Lynching in the United States is estimated to have claimed over 4.7 thousand lives between 1882 and 1968, and just under 3.5 thousand of these victims were black. Today, lynching is more commonly associated with racial oppression, particularly in the south, however, in early years, victims were more commonly white (specifically Mexican), and lynchings were more frequent in western territories and along the southern border. It was only after Reconstruction's end where the lynching of black people became more prevalent, and was arguably the most violent tool of oppression used by white supremacists. Nationwide, the share of the population who was black fluctuated between 10 and 13 percent in the years shown here, however the share of lynching victims who were black was almost 73 percent.
North-south divide
Of the 4.7 thousand victims of lynching between 1882 and 1968, over 3.5 thousand of these were killed in former-Confederate states. Of the fourteen states where the highest number of lynching victims were killed, eleven were former-Confederate states, and all saw the deaths of at least one hundred people due to lynching. Mississippi was the state where most people were lynched in these years, with an estimated 581 victims, 93 percent of whom were black. Georgia saw the second most lynchings, with 531 in total, and the share of black victims was also 93 percent. Compared to the nationwide average of 73 percent, the share of black victims in former-Confederate states was 86 percent. Texas was the only former-Confederate state where this share (71 percent) was below the national average, due to the large number of Mexicans who were lynched there.
Outside of the south
Of the non-Confederate state with the highest number of lynching victims, most either bordered the former-Confederate states, or were to the west. Generally speaking, the share of white victims in these states was often higher than in the south, meaning that the majority took place in the earlier years represented here; something often attributed to the lack of an established judiciary system in rural regions, and the demand for a speedy resolution. However, there are many reports of black people being lynched in the former border states in the early-20th century, as they made their way northward during the Great Migration. Between 1882 and 1968, lynchings were rare in the Northeast, although Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island were the only states** without any recorded lynchings in these years.
Number of executions by lynching in the United States by state and race between 1882 and 1968
*The total number of black victims in Arkansas was originally written as 266, however it has been corrected to 226 based on the corresponding totals and cross-referencing with other sources.
**Not including Alaska or Hawaii.
The numbers shown here are from Tuskegee University, and are the most frequently cited figures relating to this topic. However, these numbers have been called into question by some historians, who have cited errors in the original methodologies (particularly relating to newspaper evidence), and have different attitudes of what should or should not be defined as a lynching. For alternative figures relating to lynchings, we recommend the following sources:
A Festival of Violence, by Tolnay & Beck (1995)
Equal Justice Initiative National Crimes: A New National Data Set of Lynchings in the United States, 1883 to 1941, by Seguin & Rigby (2019)
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Tuskegee University. (September 25, 2020). Number of executions by lynching in the United States by state and race between 1882 and 1968 [Graph]. In Statista. Retrieved September 01, 2024, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/1175147/lynching-by-race-state-and-race/
Tuskegee University. "Number of executions by lynching in the United States by state and race between 1882 and 1968." Chart. September 25, 2020. Statista. Accessed September 01, 2024. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1175147/lynching-by-race-state-and-race/
Tuskegee University. (2020). Number of executions by lynching in the United States by state and race between 1882 and 1968. Statista. Statista Inc.. Accessed: September 01, 2024. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1175147/lynching-by-race-state-and-race/
Tuskegee University. "Number of Executions by Lynching in The United States by State and Race between 1882 and 1968." Statista, Statista Inc., 25 Sep 2020, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1175147/lynching-by-race-state-and-race/
Tuskegee University, Number of executions by lynching in the United States by state and race between 1882 and 1968 Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1175147/lynching-by-race-state-and-race/ (last visited September 01, 2024)
Number of executions by lynching in the United States by state and race between 1882 and 1968 [Graph], Tuskegee University, September 25, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1175147/lynching-by-race-state-and-race/