Exemplification Essay: The Lynching Age
Imagine, if you will, a gathering of one thousand people, or more, in Mississippi in the year 1904. An event that would look much like a 4th of July picnic in Any Small Town U.S.A. Men, women, and children all gathered together, snacking on deviled eggs drinking lemonade or whiskey. This was the scene in Doddsville Mississippi on February 7th, 1904. A passerby could have easily mistaken the unusually large group gathered around the tree on that day for a happy celebration. And while there were smiles on faces and laughter there was nothing joyous about the occasion, at least not for Luther Holbert or his wife. Although they were the stars of the gathering and the main attraction they were in no way the guests of honor, because on February 7th, 1904 they were lynched. Lynching were most common in America between 1890’s and the 1920’s. So what makes the curious case of Luther Holbert and his wife stand out in the estimated 4,743 lynchings (72.7% were Negroes) that took place? Most lynchings were brutal and public events. The death of Luther Holbert and his wife were that and more. But what is more noteworthy is that while they were attached to a tree that was not the cause of death. No, they were murdered in a much slower infinitely more painful and inhumane fashion than a simple
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The killing of Luther Holbert and his wife, who strangely enough was never suspected of any wrong doing beyond staying on side of her husband while they fled for over one hundred miles on foot, was so disturbing that on March 6th , a day shy of a month after it happened, it was still being reported on as far away as Springfield,
The killing of Luther Holbert and his wife, who strangely enough was never suspected of any wrong doing beyond staying on side of her husband while they fled for over one hundred miles on foot, was so disturbing that on March 6th , a day shy of a month after it happened, it was still being reported on as far away as Springfield,