Introduction
Lynching was one of the ways used by the white supremacists so as to have absolute power over the blacks in early 20th and late 19th century. Lynching was popularized so as to make the whites a more feared society .and also to suppress the black resistance against the whites. However, all through the lynching history the whites used different ways to control the life of the black’s .Politically, socially and economically. Major factors that lead to the increase of lynching was the fear among the white male who saw the blacks as being a danger to their families. False accusations were one of the significant ways the whites used against the black male,
The crimes that the black male would be charged with was mostly rape, many men were convicted and sentenced to death without any concrete evidence and at times even without being taken to court. Such like acts of killing without approval from the courts most of time was viewed by the whites as an acceptable as it was a way of eliminating wrong doers.
Most of the death sentences were carried out by hanging, or sometimes worse acts of disfigurement such as being set ablaze alive and also castration. The most ridiculous thing was that no white man was ever accused of such crimes and the white society also perfected the act of depriving the blacks all of the basic human right like even the right to life. Although court rulings during slavery were discrimatory some were just amusing where one black man who wanted to secure freedom for his son was ordered to be baptized .some cases against the blacks
were decided on skin color like the case famously known as john punch a black servant who had escaped servitude along with other European servants but when they were caught the black servant sentenced to servitude for the of his life while the white servants were added a few years on the years that they had serve as servants
The white men even went further to portray the black man as rapists that would rape the white women unless a way was devised on how the white woman would be protected,
The main reason the white man portrayed the black man as rapist was to gain total control over the black man and also to give the white society reasons to lynch the black man without raising eye brows and it worked as the rest of the world had been made to believe the black man was very bad.
Another reason why lynching becomes established was because of the ending of the Civil War, because the blacks who were fighting had nowhere to go, another fact was that slavery had come to an end and the slaves had been given freedom to make a living for themselves some now live amongst the whites who were disappointed. . and they gave various reasons to stop abolishment of slavery saying slavery helped to maintain both social and economic order, others felt the freed slaves would bring job scarcity as the freed slaves would be employed and in turn the blacks would be empowered so that meant less power to the whites politically and economically, thus the whites devised a way of going round the ruling that abolished
slavery and enacted a bill in 1667 which allowed slaves to convert to Christianity but not allowing them complete freedom but the blacks would now work as servants and not slaves but still the blacks were being forced to work
Some whites also felt the blacks had no right to live among the whites, the black society was also raising fast in numbers and the white man hated the black man more, others just hated the black society because of the skin color.
The support of the society was another cause why lynching became ever more fashionable and the absence of opposition from the blacks encouraged the white to continue terrorizing the black. The entire white community was in support of social accord, which allowed the blacks to receive punishment as well as becoming subdued. Considerably different from the usual public mobs giving their views openly, the medium was also contributed helped to the rising figure of lynching.
They focused on cases involving black offenders against a white, sometimes they would speak to the community and offer suggestions to the community, recommending what actions needed to be imposed to ensure white power. The media would give powerful comments such as saying that lynching was away of revenge and discourage the black beasts against committing such an act again. Some politicians in most cases would promote lynching and racial violence.
The political factors contributed to the increase of lynching during these two centuries. The three elections in 1892, 1894 and 1896 which brought on average of 17 lynching every year during the campaigns. including Louisiana which was a famous state encountered increased numbers during the campaigns.
Political parties that were perceived as detrimental to the dominance of the white race did not receive any recognition or support from the white society Conservatives were very much worried about the black organization which was gaining strength everyday. The African repression continued to reign with the predominance of lynching, the blacks now started becoming violent despite the fact that lynching was on the rise and the blacks were also been weakened.
Racial injustices are another immense cause why lynching thrived as well, the white people involved in killing the blacks knew they would go scot free
even after killing a black man. Lynching became more common as a communal show; people were accepting the brutal killing of a black man in public. The terror that the black faced was brought about by lack of social protection from police.
Conclusion
Lynching that took place in the 19th and 20th centuries was never studied properly to understand the impact it had in the lives of the blacks, who lived during that period. Even when there were numerous instances where life become unbearable. Obviously being in a state of regular fear, experiencing the sense of denial, lack of one civil rights and importantly the taking of life. The predominance of lynching was at times because of support of the very people who were supposed to stop the terror, who would have thought that one of could stoop so low, to the extent judging people because of biological characteristics instead of seeing what they have to offer. The past is behind but power is still an issue which elicits emotions.
