Cassociation^ of Southern Women for the "Prevention of Cynching ******
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cAssociation^ of Southern Women for the "Prevention of Cynching JESSIE DANIEL AMES, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR MRS. ATTWOOD MARTIN MRS. W. A. NEWELL CHAIRMAN 703 STANDARD BUILDING SECRETARY-TREASURER Louisville, Ky. Greensboro, n. c. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE cAtlanta, Qa MRS. J. R. CAIN, COLUMBIA, S. C. MRS. GEORGE DAVIS, ORANGEBURG, S. C. MRS. M. E. TILLY, ATLANTA, GA. MRS. W. A. TURNER, ATLANTA, GA. MRS. E. MARVIN UNDERWOOD, ATLANTA, GA. January 7, 1932 Composite Picture of Lynching and Lynchers "Vuithout exception, every lynching is an exhibition of cowardice and cruelty. 11 Atlanta Constitution, January 16, 1931. "The falsity of the lynchers' pretense that he is the guardian of chastity." Macon News, November 14, 1930. "The lyncher is in very truth the most vicious debaucher of spirit ual values." Birmingham Age Herald, November 14, 1930. "Certainly th: atrocious barbarities of the mob do not enhance the security of women." Charleston, S. C. Evening lost. "Hunt down a member of a lynching mob and he will usually be found hiding behind a woman's skirt." Christian Century, January 8, 1931. ****** In the year 1930, Texas and Georgia, were black spots on the map. This year, 1931, those two states cleaned up and came thro with "no lynchings." But honors arc even. Two states, Louisiana and Tennessee, with "no lynchings" in 1930, add one each in 1931. Florida and Mississippi were the only two states having lynchings in both years. Five of the eight in the South were in these two States alone. Jessie Daniel limes Executive Director Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching CENTRAL COUNCIL Representatives at Large Mrs. Jessie Daniel Ames, Atlanta, Ga. Mrs. Attwood Martin, Louisville, Ky. Mrs. J. R. Cain, Columbia, S. C. Mrs. J. W. Mills, Beaumont, Texas. Mrs. Harry Gershon, Atlanta, Ga. Miss Janie McGaughey, St. Louis, Mo. Mrs. John Hanna, Dallas, Texas. Mrs. W. A. Newell, Greensboro, N. C. Mrs. Una Roberts Lawrence, Kansas City, Mo. Mrs. J. W. Perry, Nashville, Tenn. Miss Nannie Hite Winston, Louisville, Ky. ALABAMA MISSISSIPPI Mrs. W. J. Adams, Birmingham. Mrs. L. W. Alford, McComb. Mrs. E. W. Berry, Camden. Mrs. A. J. Aven, Clinton. Mrs. Peyton A. Eubank, Ensley. Mrs. T. D. Bratton, Jackson. Mrs. J. H. McCoy, Montevallo. Mrs. W. W. Epperson, Jackson. Mrs. W. F. Moore, Vredenberg. Mrs. J. Morgan Stevens, Jackson. Mrs. Hunter Vaughan, Montgomery. Mrs. Ernest Moore, Clarksdale. ARKANSAS NORTH CAROLINA Miss Erie Chambers, Little Rock. Mrs. T. W. Bickett, Raleigh. Mrs. J. M. Flenniken, Little Rock. Miss Clara I. Cox, High Point. Mrs. Lillian McDermott, Little Rock. Mrs. Charles E. Maddry, Raleigh. Mrs. John P. Streepey, Little Rock. Mrs. Hattie Weinberg, Greensboro. Mrs. Dave Terry, Little Rock. OKLAHOMA FLORIDA Mrs. Walter Ferguson, Tulsa. Mrs. Ruth Atkinson, Tallahassee. Mrs. L. A. Sanders, Chickasha. Mrs. Edna Giles Fuller, Orlando. Mrs. Margaret Yost, Norman. Mrs. Henry W. Peabody, Orlando. Mrs. G. J. Rousseau, Ocala. SOUTH CAROLINA Mrs. I. 0. Woodley, Clermont. Mrs. Otis Arrowsmith, Kingstree. Mrs. Parker E. Connor, Edisto Island. Mrs. George Davis, Orangeburg. GEORGIA Mrs. C. P. McGowan, Charleston. Mrs. Willie Snow Etheridge, Macon. Mrs. M. E. Tilly, Atlanta. TENNESSEE Mrs. W. A. Turner, Newnan. Mrs. R. L. Harris, Knoxville. Mrs. E. Marvin Underwood, Atlanta. Mrs. F. C. Paschal, Nashville. Mrs. Taul White, Rome. Mrs. Carlisle Smith, Memphis. Mrs. Neal Spahr, Knoxville. KENTUCKY Miss Louise Young, Nashville. Mrs. R. M. Pegram, Louisville. Mrs. W. J. Piggott, Irvington. TEXAS Miss Alma Schmitt, Louisville. Mrs. J. L. Brock, Bryan. Mrs. Olivia Bridges Davis, Dallas. Mrs. George Sprague, Dallas. LOUISIANA Mrs. J. H. Stewart, Arlington. Mrs. A. H. Becker, New Orleans. Mrs. Clinton S. Quin, Houston. Mrs. R. S. Crichlow, New Orleans. Mrs. Joseph Friend, New Orleans. VIRGINIA Mrs. W. E. Hinds, Baton Rouge. Miss Carrie Lee Campbell, Richmond. Mrs. Robert W. Irvine, New Orleans. Mrs. Henry S. Eley, Suffolk. Miss Hannah E. Reynolds, New Orleans. Miss Lucy Mason, Richmond. Mrs. W. C. Winsborough, Shreveport. Miss Margaret Prescott Montague, Richmond. ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHERN V.OHEIJ for the PREVENTION OF LYNCHING January, 1932 State Meetings The Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching will hold. State Council meetings in January and February to plan the extension of the educational program for the year 1932. Dates for state meetings are: Jackson, Mississippi, January 5; Dallas, Texas, January 7; Tulsa, Oklahoma, January 8; Little Rock, Arkansas, January 11; Nashville, Tennessee, January 13; Atlanta, Georgia, January 16; Richmond, Virginia, January 25; Greensboro, North Carolina, January 27; Columbia, South Carolina, January 29; Montgomery, Alabama, February 5; New Orleans, Louisiana., February 10; Tallahassee, Florida, February 12; Louisville, Kentucky, February 16. All States plan to follow the plan so successfully inaugurated by Mississippi. Mississippi Association of Women for the Prevention of Lynching a. A Central Council of Ten Women b. An Executive Committee of five c. A State membership of 600 women d. Associate membership of 19 men e. Total number counties ....... .82 Number counties with state members . 