. 

19 (9) Congressman George Henry White, an Afri20 can American, introduced the first Federal anti21 lynching bill and subsequently nearly 200 antilynch22 ing bills were introduced in the Congress during the 

23 first half of the 20th century. 

24 (10) Between 1890 and 1952, seven Presidents 

25 petitioned Congress to end lynching. 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
5 

•HR 35 RH

1 (11) Between 1920 and 1940, the House of 

2 Representatives passed three strong antilynching 

3 measures, of which Congress came closest to enact4 ing antilynching legislation sponsored by Congress5 man Leonidas C. Dyer in 1922. 

6 (12) On all three occasions, opponents of 

7 antilynching legislation, argued States’ rights and 

8 used the filibuster, or the threat of it, to block the 

9 Senate from voting on the measures. 

10 (13) The enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 

11 1968 was the closest Congress ever came in the 

12 post-Reconstruction era to enacting antilynching leg13 islation. 

14 (14) In 2005, the Senate passed a resolution, 

15 sponsored by Senators Mary Landrieu and George 

16 Allen, apologizing for the Senate’s failure to enact 

17 antilynching legislation as a Federal crime, with 

18 Senator Landrieu saying, ‘‘There may be no other 

19 injustice in American history for which the Senate 

20 so uniquely bears responsibility.’’ 

21 (15) To heal past and present racial injustice, 

22 Congress must make lynching a Federal crime so 

23 our Nation can begin reconciliation. 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
6 

•HR 35 RH

1 SEC. 3. SPECIFYING LYNCHING AS A HATE CRIME ACT. 

2 Section 249(a) of title 18, United States Code, is 

3 amended— 

4 (1) by redesignating paragraph (4) as para5 graph (5); and 

6 (2) by inserting after paragraph (3) the fol7 lowing: 

8 ‘‘(4) OFFENSES INVOLVING LYNCHING.—Who9 ever, whether or not acting under color of law, will10 fully, acting as part of any collection of people, as11 sembled for the purpose and with the intention of 

12 committing an act of violence upon any person, 

13 causes death to any person, shall be imprisoned for 

14 any term of years or for life, fined under this title, 

15 or both.’’. 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS

kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
Union Calendar No. 212 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 35 

[Report No. 116–267] 

A BILL 

To amend section 249 of title 18, United States 

Code, to specify lynching as a hate crime act. 

OCTOBER 31, 2019 

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the 

State of the Union and ordered to be printed 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS