Old and modern history

 Old and modern history

Introduction

Lynching refers to the act of violence that is exercised by mob upon the body of one person that result to killing of such person. It occurs when people decide to take law in their own hands and decide to punish a suspected criminal or any other person who is thought to be challenging the status quo. Most of such killings are arrived through hanging of that suspected criminal. In the United States of America, most of lynching were done by the whites and the victims were the blacks. It grew as a result of hatred between the white population and the black Americans and thus led to massive killings of the white population. In the recent history, examples 0of lynching which resulted to deaths includes the American Civil war, the Chinese Massacre of 1871, the Lynching of Virginia and the Great Hangings of Gainesville. In this paper, let us focus on the lynching of Virginia.

Lynching in Virginia (1880-1940)

Lynching in Virginia occurred mostly in the nineteenth century in the United States of America in the quest to attain the white supremacy. This state shares a very shameful history between 1880 to 1926 where more than 90 people where lynched, as presented by the initiative data. Most historians, especially Grace Hale wrote that lynching in Virginia can be traced back to Charles Lynch, a Bedford County militia colonel who punished loyalists outside the law during the American Revolution[1]. Grace Hale claims that a common feature of the revolution was that, mob violence spiked up in Virginia in response to immigrations and tensions in slavery which was to take root in the African Americans. The tension rose due to the fact that several slaves and escaped and thus after being found, the main form of punishment was lynching.

The whole event that occurred in Virginia was well explained in the book “The Whiteness” where Hale made claims that most of these lynching where just but modern. In her writing, she elucidated on the culture of segregation where she claimed that this was an expression of modernity which was born at the dangerous crossroads where the white population was in their desire to show their supremacy to the white population and this led to the negative transformation of race. [2], Grace Hale wanted us to know that the Virginia lynching was a modern culture which is still ongoing since there is also the tension where the black population have not yet got a complete access to the national cake. Grace Hale refers to it as a memory, values, identity, imagery and taboos coming of age in the daily lives.

According to Hale, lynching existed in revolutionary and colonial Virginia as a method of punishing crime that existed in the absence of law enforcement. The irony behind this is that, the whites where however the victims of this catastrophe and that lynching were less lethal after the American Civil War[3]. Several other factors during these periods have been discussed to have contributed to these lynching in Virginia with the common ones being weaknesses in law enforcement and he violent influence of slavery in the state. Hale claims that this was so because the court system in Virginia was not well developed.

Analysis of the event

The event which I have chosen is a typical one. This is because the lynch law commenced in earnest in Virginia when the white Virginian population was trying to reset their power and control over the African American population. There were several crimes that occurred in the region, perceived crimes that involved mostly racial differences where the white population considered itself more superior and that they were after what was termed as the white population supremacy.  Most of these lynching involved torture and performance of rituals but finally led to deaths. They also involved the complicity of local governments, although in most cases most of them where condemned by official states.

After further analysis, I have found out that the Virginian Lynching was a series of hangings. After considering the map of Virginia, I have found that most events of lynching that occurred in the region involved the torture of the black Americans who were thought not to exercise any loyalty to the colonial government that comprised mostly the white population[4]. For example some of them like Magruder Fletcher were killed because of rape cases, others for example Jim Rhodes were lynched because of cases of murder, as well as existence of behaviors which were not in match with the provision of the colonial constitution.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Grace Hale termed most lynching’s that occurred at around 1880-1940 as modern. This is because they still match with whatever is happening in the real world society. She claims that the existence of killings and hatred between the white population and the blacks is a major transformation of the nineteenth century as it also led to the growth of cities and growth of anonymity in the usual life interactions. As a result of this all, I connect my event with the ongoing violence against women whereby most of them are still seen as inferior. Nevertheless, the event also relates to the ongoing pressure in the US whereby there still exists cases of white supremacy. Lynching thus brought more harm especially to the black population.

References

Chira, Adriana. “Uneasy Intimacies: Race, Family, and Property in Santiago de Cuba, 1803-1868.”          (2016).

Insider, Business, et al. “Newspapers, Periodicals, and Media.” Violence and Crime in Latin          America: Representations and Politics (2017): 269.

Thurston, Robert W. Lynching: American mob murder in global perspective. Routledge, 2016.

[1] Insider, Business, et al. “Newspapers, Periodicals, and Media.” Violence and Crime in Latin America: Representations and Politics (2017): 269.

[2] Chira, Adriana. “Uneasy Intimacies: Race, Family, and Property in Santiago de Cuba, 1803-1868.” (2016).

[3] Insider, Business, et al. “Newspapers, Periodicals, and Media.” Violence and Crime in Latin America: Representations and Politics (2017): 269.

[4] Thurston, Robert W. Lynching: American mob murder in global perspective. Routledge, 2016.