Lynching in America / The Lynching of Richard Robertson

Marker Text: On January 23, 1909, a mob of about 30 white men abducted Richard Robertson, a 43-year-old Black man, from the Mobile County jail and lynched him on a tree within sight of the jail. Mr. Robertson had been working as a carpenter on a home in downtown Mobile when two white plumbers, also working on the home, accused him of assault. Without further investigation into the accusation, a warrant was issued for Mr. Robertson’s arrest. When two white deputies arrived to arrest Mr. Robertson, he objected and ultimately fled after an exchange of gunfire left all three wounded. An officer found Mr. Robertson, suffering from three gunshot wounds, arrested him and took him to the downtown jail. Following news that one of the deputies died, rumors circulated of plans to lynch Mr. Robertson. Despite warnings that a white mob planned to abduct and lynch Mr. Robertson, the sheriff and local law enforcement did nothing to protect him from the impending mob violence. In the early morning hours of January 23, mere hours after Mr. Robertson had been released from the infirmary, a lynch mob kidnapped him from his cell and dragged him through the streets in his underwear as he begged for his life, before firing several shots and hanging him two blocks away from the central police station. Lynch mobs regularly used the lethal violence to deny due process to Black people. Nobody was ever Prosecuted for the lynching of Richard Robertson.