Print
Word
PDF|
This section contains 474 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) |
|
Federal legislation introduced in the 1930s defined lynching as the act of a mob, consisting of three or more persons, that punished or killed its victim without the authority of law. Throughout the nation's history, such "extralegal" action had been directed at any number of people who were believed to have threatened a significant common interest or violated a moral or social convention. Mobs formed for a variety of reasons: to seek vengeance, to ensure punishment, or to intimidate; but in all such instances, they drew their power from the weaknesses of their victims and the mob's willingness to resort to violence at the slightest provocation.
By the 1930s lynching had become closely associated with the subject of race relations. As a practice it was largely confined to the southern part of the United States, and even there, more often than not...
|
This section contains 474 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) |
|
