A new report by a legal advocacy group has documented the lynchings of more than 2,000 black people in the United States from 1865 to 1877.
The research was compiled by the Equal Justice Initiative and detailed in a Tuesday report by The New York Times.
“EJI’s new report, ‘Reconstruction in America,’ documents nearly 2,000 more confirmed racial terror lynchings of black people by white mobs in America than previously detailed,” the group said.
“The report examines the 12 years following the Civil War when lawlessness and violence perpetrated by white leaders created an American future of racial hierarchy, white supremacy, and Jim Crow laws — an era from which our nation has yet to recover.”
The Times noted that an earlier report by the group had documented more than 4,400 lynchings of black people by whites in the 74 years following Reconstruction.
The study noted: “Our newest report documents nearly 2,000 additional lynchings between 1865 and 1876, raising the total number of documented lynchings to nearly 6,500.
“Thousands more were attacked, sexually assaulted, and terrorized by white mobs and individuals who were shielded from arrest and prosecution.”
Bryan Stevenson, the founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, said: “It’s important that we quantify and document violence. But what’s more important is that we acknowledge that we have not been honest about who we are, and about how we came to this moment.”
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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