It was as American as apple pie. White men ambushed black people and then the black people were found hanging from tree branches. Sometimes the victims were beaten, tortured and violated prior to hanging. This often happened in broad daylight.
In the post-Civil War era, attending a lynching was a family event. After church, white families would gather with their picnic hampers and settle in for an afternoon of entertainment. Sometimes post cards commemorating the event were sent to friends and relatives.
Yes, it is as horrific as it sounds.
It is widely believed that over 4,000 women and men were lynched in the years between the end of the Civil War and 1950. A recent study by the Equal Justice Initiative posits that over 6500 people were lynched from the end of Reconstruction (1877) through 1950. The number is likely much higher as not all lynchings were recorded at the time. The names are lost to history. Most of the lynchings involved black people; however, white men and some women were also lynched for supporting and assisting blacks with finding housing, employment, assistance with voting, and working for anti-lynching laws.
Lynching is defined as an extrajudicial vigilante murder primarily committed against black Americans for no other reason than the color of their skin. Many victims did not have criminal records. Sometimes they were executed for not extending the deference white people expected. False sexual assault charges levied by white women against black men also played a significant role. This has perpetuated the myth of male hyper-sexuality and (not so) subtly communicated that black men are dangerous.
Terrorized racial murders communicated to Blacks that they needed to keep the social expectations of the day. Public lynchings maintained white supremacy. Although lynchings were usually associated with the deep South, they also occurred in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Nebraska and Kansas.
Public lynchings decreased in the 1930’s largely due to the emergence of the death penalty in the criminal justice system. To this day the percentage of Blacks on death row is disproportionately high compared to their white counterparts. The move from vigilante murder to state sanctioned murder was no improvement. The beginning of World War II also contributed to the lower numbers of lynchings. Following WWII there was an uptick in lynchings after the Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education, ruled that separate but equal was unconstitutional. The last recorded lynching was March 21, 1981, at least until recently.
Fast forward a few decades and lynching is still as American as apple pie. In 2026, to date, there have been at least six, possibly seven lynchings. It is difficult to have a hard and fast number since police departments are quick to classify them as suicide.
Black people do not hang themselves from trees.
The most recent lynching was Demetrius Eugene Fleming of Roanoke Rapids, NC on August 21, 2026. It was quickly ruled a suicide which effectively shut down any meaningful investigation. The collusion of law enforcement with white supremacy groups and other racist vigilante groups keeps the truth of lynching hidden. Newspapers rarely report it.
This is horrifying. Every person of faith should be outraged. The silence, especially of the church, is deafening.
Lynching violates one of the Big Ten: “thou shalt not kill.” There is, however, a deeper more troubling theological aspect to lynching and the terrorization of African Americans. Scripture teaches that all people are created in the image of God; all people carry the divine spark within them. Genesis reminds us that “In the image of God, God created them. Male and female, God created them” (Genesis 1:27). There is no footnote saying only white people were created in Divine image.
As people of faith grounded in the Judeo-Christian tradition, creation in God’s image is a fundamental truth. In the second testament we read in 1 Corinthians 3:16, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” We are all vessels of the Divine. This is a second fundamental truth of our tradition.
The only way Blacks can be marginalized, mistreated and lynched is if they are seen as less than their white counterparts. This hearkens back to the 1800’s when Blacks were counted as 3/5 of a person for purposes of property tax assessment and the census. That notion, no matter how unconscious, persists. People of color are “less than.” The failure of Reconstruction institutionalized racism that was not addressed by emancipation. Blacks have consistently been denied the fullness of humanity that is their birthright. Make no mistake, the racism that persists today has a deep theological root in the Judeo-Christian tradition.
The surge in lynchings as well as the increase in murders of unarmed black (mostly) men by police reinforces and strengthens the racist roots that have never really been exorcised from the United States. In the current social and political milieu, racism is seeing a resurgence in acceptability and popularity in the United States. Racism is America’s original sin. It is past time to repent.
The Irreverent Reverend 