African Americans who were lynched in the U.S.
Nevlin Porter and Johnson Spencer were African-American men who were lynched in Starkville, Mississippi May 5, 1879 for the alleged burning of a barn.
On April 23, 1879, Jordan Moore, a farmer who lived near Starkville, reported being shot at by an unknown stranger. On April 24 a barn containing corn on Moore's property was burned,[1] and a black man, Johnson Spencer was arrested. The following day, while Spencer was incarcerated, another barn containing farm implements and other machinery was burned, and Moore reported finding another black man, Nevlin Porter, in his bedroom. Porter confessed to burning the barn in order to divert attention from Spencer's guilt. Reports in the press stated that Porter had been lynched on the way to the jail proved false as of April 30, but was scheduled for a hearing in circuit court on May 1.[2] However, on May 5, 1879, a mixed-race mob of 121 men were given keys to the jail by the sheriff. The mob locked jailer Henry Isaacs up, and left with Porter and Spencer to the trestle of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad one mile east of the town, where both men were hung with cotton ropes and killed.[3] After an inquest the bodies were turned over to their friends.[4] [5]
^ "Starkville" . Carolina Watchman. May 8, 1879. Retrieved December 19, 2018 .
^ "The Starkville Sensation : Considerably Modified--The Negro Corn Thief and Barnburner was not Lynched, But is Held for Trial" (PDF) . Memphis Daily Appeal. May 1, 1879. Retrieved December 19, 2018 .
^ "Negroes Lynched" . Pascagoula Democrat-Star . May 16, 1879. p. 1. Retrieved July 27, 2021 .
^ "Two Taught [sic] Ropes" (PDF) . Memphis Daily Appeal . May 6, 1879. p. 1. Retrieved December 19, 2018 .
^ "The full story of the lynching of two negroes at Starkville, Mississippi" . Daily Democrat . New Orleans. May 5, 1879. Retrieved February 5, 2023 .
Before 1900 1900–1940 After 1940
Multiple victims
Death of Joseph Smith (Joseph Smith , Hyrum Smith ) (1844)
Marais des Cygnes, KS, massacre (1858)
Great Hanging at Gainesville, TX (1862)
New York City draft riots (1863)
Detroit race riot (1863)
? Lachenais and four others (1863)
Fort Pillow, TN, massacre (1864)
Plummer Gang (1864)
Memphis massacre (1866)
Gallatin County, KY, race riot (1866)
New Orleans massacre of 1866
Reno Brothers Gang (1868)
Camilla, GA, massacre (1868)
Steve Long and two half-brothers (1868)
Pulaski, TN, riot (1868)
Samuel Bierfield and Lawrence Bowman (1868)
Opelousas, LA, massacre (1868)
Bear River City riot (1868)
Chinese massacre of 1871
Meridian, MS, race riot (1871)
Colfax, LA, massacre (1873)
Election riot of 1874 (AL)
Juan, Antonio, and Marcelo Moya (1874)
Benjamin and Mollie French (1876)
Ellenton, SC, riot (1876)
Hamburg, SC, massacre (1876)
Thibodeax, LA, massacre (1878)
Mart and Tom Horrell (1878)
Nevlin Porter and Johnson Spencer (1879)
Elijah Frost, Abijah Gibson, Tom McCracken (1879)
T.J. House, James West, John Dorsey (1880)
New Orleans 1891 lynchings (1891)
Ruggles Brothers (CA) (1892)
Thomas Moss, Henry Stewart, Calvin McDowell (TN) (1892)
Porter and Spencer (MS) (1897)
Phoenix, SC, election riot (1898)
Wilmington, NC, insurrection (1898)
Julia and Frazier Baker (1898)
Pana, IL, riot (1899)
Watkinsville lynching (1905)
1906 Atlanta race massacre
Kemper County, MS (1906)
Walker family (1908)
Springfield race riot of 1908
Slocum, TX, massacre (1910)
Laura and L.D. Nelson (1911)
Harris County, GA, lynchings (1912)
Newberry, FL, lynchings (1916)
East St. Louis, IL, riots (1917)
Lynching rampage in Brooks County, GA (1918)
Jenkins County, GA, riot (1919)
Longview, TX, race riot (1919)
Elaine, AR, race riot (1919)
Omaha race riot of 1919
Knoxville riot of 1919
Red Summer (1919)
Duluth, MN, lynchings (1920)
Ocoee, FL, massacre (1920)
Tulsa race massacre (1921)
Perry, FL, race riot (1922)
Rosewood, FL, massacre (1923)
Jim and Mark Fox (1927)
Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith (1930)
Tate County, MS (1932)
Thomas Harold Thurmond and John M. Holmes (1933)
Roosevelt Townes and Robert McDaniels (1937)
Beaumont, TX, Race Riot (1943)
O'Day Short, wife, and two children (1945)
Moore's Ford, GA, lynchings (1946)
Harry and Harriette Moore (1952)
Anniston, AL (1961)
Freedom Summer Murders (James Chaney , Andrew Goodman , Michael Schwerner ) (1964)
Henry Hezekiah Dee and Charles Eddie Moore (1964)