  Extent of the Lynching Evil [1] Previous to 1918 Distribution of the 1918 Lynchings Offenses Charged Against the 1918 Victims [7] Taken from Peace Officers and Jails Legal Action Taken by Public Officials Specific Action by the Executive Office Illustration of Results Following the Association's Publicity Work Outstanding Events Aside From Association Efforts Title: The Fight Against Lynching Anti-Lynching Work of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People for the Year Nineteen Eighteen Author: Anonymous Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 E-text prepared by David Edwards, Keith Edkins, |
| Note: | Images of the original pages are available through Villanova University Digital Library. See http://digital.library.villanova.edu/Item/vudl:354895 |
| Transcriber's note: | The spelling of the U.S. state name as "Louisana" has not been corrected as it is consistently used for all 5 references to the state. |
The
Fight Against Lynching
ANTI-LYNCHING WORK
of the
National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People
FOR THE YEAR NINETEEN EIGHTEEN
Reprinted from the Ninth Annual Report
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
70 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK
April, 1919
Price Ten Cents
LYNCHING PAMPHLETS*
President Wilson's Lynching and Mob Violence Pronouncement (of July 26, 1918).
Lynchings of May, 1918, in Brooks and Lowndes Counties, Georgia; an investigation by the N. A. A. C. P.; 8 pages.
The Massacre of East St. Louis; an account of an Investigation by W. E. Burghardt Du Bois and Martha Gruening, for the N. A. A. C. P., illustrated, 20 pages, reprinted from The Crisis for September, 1917.
The Burning of Ell Person at Memphis, Tenn.; an account taken from the Memphis daily papers of May 22, 23, 24 and June 3, 1917; 4 pages.
The Burning of Ell Person at Memphis, Tenn.; an investigation by James Weldon Johnson for the N. A. A. C. P.; reprinted from The Crisis for July, 1917; 8 pages.
The Lynching of Anthony Crawford (at Abbeville, S. C., October 21, 1916). Article by Roy Nash (then) Secretary, N. A. A. C. P.; reprinted from the Independent for December, 1916; 4 pages, large size.
Notes on Lynching in the United States, compiled from The Crisis, 1912; 16 pages.
Thirty Years of Lynching in the United States, 1889-1918, April, 1919; circa 100 pages, fifteen cents.
* Copies of the pamphlets listed may be obtained from the Secretary of the Association.
ANTI-LYNCHING COMMITTEE
National Association for the Advancement
Of Colored People
William English Walling, Chairman
John R. Shillady, Secretary
Philip G. Peabody
Moorfield Storey
Archibald H. GrimkÉ
W. E. B. Du Bois
Mary White Ovington
FOREWORD
The anti-lynching work of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is carried on as a part of the activities of the Association under the direction of the Association's Anti-Lynching Committee, whose names appear elsewhere.
This work was made possible in the beginning through an initial contribution of $1,000 made by Mr. Philip G. Peabody, of Boston, Mass., in the fall of 1916, toward a fund of $10,000 to be used in a vigorous campaign against the lynching evil. The Association's president, Mr. Moorfield Storey, contributed a second $1,000 and as the result of a wide-spread appeal an amount slightly in excess of $10,000 over and above the cost of the appeal was subscribed. The Association is endeavoring to raise approximately $10,000 annually to carry on this work.
The principal activities of the anti-lynching campaign include:
Investigation of as many of the lynchings as possible.
Publication and distribution of the investigator's findings and of other data concerning lynching.
Inquiries and protests whenever lynchings occur, to governors, sheriffs and other state and local authorities by telegraph and letter, and, in selected cases, amounting in the aggregate to a considerable number, appeals to leading chambers of commerce urging them to demand that their governors and other officials take legal action against lynchers.
Press publicity of such inquiries and protests and of the results of the Association's investigations and other matter of current "news" interest in order thus to create public sentiment against lynching.
Research into the facts regarding past lynchings.
Collection of press and editorial comment on lynching in general and on particular lynchings.
Study of causes and remedies for lynching.
Efforts to secure specific legislation to prevent lynching.
Continuous agitation of the subject through the columns of the Association's organ, The Crisis and through meetings and addresses upon every appropriate occasion.
Generally to keep the evil of lynching before the American people as a live issue and to offer a constructive program for its abolition.
The Association, through its president and secretary, acting for the Anti-Lynching Committee, took the initiative in promoting a National Conference on Lynching which will be held in New York City on the fifth and sixth of May, 1919, for the purpose of focusing the attention of the nation on this blot upon America's fair name and of working out an effective, constructive program for its abolition. This conference has been called by one hundred and twenty leaders of American opinion, it being judged best that the conference be called by distinguished Americans rather than by the Association itself, or the Anti-Lynching Committee, in order that the appeal might not be hampered in the minds of anyone by its association with the work of an organization devoted to the interests of the Negro, and to which there might be opposition on that account.
Among the signers of this call are the attorney general of the United States, five governors, one of them, Governor Hugh M. Dorsey of Georgia, a southern governor, four ex-governors, one of these, Hon. Emmet O'Neal of Alabama, from the South, two ex-attorney generals of the United States, nine university presidents, the president of the American Bar Association, a number of leading lawyers of national reputation of the country, including Elihu Root and Charles Evans Hughes, Cardinal Gibbons and leading churchmen and representative colored leaders. Nineteen of the signers of the call are representatives leaders of southern white liberal opinion.
The Association urgently appeals for financial support in its constructive efforts to stamp out lynching in the United States.
John R. Shillady, Secretary
National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People
THE FIGHT AGAINST LYNCHING
"I therefore very earnestly and solemnly beg that the governors of all the states, the law officers of every community, and above all, the men and women of every community in the United States, all who revere America and wish to keep her name without stain or reproach, will co-operate, not passively merely, but actively and watchfully to make an end of this disgraceful evil. It cannot live where the community does not countenance it."
July 26, 1918. WOODROW WILSON.
