News & Events

October 10, 2024. Dr. De Fazio has recently published an edited volume with University of Virginia Press titled "Lynching in Virginia: Racial Terror and Its Legacy" Although not as associated with lynching as other southern states, Virginia has a tragically...

May 14, 2024. Recent research has confirmed that another black man, William Stokes, had been lynched in Dinwiddie county, in 1888. Stokes was accused of entering the home of a black farmer with the intention of raping his daughter; after his arrest, unknown men...

January 31, 2024. Dr. Gianluca De Fazio recently released a new digital project: Memorializing Racial Terror: Lynching Markers in the United States. This project catalogs and maps all the historical markers commemorating victims of lynching in the United States,...

January 30, 2024. Archeologist and historian Kathy Liston examines the life and death of Joseph Holmes in her essay '‘Lynching a Legislator: The Joseph R. Holmes Story.‘ Born into slavery, Joe Holmes was elected at the Virginia Constitutional Convention of...

October 17, 2023. In the past few months, the Racial Terror website underwent a thorough revision to update its content and expand the historical information we have about lynching in Virginia. In particular, all of the entries about each lynching victims have been...

September 14, 2023. Beginning in 2021, James Madison University and the Library of Virginia started a collaboration to retrieve, digitize and transcribe more than 300 pages of primary source materials documenting lynching in the commonwealth from 1866-1932. The...

In collaboration with JMU Libraries and the College of Education, we are releasing a set of lesson plans for K12 schools in Virginia that can be used to understand lynching in Virginia and its legacy. Social Science and English teachers are invited to peruse these...

Dr. De Fazio is the organizer of a virtual panel titled 'Researching, Remembering and Honoring Lynching Victims in Virginia' for the next African, African American & Diaspora Studies (AAAD) Conference at JMU. The panel will take place between 1:30 and 3:00PM on...

December 16, 2021. Retired teacher, author and editor Steve Schlanger wrote an essay, Anatomy of Lynching, on the 1892 murder of William Young in Fluvanna County. In this essay, Dr. Schlanger relies on newspaper accounts and archival sources to examine how the...

Members of the "Lynching in Virginia Curriculum Project" team presented their work at the 2021 Open Ed. Conference! See their pre-recorded presentation at the bottom of this post. Presentation title: Teaching Hard Histories for Racial Healing: The Lynching in...

August 5th, 2020. Today the Racial Terror: Lynching in Virginia website has officially migrated to a new domain, with improved graphics and features! Check out the new Data Visualization tab and the expanded database, now including cases as far back as...

August 23rd, 2019. Professor Gianluca De Fazio just published an article titled "Improving Lynching Inventories with Local Newspapers: Racial Terror in Virginia, 1877-1927", in which he discusses some of the findings of the Racial Terror project. The article...

July 31st, 2019. A new essay, ‘“Virginia’s Shame”: The 1891 Lynching of Three Black Miners in Clifton Forge, by JMU Professor Dolores Flamiano, is now available on the website. In this essay, professor Flamiano examines the role of lynching photographs in...

May 17th, 2019. Professor Gianluca De Fazio was interviewed about the Racial Terror project by the Virginia Humanities Foundation. The interview was published online on May 3rd, 2019 as part of the radio program 'With Good Reason'. You can listen to the whole...

April 10th, 2019. The Museum of Culpeper History invited Professor Gianluca De Fazio to deliver a talk on the “Racial Terror: Lynchings in Virginia, 1877-1927” project. The event will take place at the Culpeper Baptist Church on Friday, April12th at...

March 6th, 2019. On March 9, 2019, Professor Gianluca De Fazio will present a paper at the CRDH Conference at George Mason University in Arlington, VA. The paper, titled “Improving Lynching Inventories with Local Newspapers: Racial Terror in Virginia, 1877–1927”,...

January 30th, 2019. On March 18, Professor Gianluca De Fazio will deliver a lecture at UVa-Wise in Wise, VA, as part of the Black History Month Lecture Series. His talk  on "Racial Terror: Lynching in Virginia and its Legacy" will take place at 1PM in the SSC...

January 23rd, 2019. Sen. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond, sponsored a Senate joint resolution asking the General Assembly to “acknowledge with profound regret the existence and acceptance of lynching within the Commonwealth and call for reconciliation among all...

November 12th, 2018. I'm delighted to announce that we have just added a new Essays section to the website. In this section, a variety of authors will contribute to our understanding of lynching in Virginia through their analyses of specific aspects of lethal mob...

April 4th, 2018. Kevin Hegg will deliver a presentation titled "Lynching In Virginia: Using Digital Tools To Tell Almost Forgotten Stories" at the Our (Digital) Humanity: Storytelling, Media Organizing and Social Justice Community Conference, which will take place...

March 15th, 2018. Professor Gianluca De Fazio and Kevin Hegg will deliver a talk on "Documenting and Mapping Racial Terror: Lynching in Virginia, 1877-1927" on Thursday, April 19, 2018, 4PM-5PM, Carrier 301. This talk is part of the Speaker Series by JMU Libraries...

March 15th, 2018. Professor Gianluca De Fazio will introduce and discuss the “Racial Terror: Lynching in Virginia, 1877-1927,” website on April 11th, 2018 at 12PM at the Institute of Visual Studies (Roop 208) at James Madison...

March 14th, 2018. The Shenandoah Valley Black Heritage Project invited Professor Gianluca De Fazio to deliver a lecture on lynching in the Shenandoah Valley on April 20th, 2018 at 2PM at the Lucy F. Simms Center in Harrisonburg, VA....