3. Eleven Lynchings for Every Execution: Lethal Punishment in Northwest Tennessee

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents vii
3. Illustrations ix
4. Acknowledgments xi
5. Introduction 1
6. 1. Legal and Extralegal Executions in the American South 8
7. 2. Lethal Punishment in Tennessee and Florida 18
8. 3. Eleven Lynchings for Every Execution: Lethal Punishment in Northwest Tennessee 28
9. 4. “There Can Be Nothing but Death”: Lethal Punishment for Rape in Shelby County, Tennessee 50
10. 5. “The First Time a Charge Like This Has Ever Been Tried in the Courts”: The End of Lynching in Marion County, Florida 70
11. 6. The Mob and the Law: Mock Trials by Mobs and Sham Legal Trials 89
12. 7. “The First Duty of a Government”: Lynching and the Fear of Anarchy 103
13. 8. When the Mob Ruled: The Lynching of Ell Persons 119
14. 9. Prevented Lynchings: White Intervention and Black Resistance 141
15. 10. “No Reason Why We Should Favor Lynching or Hanging”: Efforts to End Legal and Extralegal Executions in Tennessee 156
16. 11. Conclusions 176
17. Appendix A: Sources and Methods 187
18. Appendix B: Inventory of Confirmed Lynchings and Legal Executions 196
19. Notes 203
20. Bibliography 261
21. Index 275
22. About the Author 285