Changes

Northern and British distaste, however, did very little for African-Americans in the South as lynchings continued to occur. According to some estimates, some 2,400 African Americans were lynched between 1889 and 1918. These events were community sanctioned, and the victims were often beaten, tortured, and mutilated before death. After death, photographs were sold as souvenirs to commemorate attendance or participation, and body parts—teeth, fingers, ashes, and clothes—were sold or taken as tokens.

Lynchings were not private events performed under the cover of darkness. They were frequently publicized in advance. As lynchings moved into the 20th century, they became modern carnival-esque spectacles. Sheriffs, clergymen, and the city’s best businessmen participated. Railroads sometimes advertised upcoming events—allowing individuals to watch or participate at a lowered excursion rate. In some instances, tickets were sold, and crowds swelled to 15,000 people.<ref name="Digital History">[http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtid=2&psid=3178], Digital History.</ref>

Lynchings remained an unfortunate reality for many African-Americans through the first half of the 20th century. In 1955, 14-year-old Emmett Till, a Chicago boy, was lynched in Mississippi after purportedly flirting with a white woman (Recently, journalist Timothy Tyson has released an interview with Carolyn Bryant--the women who accused Till of acting inappropriately with her. According to her own admission, she fabricated the parts of the story where she said he got physical with her). Several days after the incident, Till was abducted, mutilated, murdered, and thrown into a river. His mother demanded a public funeral with an open casket to show the world what had happened to her son. An all-white jury acquitted the men involved, even though they later admitted their involvement. This case generated widespread attention because of Till’s young age, the brutality of the crime, and his attackers’ acquittal. It also helped to start a new phase of the Civil Rights Movement in the South. The last official lynching was recorded in 1968, though many would argue that James Byrd’s murder in 1998 at the hands of three white men was a lynching as well.