PRESIDENT WILSON DENOUNCES LYNCHINGS AS DISGRACEFUL EVIL
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On July 26, 1918, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation calling for an end to lynchings* in the United States.
The President described it as a subject which "vitally affects the honor of the Nation and the very character and integrity of our institutions."
Mr. Wilson wrote...
"The mob spirit...in...widely separated parts of the county (represents)...a blow at the heart of ordered law and humane justice."
The President's proclamation argued that lynchings were a demonstration against the values for which the United States stands. He wrote...
"We...claim to be the champions of democracy."
President Wilson called for state governors and law enforcement officials to bring "this disgraceful evil" to an end.
*Lynching is defined as the practice of murder by a group by extrajudicial action. The number of lynchings rose in the U.S. after the Civil War. It is estimated that 4743 people, 2/3 of them African-Americans, were lynched between 1882 & 1968. 73% of lynchings occurred in the South.
"President Woodrow Wilson's proclamation of July 26, 1918 denouncing lynchings," www.amistadresource.org/
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On July 26, 1918, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation calling for an end to lynchings* in the United States.
The President described it as a subject which "vitally affects the honor of the Nation and the very character and integrity of our institutions."
Mr. Wilson wrote...
"The mob spirit...in...widely separated parts of the county (represents)...a blow at the heart of ordered law and humane justice."
The President's proclamation argued that lynchings were a demonstration against the values for which the United States stands. He wrote...
"We...claim to be the champions of democracy."
President Wilson called for state governors and law enforcement officials to bring "this disgraceful evil" to an end.
*Lynching is defined as the practice of murder by a group by extrajudicial action. The number of lynchings rose in the U.S. after the Civil War. It is estimated that 4743 people, 2/3 of them African-Americans, were lynched between 1882 & 1968. 73% of lynchings occurred in the South.
SOURCE
Threat of Lynching Carpetbaggers
by the KKK
Independent Monitor
Tuscaloosa, Alabama (1868)
