The Lynching of Will Brown

Marker Text: On September 28, 1919, thousands of white people, aided by local law enforcement, lynched a Black man named Will Brown in Omaha, Nebraska. Allegations of crimes against Black people during this era were rarely subject to scrutiny and often sparked lethal violence even if there was no evidence tying the accused to the crime. The sympathetic white press often published false allegations and justified the public violence. After another account from a white woman reporting a rape was published in the local press, a crowd of hundreds of armed white people formed, led by the woman’s brother, and accused Will Brown. Although he maintained his innocence, Mr. Brown, a 40-year-old laborer, was arrested. Hundreds of people set the Douglas County Courthouse on fire and seized Mr. Brown from jail as local law enforcement yelled “Come and get him! He is yours!” Thousands of white men and women watched as Mr. Brown was beaten and hanged from a pole at 18th and Harney. Mr. Brown’s lifeless body was then shot for twenty minutes before being tied to a police car and dragged several blocks to 17th & Dodge. There, mob members set Mr. Brown’s remains on fire and then dragged his body through the streets of downtown Omaha. An infamous photograph of Will Brown’s remains surrounded by white men and children depicts the communal nature of racial terror violence against Black people. No one was ever held accountable for the lynching of Will Brown.