RESEARCH PAPER ABOUT LYNCHING ‘SLAVERY ‘
Introduction
Lynching developed as a result of racial tension, which existed in the Southern part of the United States throughout the late 19th century. The Southern people blamed the newly freed black slaves who lived around for financial problems they experienced. In the south part of America, to solve the anger developed by the whites against the freed black slaves, they launched lynching where blacks were unlawfully killed. Lynching was associated with the hanging death of black men in the South of America by white people, which happened in 1882-1968. Lynch law referred to the self-made court that imposed a sentence of black men without the due process of law. Charles Lynch, a Virginia planter and also a justice of the peace, introduced the name during the American Revolution time wanted to punish loyalists by handing irregular court. The research paper discusses how and why lynching started, whether lynching American citizens valid the liberty process of dual law process guaranteed under the American Constitution Constitution, whether lynching lead to an economic, social and political transition that shaped the American history and what may have formed the American history if lynching did not happen which forms my thesis statement.[1]
How and Why Lynching in America
Origin of lynching is not clearly defined, for there are various different notions on how it started and why. In this sense, some proclaim that lynching was named after Captain William Lynch, who the head of the informal tribunal of Virginia in 1780 that performed disciplinary action by punishing suspected British loyalists when American Revolutionary wars were in place. Others suggested that lynching was introduced by Charles Lynch, who still existed during the American Revolution wars in Virginia and was associated with lynch laws that connected with the suppression of loyalists. By 19th Century lynching referred to the murder of black people, mostly the freed slaves by white people when blamed for crimes without any official legal system[2]. The first lynching case was recorded in 1835 in St. Louis after a black man who was accused of killing a deputy Sheriff was punished by being chained on a tree and was burned to death publicly in the crowd. By the end of the 19th century in South America, the practice was widely used in mob rules and public punishment of hanging. Other ethnic groups who were victims of lynching in the US included; Chinese, Mexicans, and European-Americans, but from the late 19th century, Black Americans started to be victims of lynching. Black Americans became the primary target since the white Americans wanted to maintain racial control after the conclusion of civil wars in America, which stimulated the American Revolution.[3]
Tuskegee Institute recorded that between 1882 to 1968 period, 3446 blacks were lynched where they were hanged as a result of criminal acts and execution in public places to give warning to others. Similarly, lynching was occasionally social to white people since they were the ones executing irregular laws against freed slaves, which signified racism in America. Out of all people lynched between 1882 -1968, only 1297, which represented 27.3%, were white people who were lynched for helping the blacks, having domestic crimes, or maybe being anti-lynch. White people lynched black people, for they wanted to protect the white women, where they argued rape was the primary reason for lynching followed by homicide cases in the United States. End of civil war triggered lynching whereby the whites were angered by the freedom given to the black people freed, which needed to be controlled. More cases of lynching were reordered in the Southern part of the United States, while lynching cases that occurred in the West were directed to white people who happened as a result of murder cases and cattle thieves. No political links attached to lynching cases of blacks people in the South and white people in the West of the United States. Not all state launched lynching of either black or white people in the United States, for instance, Alaska, Connecticut, and New Hampshire.[4]
Does lynching American Citizens Valid the Liberty Process of Dual Law Process Guaranteed under the ConstitutionConstitution
The lynching of American citizens, which happened in the West as a result of homicides and cattle theft cases, was of great importance in setting the foundation of legal procedures that are stipulated in the United States constitution. The dual law process entails fundamental principles that promote fairness in all legal matters, which are included in the ConstitutionConstitution. Both civil and criminal rights are to be implemented in the court’s system of the United States. In this light, the Western American white were lynched, which spearheaded the process of establishing a dual law process to help end the practices. For this reason, racial discrimination was evidenced at first in the South; there 72.9% of all people lynched were blacks who were slaves recently freed. Americans were angered by the freedom enjoyed by the black slaves that they need to hang them in public arose.[5]
Due process law in America was stipulated using two categories that include: the procedural and substantive due process, which promoted fundamental fairness where legal procedurals are stipulated that can be followed in courts. In this light, the lynching act helped to formulate fundamental fairness to the whites and the blacks rather than hanging in public. Procedural due process stipulated in the Unites States constitution helped to formulate the court process to be followed when black slaves are found in either civil or criminal abuse or when a white is to be subjected to the court ruling.[6]
Lynching leads to Social, Economic, and Political Transition that Shaped the United States History.
