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The Gallows, the Mob, and The Vote: Lethal Sanctioning of Blacks in North Carolina and Georgia, 1882 to 1930

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2024

E. M. Beck ,
James L. Massey  and
Stewart E. Tolnay
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Abstract

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This paper examines the relationship between lynchings and executions of blacks in North Carolina and Georgia between 1882 and 1930 as well as before and after the political disenfranchisement of blacks in both states. The findings are used to assess two competing models of the relationship between these different types of lethal sanctioning. No supporting evidence is found for a “substitution model,” which predicts a negative relationship between lynchings and executions. The evidence for Georgia, especially for the pre-disenfranchisement period, does offer moderate support for the “conflict model,” which hypothesizes a positive association between lynchings and executions. Although the direction of the relationship between lynchings and executions was insensitive to disenfranchisement in both states, our analysis reveals that total lethal sanctioning (lynchings plus executions) did decline in Georgia after several restrictive voting statutes were implemented. No similar effect is observed for North Carolina.

Type
Research Article
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 23 , Issue 2 , 1989 , pp. 317 - 331
Copyright
Copyright © 1989 The Law and Society Association.

Footnotes

This research was partially funded by grants from the National Science Foundation (Grant No. SES-8618123) and the University of Georgia Research Foundation. We thank Cynthia Holiny, Linda Kelley, and Joseph Park for their assistance in preparing the data. Martha Myers, Charles Phillips, Shari Seidman Diamond, and two anonymous referees provided valuable comments on earlier drafts of this paper.

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