Racial Violence in Kentucky, 1865--1940: Lynchings, Mob Rule, and "Legal Lynchings"

"Wright vividly portrays the clash between racist militants and blacks who would not submit to terror. The book makes clear the brutality concealed beneath the surface veneer of moderation." -- Journal of Southern History In this investigative look into Kentucky's race relations from the end of the Civil War to 1940, George C. Wright brings to light a consistent pattern of legally sanctioned and extralegal violence employed to ensure that blacks knew their "place" after the war. In the first study of its kind to target the racial patterns of a specific state, Wright demonstrates that despite Kentucky's proximity to the North, its black population was subjected to racial oppression every bit as severe and prolonged as that found farther south. His examination of the causes and extent of racial violence, and of the steps taken by blacks and concerned whites to end the brutality, has implications for race relations throughout the United States.

"Wright vividly portrays the clash between racist militants and blacks who would not submit to terror. The book makes clear the brutality concealed beneath the surface veneer of moderation." -- Journal of Southern History
In this investigative look into Kentucky's race relations from the end of the Civil War to 1940, George C. Wright brings to light a consistent pattern of legally sanctioned and extralegal violence employed to ensure that blacks knew their "place" after the war.
In the first study of its kind to target the racial patterns of a specific state, Wright demonstrates that despite Kentucky's proximity to the North, its black population was subjected to racial oppression every bit as severe and prolonged as that found farther south. His examination of the causes and extent of racial violence, and of the steps taken by blacks and concerned whites to end the brutality, has implications for race relations throughout the United States.

Frontmatter Acknowledgments (page xiii) Introduction: Kentucky Violence, Severe and Long Lasting (page 1) ONE Reconstruction: Using Violence to Preserve the Status Quo, 1865-1874 (page 19) TWO "Lynchings Are Necessary," 1875-1899 (page 61) THREE "To Hang in an Orderly Fashion," 1900-1940 (page 105) FOUR Ousting "Troublemakers" (page 127) FIVE Holding Back a Rising Tide, 1875-1899 (page 155) SIX Meeting Mob Violence with Renewed Determination, 1900-1940 (page 185) SEVEN "A Sacrifice Upon the Altar of the Law," 1875-1899 (page 215) EIGHT Color-Coded Justice: Racial Violence Under the Law, 1900-1940 (page 251) APPENDIX A Victims of Lynchings (page 307) APPENDIX B Names of People Legally Executed (page 325) Selected Bibliography (page 333) Index (page 343)