The lynching of black slaves in the United States, which claimed more than 4075, was termed as racial terrorism targeted for racial segregation. During the reconstruction in Southern America and World War II, the African American was segregated, and racial subordination arises which stimulated to racial discrimination. In this light, lynching leads to social transitions whereby after the introduction of the dual law process, the court system provided a framework to be followed in case of a crisis, which was formulated into American ConstitutionConstitution. Lynching in the United States made it that lynching the black or the African American being as termed as terrorism, which was used to enforce segregation and racial discrimination. Many African American who were subjected to lynching was tortured and hanged in front of other blacks to give a warning. Economically, no impact was realized as a result, but during the American Revolution period, the economic status was deprived. The introduction of the dual law process helped the United States to provide a court system to be followed in the time of either criminal or civil crisis. Also, lynching had been viewed as any vigilante justice, which entails extrajudicial murder for a member of the minority group in the United States. Finally, lynching is used in the United States when one is wrongly prosecuted, whereby usage of lynching has been considered offensive and insensitive in America today.[7]
Conclusion
Lynching was critical in the foundation of the United States history, whereby racial discrimination and African American segregation started. The killing of black people in front of the public was a symbol of how African American were treated in torture as well as racial subordination. Had this event not occurred, the history of America would not have evidenced where racial segregation would not have happened. Racism is a common vice where black people were denied their rights and denied their upkeep in America. Lynching helped in the establishment of the process of a dual law, which facilitated the formulation of American ConstitutionConstitution.
The lynching of a black man in The United State in 1882 which was aimed to terrorize and control the black people by hanging them on a tree in front of other. In this light, the period stimulated into racial segregation end and abolished of African American racial acts. The dual laws process triggered the introduction of the American constitution which facilitated the court system process. Lynching in the West, which happened to America White, was of great importance in the promotion of equality, which was helped in the foundation of fundamental fairness stipulated by the dual law process.
Bibliography
Gibson, Grace E. “The Legacy of American Terrorism: Lynching in America During the Reconstruction Period.” Line by Line: A Journal of Beginning Student Writing 6, no. 1 (2019): 1.
Guyatt, Nicholas. Bind us apart: how enlightened Americans invented racial segregation. Basic Books, 2016.
Harris, J. William. “Etiquette, lynching, and racial boundaries in southern history: A Mississippi example.” The American Historical Review 100, no. 2 (1995): 387-410.
Ritchey, Andrew J., and R. Barry Ruback. “Predicting lynching atrocity: the situational norms of lynchings in Georgia.” Personality and social psychology bulletin 44, no. 5 (2018): 619-637.
Tolnay, Stewart E., and E. M. Beck. ““Racialized Terrorism” in the American South: Do Completed Lynchings Tell an Accurate Story?.” Social Science History 42, no. 4 (2018): 677-701.
Waldrep, Christopher. “War of words: The controversy over the definition of lynching, 1899-1940.” The Journal of Southern History 66, no. 1 (2000): 75-100.
[1] .Gibson, Grace E. “The Legacy of American Terrorism: Lynching in America During the Reconstruction Period.” Line by Line: A Journal of Beginning Student Writing 6, no. 1 (2019): 1.
[2]. Guyatt, Nicholas. Bind us apart: how enlightened Americans invented racial segregation: basic Books, 2016.
[3] Ibid.,
[4] Waldrep, Christopher. “War of words: The controversy over the definition of lynching, 1899-1940.” The Journal of Southern History 66, no. 1 (2000): 75-100.
[5] Tolnay, Stewart E., and E. M. Beck. “Racialized Terrorism” in the American South: Do Complete Lynchings Tell an Accurate Story?.” Social Science History, 42, no. 4 (2018): 677-701.
[6] Ritchey, Andrew J., and R. Barry Ruback. “Predicting lynching atrocity: the situational norms of lynchings in Georgia.” Personality and social psychology bulletin 44, no. 5 (2018): 619-637
[7] Tolnay, Stewart E., and E. M. Beck. “Racialized Terrorism” in the American South: Do Complete Lynchings Tell an Accurate Story?.” Social Science History 42, no. 4 (2018): 677-701.