Lynching is the unlawful killing of a person by a large group (a mob). Lynchings were not just a way to express outrage about a particular behavior or crime; they were a way to control and intimidate African Americans. Unlike their white counterparts, the lynchings of African Americans were turned into spectacles, with mobs subjecting the victims to torture and humiliation before and after the executions.

The Tuskegee Institute has documented 100 lynchings in Virginia between 1882 and 1968.

Yes. But while the Virginia Anti-Lynching Law was enacted in 1928, and was the first in the country to name lynching as a state crime, no white person was ever convicted under this law. In December 2018 and again in February 2019, the United States Senate unanimously passed the Justice for Victims of Lynching Act, a bill that would explicitly make lynching a federal hate crime for the first time. As of August 2019, the House of Representatives has yet to pass the bill. Between 1882 and 1968, more than 4,700 people (most of them African American) were lynched. Congress has tried and failed 200 times since 1882 to pass anti-lynching legislation.

No, both white and black people were lynched in Virginia. African American men, women, children and seniors have all been victims of lynching.

The lynchings represented on our EJI pillar are the only documented lynchings in Alexandria. The work of the ACRP has uncovered an additional lynching that occurred in Alexandria on Christmas Day in 1865. On that day, John Anderson was murdered by a mob of white men, many who had fought in the war on the side of the Confederacy. You can read more about it in the December 2021 newsletter. ACRP will continue to research in the hope of uncovering other instances of race-related murder.

Yes, a professional genealogist has successfully located some of Joseph McCoy’s maternal descendants as well as some of Benjamin Thomas’ relations. There are more family lines to pursue, and the Office of Historic Alexandria and Division of African American History welcome any information that may help uncover more relatives.

Never. No matter how terrible the crime a lynching victim was accused of, our judicial system demands that the accused have the right to a fair trial in a court of law. The legal system must determine guilt or innocence and not vigilante justice. African Americans were often accused of horrible crimes with no basis in fact in order to encourage mob violence.

No. Offenses that could result in a lynching included things that would be considered trivial, such as a black woman reprimanding a white child; any African American confronting a white person about an injustice; African Americans who socialized or were romantically involved with whites; or an African American confronting a white person for stealing from them. These are all actual reasons people were lynched.

Lynching sometimes took place secretly, but it was primarily a mob action spurred by hate and vengeance. White mobs made lynchings a public activity. Unfortunately, those who supported what was happening often brought their friends and families (including children) to these events, which perpetrated a legacy of hate. Many times, African Americans were forced to witness what was happening. Souvenir photographs of lynchings were sold, and sometimes the mutilated body parts from the victims were sold as well. Lynching was used as a means to intimidate and control African Americans in the South. Lynching is racial terrorism.

It is believed that the lynching of Raymond Bird, on August 15, 1926, was the last recorded in Virginia. He had been accused of having sex with a white woman, and was dragged from jail by a mob in Wytheville, Virginia. They shot him, tied him to the back of a truck, and dragged him for miles. Finally, they left Bird hanging from a tree.

The death by lynching of Michael Donald was the last documented lynching in the United States. In 1981, Ku Klux Klan members beat and killed him in Mobile, Alabama. They then hanged his body from a tree.

Alexandria, like other communities, is engaged in a multi-year process of education, dialogue and community work to enable us to claim our pillar from the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI). Alexandria held an initial community meeting on September 21, 2019 and ACRP continues to work with EJI on our journey toward our pillar.

Lynching and racial terrorism traumatized the Black community and left deep and enduring psychological wounds. Whites who participated in or witnessed lynchings were also damaged psychologically. The fact is that in the wake of the murders of Joseph McCoy and Benjamin Thomas, local and state officials acted with indifference and chose not to hold anyone accountable. In order for the entire community to heal, these facts need to be recognized and a permanent monument that commemorates the lynchings “has the power to end the silence and inaction that has compounded this psychosocial trauma and begins the process of recovery,” according to the Equal Justice Initiative.