More than 4,700 lynchings took place between 1882 and 1968. A majority of the victims were young black men.
Most of the lynchings — 581 — took place in Mississippi, followed by 531 in Georgia, 391 in Texas, 391 in Louisiana and 347 in Alabama, according to the Tuskegee Institute archives.
[Sen. Thad] Cochran and fellow Mississippi Sen. Trent Lott, also a Republican, were among 15 senators who did not co-sponsor the apology resolution that passed the Senate by voice vote Monday night. Eighty-five senators did co-sponsor the measure.
Remember, too, that these numbers are probably very low estimates.
Too many old black people keep their own lists of all of the other thousands of people who were lynched or who "disappeared" in Mississippi over the years. (Klopfer)
In anticipation of Killen's "Trial of the Century" James Prince III, of the Neshoba Democrat and the Philadelphia Coalition wrote:
For 40 years Philadelphia and Neshoba County have been synonymous with redneck vigilante justice, and we’ve been saddled with the “Mississippi Burning” stereotypes. The role of law enforcement in the murder conspiracy seems to amplify the disdain outside observers feel, a certain breakdown in civility and law and order.
Most decent people here have felt the shame of a crime unpunished and applaud justice.
Before us is an historic opportunity to once and for all set the record straight . . .
Which record? How? With the conviction of one unrepentant 80 year old man?
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