A Memorial to the Victims of Lynching
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Each of these victims was once a living human being with feelings, hopes and dreams - but the drama of their murders has overshadowed their lives.
Anthony Crawford was a prosperous farmer. He was lynched in South Carolina for disputing the price for his crop with a white buyer. His entire family was then run out of town. HIs family contributed his portrait and life story to this Memorial.
Let us remember that...
Each had talents and pleasures: singing, dancing, telling stories, playing cards or sports, creating beautiful and useful objects.
Each worked hard for a living or had to struggle to find jobs.
Each was part of a family and community: a father or mother, husband or wife, son or daughter, friend or neighbor – loved ones who retrieved the mutilated body and grieved over it.
To find and pay your respects to a victim, click on the state where he or she died. The state link will take you to a list of names. If you know the victim's name but not their place of death, use the search box above.
Unfortunately, we know little about the lives of most of these individuals. ABHM is collecting victims' life stories, like this one of Anthony Crawford and his family.
Please help us to honor their lives by sharing whatever you know about their time on this earth. Include family stories or photos if you can. Forward them to us at memorial@abhmuseum.org.
To search for information about someone in your family who was lynched, check out these genealogy websites: https://ancestry.com and https://ccharity.com/.
Source of most names, places, and dates of death: Ralph Ginzburg, 100 Years of Lynchings, Baltimore: Black Classic Press, 1988, 253-270. Some additions found on Lynching in Texas. Others have been contributed by visitors to this site.
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Please include the lynching of a black man in St. Petersburg Florida.
On Tuesday, November 12, 1914, John Evans, a black man, was lynched in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States, by a mob of 1,500 white men, women and children.[1] Evans was accused of the murder of Edward Sherman, a white real estate developer, and the attack of Sherman’s wife, Mary. After word of the attack spread, and Mary Sherman claimed her attackers were “two negroes,” a citywide search ensued.[1] Suspicions immediately led to John Evans. Two days after the murder, a posse consisting of some of the city’s most prominent and well-respected members stormed the St. Petersburg jail, threw a noose around Evans’ neck and marched him to his death.[1] He was never given a fair trial.[2] Evans was hung from a light post on the corner of Ninth Street South and Second Avenue. At first, he kept himself alive by wrapping his legs around the light pole. An unidentified white woman in a nearby automobile ended his struggle with a single bullet. Though the shot was fatal, the rest of the crowd began shooting at Evans’ dangling body until their ammunition was depleted.[1][3]
Thank you for bringing John Evans’ murder to our attention. If you have any further information about Mr. Evans’ life, we would love to add it to his memorial.
Please, remember Rosewood Florida.
Please Caste by Isabel Wilkerson!