Lynching of Erastus Brown

In the predawn hours of July 10, 1897, an armed mob of white men brutally lynched Erastus Brown, a Black husband and father of two, near the Bourbeuse River Bridge in Union, Missouri. Mr. Brown was no more than 20 years old at the time of his death. On July…

Lest We Forget: Lynching at the Stewart Road Bridge

Near this place James T. Scott, a Black janitor in the medical school at MU, was killed on April 29th, 1923. A mob brought Mr. Scott to the bridge, placed a noose around his neck, and pushed him over the railing while hundreds of spectators watched. MU’s presence and the…

Lynching in Lafayette County

For decades, African American men were lynched by white mobs in Lafayette County. Most of these men were lynched because of interactions with white women which were characterized as “inappropriate” or “assaults.” These allegations against Black people were rarely subject to serious scrutiny. Instead, mobs frequently pulled lynching victims from…

Burial Site of Lynching Victims

On July 20, 1899, Giuseppe Di Fatta, Pasquale Di Fatta, Francesco Di Fatta, Giovanni Cerami and Rosario Fiduccia, all natives of Sicily, were murdered by a lynch mob in Tallulah, Louisiana. The murders triggered an international incident between the United States and Italy and President William McKinley, in his December…