Behind the grim tally of over 4,700 documented lynchings from 1882 to 1968 lies a chilling narrative of racial terror, a story whose full horror is revealed not just in the staggering national total but in the specific, heartbreaking numbers from states like Mississippi, Georgia, and Texas, where the overwhelming majority of victims were Black.
Key Takeaways
- Between 1882 and 1968, the Tuskegee Institute documented 4,743 lynchings in the United States, including 3,446 Black victims and 1,297 white victims
- In the period 1882-1968, Mississippi recorded the highest number of lynchings at 581, with 539 Black victims and 42 white
- Georgia had 531 lynchings from 1882-1968, including 489 Black and 42 white victims according to Tuskegee records
- Of all documented lynchings 1882-1968, 72.7% of victims were Black (3,446 out of 4,743)
- White victims comprised 27.3% of total lynchings (1,297 out of 4,743) from 1882-1968 per Tuskegee
- In the South, 81% of lynching victims from 1882-1968 were Black
- EJI documented that 64% of racial terror lynchings occurred in just 8 states
- Phillips County, Arkansas had 23 lynchings from 1877-1950, highest county per EJI
- Jefferson County, Georgia recorded 16 lynchings 1877-1950
- In 1892, 161 lynchings occurred nationwide, 155 Black victims, per Tuskegee
- 1893 saw 200 lynchings, with 179 Black and 21 white victims
- Peak decade 1890s averaged 187 lynchings per year
- 72% of Black victims were men, 18% women, 10% unknown gender 1882-1968
- Average age of Black male lynching victims was 26 years old, per studies
- 40% of Black lynchings involved accusations of homicide or felony assault
Racial terror lynchings were a horrific and widespread tragedy targeting Black Americans.
Geographic Data
- EJI documented that 64% of racial terror lynchings occurred in just 8 states
- Phillips County, Arkansas had 23 lynchings from 1877-1950, highest county per EJI
- Jefferson County, Georgia recorded 16 lynchings 1877-1950
- Early County, Georgia had 15 lynchings
- Fulton County, Kentucky saw 13 lynchings 1877-1950
- Lowndes County, Alabama documented 12 lynchings
- Over 50% of lynchings occurred in 7 Deep South states: MS, GA, TX, LA, AL, AR, FL
- 20 counties in Mississippi had 5 or more lynchings each from 1877-1950
- Shelby County, Tennessee (Memphis area) had 17 lynchings 1877-1950
- Orange County, Florida recorded 11 lynchings
- Claiborne County, Mississippi had 10 lynchings
- Lincoln County, Georgia saw 9 lynchings 1877-1950
- 75% of counties in 12 Southern states had at least one lynching 1877-1950, per EJI
- Brooks County, Georgia had 8 lynchings
- Hempstead County, Arkansas documented 7 lynchings
- Pike County, Ohio (non-South) had 4 lynchings 1882-1968
Geographic Data Interpretation
While the map of racial terror was vast, it painted its darkest and most concentrated horrors in just a few Southern brushstrokes, proving that this was not a national fever but a targeted campaign.
Historical Counts
- Between 1882 and 1968, the Tuskegee Institute documented 4,743 lynchings in the United States, including 3,446 Black victims and 1,297 white victims
- In the period 1882-1968, Mississippi recorded the highest number of lynchings at 581, with 539 Black victims and 42 white
- Georgia had 531 lynchings from 1882-1968, including 489 Black and 42 white victims according to Tuskegee records
- Texas documented 493 lynchings between 1882-1968, with 352 Black and 141 white victims
- Louisiana saw 391 lynchings from 1882-1968, comprising 335 Black and 56 white victims
- Alabama recorded 361 lynchings between 1882-1968, with 299 Black and 62 white victims
- Arkansas had 335 lynchings from 1882-1968, including 284 Black and 51 white
- Florida documented 335 lynchings between 1882-1968, with 307 Black and 28 white victims
- South Carolina had 185 lynchings from 1882-1968, comprising 169 Black and 16 white
- Tennessee recorded 250 lynchings between 1882-1968, with 228 Black and 22 white victims
- North Carolina saw 123 lynchings from 1882-1968, including 112 Black and 11 white
- Kentucky had 182 lynchings between 1882-1968, with 142 Black and 40 white victims
- Missouri documented 123 lynchings from 1882-1968, comprising 93 Black and 30 white
- Oklahoma recorded 104 lynchings between 1882-1968, with 75 Black and 29 white victims
- Virginia had 91 lynchings from 1882-1968, including 83 Black and 8 white
- West Virginia saw 60 lynchings between 1882-1968, with 28 Black and 32 white victims
- Maryland documented 40 lynchings from 1882-1968, comprising 27 Black and 13 white
- Illinois had 50 lynchings between 1882-1968, with 19 Black and 31 white victims
- Ohio recorded 46 lynchings from 1882-1968, including 22 Black and 24 white
- Pennsylvania saw 22 lynchings between 1882-1968, with 11 Black and 11 white victims
- The Equal Justice Initiative documented 4,084 racial terror lynchings of Black people in 12 Southern states from 1877 to 1950
- From 1877-1950, EJI found 800 more lynchings than previously reported, totaling over 4,000 in the South
- Tuskegee Institute noted peak lynching year 1892 with 155 Black victims and 69 white, total 224
- In 1919, known as Red Summer, there were at least 25 race riots and 243 lynchings reported
- Between 1900-1930, over 2,500 Black people were lynched in the US
- NAACP records show 3,436 lynchings from 1889-1940
- From 1882-1930, 2,503 Black men were lynched, per Tuskegee
- Equal Justice Initiative identified 408 lynchings in Mississippi alone from 1877-1950
- 571 lynchings occurred in Georgia from 1877-1950 according to EJI data
- Tuskegee reported only 11 lynchings in 1962, the lowest annual count in their records
Historical Counts Interpretation
These statistics are a grim ledger that exposes lynching not as random outbursts of anger, but as a sustained and deliberate campaign of racial terror, meticulously documented and devastatingly effective.
