The Press and Lynching

Newspaper reports in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries literally defined American lynchings, both as discrete historical events and as a broader topic of national debate. Few historical sources other than published news accounts exist regarding most lynchings. Because lynchings were extralegal, and because most victims of lynch mobs were murdered before the completion of any formal legal prosecution, few if any official records were generated. When records were produced, they were often cursory and, just as often, were not preserved. Even coroners’ reports of lynching victims are often lost. Oral history, an important resource, is inherently fragmentary. And now