The Lynching of 1930

The Lynching Of 1930

The image is still raw in the mind of many people in the United States of America as well as in the world. It simplifies the long struggle of the African Americans to emancipate themselves from the brutal harassment of the white people in America. On a sunny, calm day in the month of August 1930, a crowd gathered in front of an Indian jail to demand the release of three prisoners. The prisoners were facing a prison sentence for the heinous crime they had committed to killing a man and raping a woman. The crowd was determined to release the prisoners from jail using all means possible. They demolished the jail doors and pulled the three prisoners from their respective cells. They then brutally beat the prisoners before taking them to a tree on the courthouse square where they lynched the two prisoners leaving the youngest alive. Their bodies were left for photographers to capture and publish in the newspapers to send a message to all other perpetrators of the heinous acts of the black American (Keil). This scene provoked minds of many people across the world. In particular, the African Americans were annoyed when they saw the bodies of their brothers. It was one of the many brutal acts that were targeting the black people in United States of America. Many of these acts led to the emergence of civil war in America where African Americans were fighting to have their rights respected by the white people in America. However, the development of the civil war never solved the problems of racial discrimination in America but instead led to the abolition of slavery and other detrimental acts that targeted the African Americans (Franzosi).

The mob that comprised mainly of white people dragged the African prisoners to the Courthouse Square to pass a message to the African Americans that the civil rights movement was not welcome in America. The courthouse square was considered to be a sacred place by many civil rights activists. It was a civic and geographical center where civil rights movements met to strategize on how to liberate the African Americans from the many challenges they encountered in the hands of white people in America. Thus, the mob deliberately performed the lynching act to provoke the black Americans. This created bitterness among African Americans, and the urge to emancipate themselves from te torture they faced was aroused (Keil). The extralegal violence was challenged by the leaders of the civil rights movement in the United States of America. They sent demands for justice to the local and state authorities and called personally on the governor. They had a resolve that the lynching act be investigated and those who incited the mob to face the law in court. A group of councils was selected to examine the whole act. However, the Indiana attorney general James Ogden claimed that they culprits in the Lynch could not be identified. This further provoked African Americans because the photographs of the lynching were available. Any investigating team could quickly determine the people in the mob who committed the lynching crime. Thus, the African Americans felt that the state protected the perpetrators of the act. The claim that perpetrators couldn’t be identified was an insult to the intelligence of the people of America (Messner). The African Americans also felt that many white people expressed regret but failed to act, a clear indication that they protected the perpetrators. The foundation for the civil war was being formed.

Various movements mounted pressure on the government to give justice to the two young men who were lynched. The government gave in to the pressure from the public and accused two leaders of the mob. The back Americans had hope the justice was to be delivered finally. However, their expectations were thwarted after the court declared the two innocent. This was a dark day for African Americans. The ruling came as a shock because they had high expectations of getting justice in the courts. However, many of the civic rights activists were determined to continue the struggle to emancipate the African people from the bondage of slavery and mistreatment. They used this tragedy to champion for federal legislation with an aim of restructuring the legal system to include the civil rights of all people in America irrespective of race and skin color. They had a political experience and were confident to resist the abuse of the fundamental human rights (Messner). The tragedy made the African Americans to have a strong believe that the government could not protect them. They were determined to face the white people on the battlefield as a way of protecting themselves. African Americans were ready to use violence to protest to the government. They wanted the government to formulate laws that abolished lynching of suspects. It was a brutal act to lynch a person merely because he/she has been accused. The African Americans wanted the government to formulate laws that declared a person to be innocent until proven guilty. Unfortunately, the government turned the request down, and more African Americans were subjected to lynching acts. Thus, the civil rights activists were provoked to begin the civil war in United States of America (Armstrong).

The act of the government to ignore the plight of the brutal conditions Africans Americans were subjected to necessitated the rise of the momentum of the activities of the civil rights activists. The civil rights movements, exploited all options available to eliminate the lynching of African Americans. They first opted to use the legal channels that were available in the American Legal system. They formed organizations that included legal defense teams called International Labor Defense which became active in the anti-lynching cause. The defense counsel defended many African Americans who were accused in courts. They further created awareness to the African American about the rights of the accused people. Their effort