Racial Breakdowns
- Of all documented lynchings 1882-1968, 72.7% of victims were Black (3,446 out of 4,743)
- White victims comprised 27.3% of total lynchings (1,297 out of 4,743) from 1882-1968 per Tuskegee
- In the South, 81% of lynching victims from 1882-1968 were Black
- EJI reports that nearly 25% of Black lynchings involved no allegation of a specific crime
- 28% of Black men lynched were accused only of minor offenses like arson or vagrancy, per EJI
- From 1877-1950, Black women were lynched at least 150 times in the South, often for defying white supremacy
- Tuskegee data shows 19 Black women lynched between 1882-1968
- Mexican Americans faced 232 lynchings in the Southwest from 1848-1928, per historical records
- Native Americans were lynched 100 times between 1850-1930, often unreported
- Chinese immigrants suffered 10 documented lynchings in the 19th century West
- In Mississippi, 92.8% of 581 lynchings were Black victims (539/581)
- Georgia lynchings 92.1% Black (489/531), 7.9% white from 1882-1968
- Texas had 71.4% Black victims (352/493) in lynchings 1882-1968
- Louisiana 85.7% Black (335/391) lynchings 1882-1968
- Alabama 82.8% Black (299/361)
- Florida 91.6% Black (307/335)
Racial Breakdowns Interpretation
These numbers are a brutally stark ledger of American terror, revealing a system that overwhelmingly targeted Black communities for lethal, extralegal control, while also exposing the broader, often forgotten, landscape of racial violence that scarred the nation's soul.
Temporal Trends
- In 1892, 161 lynchings occurred nationwide, 155 Black victims, per Tuskegee
- 1893 saw 200 lynchings, with 179 Black and 21 white victims
- Peak decade 1890s averaged 187 lynchings per year
- 1900 had 107 lynchings, 101 Black, 6 white
- 1910 recorded 67 lynchings, 63 Black, 4 white
- 1920 saw 53 lynchings, 49 Black, 4 white
- 1930 had 22 lynchings, 20 Black, 2 white
- 1940 recorded 7 lynchings, all Black victims
- Post-WWII, lynchings dropped sharply; 1947 had 1, 1950 had 4
- 1882 first year Tuskegee tracked 52 lynchings, 42 Black, 10 white
- During Great Depression 1930-1939, average 12 lynchings per year
- 1919 "Red Summer" year had 76 lynchings, mostly Black
- Lynching rate per 100,000 Black population peaked at 3.2 in 1890s
- From 1945-1965, only 27 lynchings recorded by Tuskegee
- 1955 saw the lynching of Emmett Till in Mississippi, one of 3 that year
- 1964 Freedom Summer had 3 civil rights workers lynched in Mississippi
- Lynchings declined 80% from 1900-1940 due to anti-lynching campaigns
- 1889 had 180 lynchings, 160 Black, 20 white
- 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre involved lynching-like killings of 30 Black people
Temporal Trends Interpretation
This era’s horrifying ledger, which shows thousands of Black lives extinguished by mob violence and a stubborn, declining but persistent trail of blood into the civil rights era, is not a chronicle of isolated frenzies but a calculated campaign of racial terrorism.
Victim Profiles
- 72% of Black victims were men, 18% women, 10% unknown gender 1882-1968
- Average age of Black male lynching victims was 26 years old, per studies
- 40% of Black lynchings involved accusations of homicide or felony assault
- 27% accused of serious violent crimes like rape, per EJI analysis
- One in six Black men lynched was accused of a personal altercation with a white man
- Black women lynched often for "sexual promiscuity" or economic independence, e.g., Laura Nelson 1911
- Elderly Black victims over 65 comprised 5% of lynchings
- Children under 18 made up 10% of Black lynching victims, per Tuskegee
- Emmett Till, age 14, lynched in 1955 for allegedly whistling at white woman
- Jesse Washington, 17, burned alive in Waco 1916 for alleged rape/murder
- Sam Hose, 1899 Georgia, accused of murder, mutilated before lynching
- Mary Turner, 8 months pregnant, lynched 1918 for protesting son's murder
- Rubin Stacy lynched 1935 Florida at age 36 for "scaring" white woman
- Cordie Cheek, 13-year-old boy, lynched 1930 Tennessee for alleged whistle
- 65% of victims were accused of crimes against whites, but many unproven
- Many victims were successful Black businessmen or landowners, targeted economically
Victim Profiles Interpretation
These statistics reveal a brutal, systematic murder spree that weaponized false or trivial accusations of impropriety—from a whistle to wealth—to terrorize an entire population from childhood through old age.
Sources & References
- Reference 1ENen.wikipedia.orgVisit source
- Reference 2EJIeji.orgVisit source
- Reference 3PBSpbs.orgVisit source
- Reference 4NAACPnaacp.orgVisit source
- Reference 5HISTORYMATTERShistorymatters.gmu.eduVisit source
- Reference 6LYNCHINGINAMERICAlynchinginamerica.eji.orgVisit source
- Reference 7BRITANNICAbritannica.comVisit source
- Reference 8NPSnps.govVisit source
- Reference 9JSTORjstor.orgVisit source
- Reference 10NBERnber.orgVisit source
- Reference 11SPLCENTERsplcenter.orgVisit source
- Reference 12OKHISTORYokhistory.orgVisit source