Lynching in America / Lynching in Travis County

Marker Text: Racial terror lynching plagued Texas and devastated African American communities for decades. On August 14, 1894, Travis County was the site of a triple lynching when a white mob seized a black woman and two black men from a small jail about thirty miles from Austin. According to news reports, the woman was a white family’s nurse when their child died. Without evidence or investigation, the black nurse was accused of being responsible for the child’s death, two black men were also arrested. Despite the absence of evidence to support any claim against the accused, a mob of armed white men abducted the three prisoners from the jail, tied them to stakes in a nearby field and riddled them with gunshots, killing all three. No one was held accountable for this violence and disregard for the rule of law. As frequently occurred, allegations by white people against black people were sufficient to create extraordinary violence. Law enforcement would not protect people of color which allowed these white mobs to terrorize African Americans throughout the region. Press coverage published as far away as Britain failed to name the three lynching victims, the town of their arrest, or provide details about the location of their lynching – but did state that the woman and two men were very likely innocent of any crime.