ANTI-LYNCHING BILL PASSES HOUSE IN BI-PARTISAN VOTE
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On January 26, 1922, the United States House of Representatives passed the Dyer (anti-lynching) Bill by a vote of 230 to 119. 102 Democrats joined 17 Republicans in voting against the bill while 8 Democrats and 1 socialist joined 221 Republicans voting aye.
The Dyer Bill* provided penalties up to life imprisonment for "persons who participate in lynching** and for...officials who fail...to prevent them."
After passing the House, the legislation died a sure death in the United States Senate (December 1922) due to a Democratic filibuster***.
Two additional attempts (1923 & 1924) also failed.
*Dyer Bill: introduced (1918) by Rep Leonidas C. Dyer (R-MO), born (1871) in Warrenton, MO, served in the Spanish-American War & 11 terms in the House of Representatives, 1911-1933. LCD died in 1957.
**Lynchings: informal public executions by a mob such as those carried out against African-Americans in the South during the post-Reconstruction era, peaking in 1892.
***Filibuster: a Senate tactic of prolonging debate on a proposed bill with the intent to delay or prevent a floor vote on the legislation.
JFK+50 NOTE
Two of Tennessee's congressmen, both Republicans, voted against the Dyer Bill. Joseph E. Brown & Wynne F. Clouse both were one-termers (1921-1923).
SOURCES
"Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill (1922)," by Steven J. Jager, August 19, 2012, www.blackpast.org/
"House Passes Anti-Lynching Bill, 230-119," The New York Tribune, January 27, 1922, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
