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1350 An American Dilemma
will change the “interest.” Such a redefinition can be accomplished by education and
propaganda, and also by laws and the administration of laws. (See Chapter 38, Sec-
tion 6.)
See Chapter 25, Section 3. Allison Davis and John Dollard mention five inci-
dents in New Orleans between 1936 and 1938:
“Three of these men [five colored men killed by white policemen] were killed in
city jails while awaiting trial. The other two were shot while in custody. All were
accused of having attacked white men or women. By means of detailed accounts in the
newspapers, these symbolic ‘legal lynchings’ were made known to the colored popula-
tion and served as a means of further intimidation.” {Children of Bondage [1940],
p. 248.)
“. . . lynchings often happen. They are different to what they used to be though.
They used to be big mobs hunting for a nigger, but now you just hear about some nigger
found hanging ofif a bridge.” (Interview in Charles S. Johnson, Growing Up in the
Black Belt, p. 5.) Also see Jessie Daniel Ames, The Changing Character of Lynching
(1942), pp. 8-9.
The following quotation suggests that secret vigilante lynching has become quite
significant. It is from a pamphlet entitled Lynching Goes Underground ([January,
1940], pp. 7-8), sponsored by Senators Wagner and Capper and by Representatives
Gavagan and Fish. The title page reads: “The author of this report, who must remain
anonymous, is a native white Southerner who has lived all hi? life in the South and still
lives there. He has made a number of investigations of lynchings.”
“With regard to the whole problem of lynching your investigator desires to make
the following statement. It is his considered judgment that, for various reasons, lynching
is entering a new and altogether dangerous phase. Lynchings in the past have been
characterized by the mob, the faggot, the rope. Hundreds of people, often thousands,
poured out to participate or witness the lynching of a man or woman accused of some
crime, often of the most trivial nature and often without any real charge at all. Pictures
of the mobbed and mobbers have been taken and widely circulated. Souvenirs of the
lynched man or woman, in the form of fingers, toes and other parts of the body, have
been brazenly displayed by members of the mob.
“Public opinion is beginning to turn against this sort of mob activity. Sentiment is
growing against lynching. Agitation for Federal and state anti-lynching laws gives pause
to the lynching crowd. Lynching, they say, must go on, but it must be done quietly so as
not to attract attention, draw publicity. Thus those who must rule by terror and intimida-
tion turn to new methods. The old mob is disappearing but the work of the mob goes
on. A Negro is accused of some crime, real or alleged. A few white men gather, formulate
their plans, seize their victim. In some lonely swamp a small body of men do the job
formerly done by a vast, howling, bloodthirsty mob composed of men, women and
children. The word is then passed that the matter has been handled to the satisfaction
of those in charge of such matters.
“Your investigator has probed numerous lynchings. His acquaintance with lynchers
and the lynched extends over a lifetime. It is his judgment that countless Negroes are
lynched yearly, but their disappearance is shrouded in mystery, for they are dispatched
quietly and without general knowledge. . . .
“Your investigator was informed by competent observers that since the notorious
double blow torch lynching which occurred at Duck Hill, Mississippi, in 1937, word
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