From the mid-1800s through the 1930s (and beyond), lynchings were shockingly all-too-normal in many areas of the United States. Lynching is generally understood to be defined as a crime in which someone is killed (most often by hanging), but a group of people  with the assumption they were guilty of a crime due, usually based on ethnic or racial profiling. One study conducted with data between 1883 to 1941 in the U.S.found that there were “4,467 total victims of lynching. Of these victims, 4,027 were men, 99 were women, and 341 were unknown gender (although likely male); 3,265 were Black, 1,082 were White, 71 were Mexican or of Mexican descent, 38 were American Indian, 10 were Chinese, and 1 was Japanese.”^[1]

Most victims of lynching were African-American. Please complete steps 1 & 2 to learn more about lynching in the United States before completing your assignment under step 3.

Step 1: Watch the youtube video below (or this longer, similar version) for a brief overview of lynching. Then, read this article from the NAACP for more information.

Step 2: Read this article on the life and work of Ida B. Wells, pay extra close attention for evidence of how she fought against lynching. Do some additional research to learn more about people affected by lynching from the Equal Justice Initiative project.

Step 3: Finally, after decades of trying, on March 29, 2022, the Emmett Till Antilynching Act was signed by President Joe Biden, which makes lynching a federal hate crime. Though a similar bill had passed in the House of Representatives two years prior, it was not passed in the Senate. It took over 140 years of trying to pass this legislation—nearly 200 anti-lynching bills had been introduced since 1882.

For this assignment, you will write a letter to your member of the United States House of Representatives or Senate. You have two options: you can:

1. Write a letter thanking them for finally passing anti-lynching legislation. In the letter, you should include evidence as to why its so important that this finally passed and demonstrate that you understand the history of lynching. OR
2. Write a letter to your representative persuading them to vote in favor or against a bill or issue that you feel passionate about. You can use the GovTrack website to find current bills, Congress.gov to search for the most-viewed bills, or do an internet search for topics currently under debate in Congress.

Use the guide listed below to help you with your formatting, and use at least 3 references (either summarized or paraphrased sections or quotes) from other resources as evidence for your claim. If you choose to write the letter about the anti-lynching legislation, you may use the resources provided above.

In place of a formal citation, introduce the quote by following this template “In the article/video titled ___________ by _________, the author stated ___________________.”

Here is a guide on how to write a letter to an elected official.

Assignment Grading Rubric