page_title: List of lynching victims in the United States
hierarchical_section_title: List of lynching victims in the United States
caption_attribution_description: English: John Heith (also spelled "Heath"), lynched by a mob in Tombstone, Arizona on Feb. 22, 1884. From the photo collection of Noah Hamilton Rose, San Antonio, Texas. SUMMARY: The body of John Heith hanging from a telegraph pole.
context_page_description: This is a List of lynching victims in the United States. Lynching is the summary execution of an offender, or supposed offender, without due process of law, by a self-constituted and irresponsible body of men. Lynchings in the United States rose in number after the American Civil War in the late 19th century, following the emancipation of slaves; they declined in the 1920s. Nearly 3,500 African Americans and 1,300 whites were lynched in the United States between 1882 and 1968. Most lynchings were of African-American men in the Southern United States, but women were also lynched. More than 73 percent of lynchings in the post–Civil War period occurred in the Southern states. White lynchings of black people also occurred in the Midwestern United States and the Border States, especially during the 20th-century Great Migration of black people out of the Southern United States. The purpose was to enforce white supremacy and intimidate black people through racial terrorism.
  According to Ida B. Wells and the Tuskegee University, most lynching victims were accused of murder or attempted murder.
context_section_description: This is a List of lynching victims in the United States. Lynching is the summary execution of an offender, or supposed offender, without due process of law, by a self-constituted and irresponsible body of men. Lynchings in the United States rose in number after the American Civil War in the late 19th century, following the emancipation of slaves; they declined in the 1920s. Nearly 3,500 African Americans and 1,300 whites were lynched in the United States between 1882 and 1968. Most lynchings were of African-American men in the Southern United States, but women were also lynched. More than 73 percent of lynchings in the post–Civil War period occurred in the Southern states. White lynchings of black people also occurred in the Midwestern United States and the Border States, especially during the 20th-century Great Migration of black people out of the Southern United States. The purpose was to enforce white supremacy and intimidate black people through racial terrorism.
  According to Ida B. Wells and the Tuskegee University, most lynching victims were accused of murder or attempted murder. Rape or attempted rape was the second most common accusation; such accusations were often pretexts for lynching black people who violated Jim Crow etiquette or engaged in economic competition with white people. Sociologist Arthur F. Raper investigated one hundred lynchings during the 1930s and estimated that approximately one-third of the victims were falsely accused.
  On a per capita basis, lynchings were also common in California and the Old West, especially of Latinos, although they represented less than 10% of the national total. Native Americans and Asian Americans were also lynched. Other ethnicities, including Finnish-Americans, German-Americans and Italian-Americans were also lynched occasionally.
caption: The body of John Heath, lynched in Tombstone, Arizona, on February 22, 1884, following the Bisbee massacre
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