Shattered Humanity: The Brutality of Lynch Mob Formation

Abstract

African Americans became vulnerable to hostile whites that often formed lynch mobs to maintain their superiority. African Americans were viewed as inferior, and black men especially were criminalized as evil figures who were threats to white womanhood. Aside from an illogical fear of the "other," what drove a person to treat another human being this way? How could lynching happen? This project will seek to uncover the motives that white crowds used to justify their extralegal practices. Additionally, it will look at dozens of lynching victims who were targeted, and it will explore the history of anti-Negro thought.