On September 27, 1891, a White mob brutally lynched a Black man named Lee Bailey, in DeLand, hanging him and riddling his body with bullets after kidnapping him from the Volusia County Jail. The previous morning, a White woman reported to police that she had been assaulted. Although the woman…
On November 1, 1868, a mob of white men brutally lynched a Black man named Moses Smith in his home in Gordon, a farming community in northern Alachua County. Five white men armed with rifles rode up to Mr. Sith’s cabin, shot at him through the cracks in the walls,…
Between 1903 and 1934, white mobs terrorized and lynched at least six Black people in Manatee and Sarasota counties. On March 8, 1903, a white mob hanged Henry Thomas near Parriah, leaving his body suspended overnight to instill fear in the entire Black community. White residents took the mere allegation…
Shortly after midnight on Friday, November 27, 1925, three white men abducted a 35-year-old Black man named Arthur Henry from his bed at Orange General Hospital. Nearly two weeks later, Mr. Henry’s lifeless body was found in the unincorporated community of Conway, shot through the heart. Hours before his abduction,…
On August 19, 1916, African Americans living in the Jonesville and Newberry communities were lynched. At 2:00 a.m., Constable George Wynne, Dr. L.G. Harris, and G.H. Blount drove to Boisey Long’s home in Jonesville to serve a warrant and question him about stolen hogs. Gunfire was exchanged with Long 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…