ABSTRACT
White assaults on African Americans, particularly violence precipitated by lynch mobs, became widespread by the 1880s. Lynching was not an exclusively Southern phenomenon, and whites as well as blacks fell victim to mob violence. The worst year for lynching was 1892, when at least 235 African Americans were killed by raging mobs. By the end of the 19th century, lynching had became almost exclusively racially motivated and mostly confined to the Deep South. Lynchings were frequently preceded by a 'trial' in which accusers beat confessions for rape, theft, intransigence, or vagrancy out of a bound victim. Accused blacks were often tortured, burned, stabbed, or shot before being hanged. In the South, courageous black clergymen and civic leaders confronted lynch mobs, and black newspapers risked almost certain retaliation by publishing anti-lynching articles. A leading crusader against lynching was Ida B. Wells, whose investigative report in the Memphis Free Speech and Headlight led racist whites to destroy the paper's headquarters.
