Senate to Atone for Lynching Ban Delays

Senate to Atone for Lynching Ban Delays
Senate to Apologize for Never Passing Nearly 200 Anti-Lynching Bills Introduced in 20th Century

By JIM ABRAMS Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON Jun 13, 2005 ?- The Senate on Monday is making amends for failing to stand against the lynching of thousands of black people, a practice that continued well into the 20th century.

Nearly 200 descendants of lynching victims, and a 91-year-old man thought to be the only living survivor of a lynching attempt, were on hand for the Senate apology for blocking anti-lynching legislation at a time when mob violence against blacks was commonplace.

"I came here to bear witness on behalf of my cousin Jimmy," said Janet Langhart Cohen, wife of former Defense Secretary William Cohen and a member of the group that has pushed for the apology.

Her third cousin, 17-year-old Jimmy Gillenwaters, was killed by a lynch mob near Bowling Green, Ky., in 1912.

He was one of 4,743 people killed by mob violence between 1882 and 1968, according to Tuskegee University records. Of those, nearly three-fourths, 3,446, were blacks. Lynchings reached a peak of 230 in 1892, but they were prevalent well into the 1930s. Twenty lynchings were reported in 1935.

During that time, nearly 200 anti-lynching bills were introduced in Congress, and three passed the House. Seven presidents between 1890 and 1952 petitioned Congress to pass a federal law.

But the Senate, with Southern conservatives wielding their filibuster powers, refused to act. With the enactment of civil rights laws in the 1960s and changes in national attitudes, the issue faded away.

Lynching is variously defined as a violent act, usually racial in nature, that denies a person due process of law and is carried out with the complicity of the local society.

The sponsors of the resolution, Sens. Mary Landrieu, D-La., and George Allen, R-Va., said they were motivated in part by a recent book, "Without Sanctuary, Lynching Photography in America," in which author James Allen collected lynch pictures, mostly taken by those participating in the killings.

"More than a half-century ago, mere feet from where we sit … the Senate failed you and your ancestors and our nation," Landrieu told descendants at a lunch in the Capitol.