The Lynching Of African American Essay

Throughout history, African Americans have been the victims of countless hate crimes; starting from when they were captured from Africa and sold into slavery, to the twenty-first century. After they were emancipated from slavery, African Americans faced racial discrimination that led to many brutal deaths. In the image above, an African American man named Frank McManus is being lynched in front of a mob. McManus was accused of raping a four-year-old girl and was arrested and placed in holding. Before his trial, an angry mob had formed outside his cell. The mob stormed the jailhouse, took McManus and hung him from a tree (“The Lynching of Frank McManus”). Lynching was a common occurrence during this time period and many white people participated in it. The lynching of Frank MacManus in 1882, as seen in the picture, …show more content…
African American men were lynched for looking at women and violence became normal. This racial tension was due to the southerners blaming a lot of their financial problems on the newly freed black people taking their jobs (Lynching Statistics). “Some lynchings were justified by vigilance, or people taking the law into their own hands to get rid of an accused criminal, other times it was from the hatred of the other race. Many white people began to believe that they were the supreme race and that America should be “pure” (“About Lynching”). This hatred led to the segregation between white people and African Americans. The segregation itself was decided in the Supreme Court Case of “Plessy vs. Ferguson”. The ruling of the case was that states should racially segregate all public and private facilities, such as restrooms, restaurants, and schools. The two groups would be “separate, but equal” (“Plessy vs. Ferguson”). This separation along with the constant violence against the African Americans was caused by the social tension between them and the white