45 f. Presentations of program to Methodist, Baptist, Episcopal, and. Presbyterian meetings, and the W.C.T.U., made by five women of the Central Council. g. Statements to press upon occasions of lynchings h. Letters to sheriffs who prevented lynchings Record of 1931 (Mississippi) Lynchings . ........................... 3 Lynchings prevented.......................5 Statements against mob action signed by every member of Executive Committee were given to the press on occasions of lynchings. One lynching was prevented by quick action of Mississippi Association. Letters to sheriffs on other occasions brought replies of appreciation from these officers. Notes Lynchings Prevented: Two white women were in danger of their lives thro mob action in 1931. Conflicts Between Men were the chief causes of lynchings during the past ten years. For every one lynching with an alleged cause in any way involving women or children, there have been more than two for causes involving men only. For every one lynching charging rape or alleged rape, there have been over three other alleged causes. HISTORY OF MOVEMENT On November 1, 1930, at the invitation of Mrs. Jessie Daniel Ames, Director of Woman’s Work of the Commission on Interracial Coopera tion there met in Atlanta, Georgia, a number of women from seven of the Southeastern States to discuss the resurgence of the crime of lynching in the South and what, if anything, Southern women could do in stopping lynching. The sense of responsibility of Southern women was greatly increased because of the generally accepted reason that lynchings were neces sary in order to protect Southern white womanhood. If white women of the South could find no protection under the law as all other citizens do, and must look to the fury of a maddened mob for their" protection, then women should recognize their status. Statistics bearing on lynchings for the past eight years had been carefully gathered. Every State in the South had had one or more lynchings, North Carolina with one, the lowest, and Mississippi, the highest,- with forty-six. Of the 211 lynchings throughout the nation, 204 had been committed in the South. Of these 211, sixty- five had charged rape or attempted rape. Twenty were lynched without any given cause and seventy-two for murder. The rest were for alleged causes ranging from "not knowing his place” to "im proper conduct and insulting language." Convinced by the consideration of facts that lynching was not ac tually committed in protection of white women, but that this excuse was used to condone a crime against law, order, and government, and a menace to the Southern home and to childhood, the women so gathered expressed themselves in words and in resolution no longer to remain silent in the face of this crime done in their nam^; to repudiate lynchings for any reason whatsoever and to continue to agitate against lynchings until they should cease. The . women gathered in Atlanta were deeply concerned that many of their sex were present at lynchings and sometimes actively partici pated in the brutal orgies, and that young boys and girls and not infrequently young children, were interested observers. The shock and.permanent damage to the sensitive minds of youth, the under mining of all respect for lew and the courts in the lives of those who later, on would constitute voting citizens, impressed upon the women their double responsibility since in the hands of women as mothers and teachers, these young people passed their character forming years. ffith positive convictions of their responsibility as citizens who help create government, Southern white women, in whose name their men were committing crimes, and as mothers and teachers of the cnildren by whom this government must be carried on to higher things, these women departed for their home states committed to work unceasingly against lynchings. o?i^Vember another group of women from Louisiana, Arkansas, aJd,?eXis’ met’ conferred, and decided to join hands with the women of the Southeastern States in setting up a South-wide movement thru a Council of Women for the Prevention of Lynching. LYNCHING STATISTICS Lynching by States, 1982-1931 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 Total Alabama 2 1 1 1 1 6 Arkansas 5 2 1 2 3 13 Florida 5 9 5 2 9 4 1 2 37 Georgia 11 4 2 2 1 6 26 Kentucky 1 1 1 1 4 Louisiana 3 1 1 1 1 2 1 10 Miss issippi 9 8 2 6 4 7 5 1 4 3 49 Oklahoma 1 1 1 3 N. Carolina 1 1 S. Carolina 1 1 3 2 7 Tennessee 2 1 1 2 1 1 8 Texas 18 5 1 7 1 2 3 3 40 Virginia 1 1 1 j 4 Total Southern 57 32 14 14 29 16 9 10 19 8 2CS Illinois 1 1 Missouri 1 1 1 1 1 1 6 Maryland 1 1 W.