Shortly after midnight on April 8, 1911, a mob of at least 200 white men lynched a Black man named Charles Hale in downtown Lawrenceville. The mob broke into the Lawrenceville Jail and abducted Mr. Hale from his cell, with no resistance from the police officers who were armed and…
On September 10, 1912, a 24-year-old Black man named Rob Edwards was lynched and hung in downtown Cumming, Georgia. During this era, deep racial hostility burdened Black people with presumptions of guilt, often resulting in accusations that were unfounded and unreliable. Mr. Edwards was one of several Black men arrested…
Near this site on November 12, 1914, a white mob lynched a Black man named John Evans. During this era, Black people were burdened by a presumption of guilt that made them vulnerable to mob violence and lynching. Mr. Evans arrived in St. Petersburg from Dunnellon, Florida, and worked for…
On September 8, 1919, a mob of 50 White men lynched two Black veterans of World War I, Bowman Cook and John Morine. This was during the Red Summer of 1919, when Black veterans returned from the war determined to overcome racism and discrimination at home, and many White communities…
On Election Day, November 3, 1920, black residents in the Ocoee area who owned land and businesses were eager to vote. Despite a terrorizing Ku Klux Klan march through the streets of Orlando three days earlier, Mose Norman and other African Americans attempted to vote. They were turned away. After…
On January 30, 1934, Robert Johnson, a 40-year-old Black man, was lynched in Tampa. Two days earlier, Mr. Johnson had been wrongly arrested by the Hillsborough County constable after a white woman reported an assault. The next day, Tampa law enforcement officers confirmed Mr. Johnson’s innocence and cleared him of…