Introduction: - Lynching and Altars

Summary

“Now these are the judgments which you shall set before them: … You shall not circulate a false report. Do not put your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after many to pervert justice.”

Christian Bible, KJV, Exodus 21:1, 23: 1–2

“Pilate … said to them again, ‘What then do you want me to do with Him whom you call the King of the Jews?’ So they cried out again, ‘Crucify Him!’ Then Pilate said to them, ‘Why, what evil has he done?’ But they cried out all the more, ‘Crucify Him!’ So Pilate wanting to gratify the crowd … delivered Jesus, after he had scourged him, to be crucified.”

Christian Bible, KJV, St. Mark, 15:11–15

“And after they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and led him away to crucify him. And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross.”

Christian Bible, KJV, Matthew, 27: 31–32.

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On the third Sunday after Easter in 1899 about forty miles southwest of Atlanta near Newnan, Georgia, a white crowd burned to death a black laborer known as Sam Hose. The atrocity blended anger, contempt, brutality, festivity, and satisfaction into a mood just beyond comprehension. “Glory!” shouted an excited man enraptured by the intensity of the moment, “Glory be to God!!”