Lynching of Jake Brooks
| Part of Jim Crow Era | |
 The body of Jake Brooks | |
| Date | January 14, 1922 |
|---|---|
| Location | Oklahoma City, Oklahoma |
| Participants | A mob hangs Jake Brooks |
| Deaths | 1 |
The lynching of Jake Brooks occurred in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on January 14, 1922.[1]
Background
In 1922, the meatpackers Union in Oklahoma City was on strike. Militant strikers were angered by scab workers taking their jobs and plotted to make an example.
Lynching
The militants went to great lengths and even recruited Jake Brooks' own cousin to take part in the lynching. They abducted him from his home on Saturday, January 14, 1922, drove him 5 5 miles (8.0 km) out of Oklahoma City and hanged him from a tree. It took three days for his body to be discovered.[2]
Aftermath
The local police were initially hesitant to investigate the killing but Governor James B.A. Robertson directly intervened and five "ringleaders" were arrested, charged, pleaded guilty and were sentenced.[3] They were Lee Whitley, 29; Charles Polk, 18; Elmert Yearta, 19; (the three white accused) and Robert Allen, 27; Nathan Butler, 40 (the two Black accused). Each of the men later pleaded guilty to murder and were sentenced to life in prison.[3]
Photographs of Jake Brooks's hanged body are sent to Congress, hoping for passage of the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill. [4] The Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill was first introduced in 1918 by Representative Leonidas C. Dyer, a Republican from St. Louis, Missouri, in the United States House of Representatives as H.R. 11279. It was intended to establish lynching as a federal crime. The Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill was re-introduced in subsequent sessions of Congress and passed, 230 to 119, by the U.S. House of Representatives on January 26, 1922, but its passage was halted in the Senate by a filibuster by Southern Democrats, who formed a powerful block. Southern Democrats justified their opposition to the bill by arguing that lynchings were a response to rapes and proclaiming that lynchings were an issue that should be left for states to deal with.
Attempts to pass similar legislation took a halt until the Costigan-Wagner Bill of 1934. It was not until 2018 that the Senate passed the anti-lynching legislation Justice for Victims of Lynching Act, on which the House of Representatives took no action. On February 26, 2020, the House passed a revised version, the Emmett Till Antilynching Act, by a vote of 410–4. A revised version of the bill that includes a serious bodily injury standard was passed by the 117th Congress,[5][6][7][8][9] and was signed into law by President Joe Biden on March 29, 2022.[10]
Bibliography
Notes
- ^ Zangrando 1963, p. 149.
- ^ Durant Weekly News, January 20, 1922, p. 1.
- ^ a b New York Times, January 25, 1922, p. 10.
- ^ The Dallas Express, February 4, 1922, p. 1.
- ^ Flynn, Meagan (February 21, 2020). "A black lawmaker's anti-lynching bill failed 120 years ago. Now, the House may finally act". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on March 20, 2022. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
- ^ Ella Torres (February 26, 2022). "Emmett Till bill making lynching a federal crime passes House". ABC News. Archived from the original on February 26, 2020. Retrieved February 27, 2020.
- ^ Sonmez, Felicia (March 8, 2022). "Senate unanimously passes anti-lynching bill after century of failure". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on March 8, 2022. Retrieved March 8, 2022.
- ^ Peter Granitz (2022-03-08). "Senate passes anti-lynching bill". NPR. Archived from the original on 2022-03-18. Retrieved 2022-03-14.
- ^ Jeffery A. Jenkins and Justin Peck (March 9, 2022). "Congress finally passed a federal anti-lynching bill — after 120 years of failure". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on March 9, 2022. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
- ^ McDaniel, Eric; Moore, Elena (2022-03-29). "Lynching is now a federal hate crime after a century of blocked efforts". NPR. Retrieved 2022-03-29.
References
- "Five members of Lynching party - three white and two black, caught tried and sentenced to life imprisonment within 5 days". The Dallas Express. Dallas, Texas: W.E. King. February 4, 1922. pp. 1–8. ISSN 2331-334X. OCLC 9839625. Retrieved January 16, 2022.
- "Martial Law At Oklahoma City". Durant Weekly News. Durant, Bryan, Oklahoma: Lewis Paullin. January 20, 1922. pp. 1–8. ISSN 2163-8012. OCLC 35709904. Retrieved January 16, 2022.
- "Lynchers Jailed For Life.; Five Sentenced in Oklahoma for Slaying Packing House Worker". New York Times. January 25, 1922. ISSN 1553-8095. OCLC 1645522. Retrieved July 5, 2019.
- Zangrando, Robert Lewis (1963). The Efforts of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to Secure Passage of a Federal Anti-lynching Law, 1920-1940. University of Pennsylvania. - Total pages:920
- United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary (1926). "To Prevent and Punish the Crime of Lynching: Hearings Before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on S. 121, Sixty-Ninth Congress, First Session, on Feb. 16, 1926". United States Government Publishing Office. Retrieved January 23, 2022.
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| Number | Name | Date | Place | Method of lynching | Number of victims |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bill McAllister | January 8, 1922 | Williamsburg, S.C. | Shot | 1 |
| 2 | Lincoln Hickson | January 8, 1922 | Williamsburg, S.C. | Shot | 1 |
| 3 | Willie Jenkins | January 10, 1922 | Eufaula, Alabama | Shot | 1 |
| 4 | Jake Brooks | January 14, 1922 | Oklahoma City, Oklahoma | Hanged | 1 |
| 5 | Charles Strong | January 17, 1922 | Mayo, Florida | Hanged | 1 |
| 6 | Will Bell | January 29, 1922 | Pontotoc, Mississippi | Shot | 1 |
| 7 | Unidentified | January 29, 1922 | Pontotoc, Mississippi | Shot | |
| 8 | Drew Conner (White) | January 28, 1922 | Bolinger, Alabama | Burned | 1 |
| 9 | Will Thrasher | February 1, 1922 | Crystal Springs, Mississippi | Hanged | 1 |
| 10 | Harry Harrison | February 2, 1922 | Malvern, Arkansas | Shot | 1 |
| 11 | Manuel Duarte | February 2, 1922 | Cameron County, Texas | Shot | 1 |
| 12 | P. Norman | February 11, 1922 | Texarkana, Arkansas | Shot | 1 |
| 13 | Will Jones | February 13, 1922 | Ellaville, Georgia | Shot | 1 |
| 14 | William Baker | March 8, 1922 | Aberdeen, Mississippi | Hanged | 1 |
| 15 | Alfred Williams | March 12, 1922 | Harlem, Georgia | Hanged | 1 |
| 16 | Brown Culpepper (White) | March 13, 1922 | Holly Grove, Louisiana | Shot | 1 |
| 17 | Jerry Ingram | March 17, 1922 | Crawford, Mississippi | Shot | 1 |
| 18 | Unidentified (white) | March 19, 1922 | Okay, Oklahoma | Drowned | 1 |
| 19 | Alexander Smith | March 22, 1922 | Gulfport, Mississippi | Hanged | 1 |
| 20 | Snap Curry | May 6, 1922 | Kirvin, Texas | Burned | 1 |
| 21 | H. Varney (or Johnnie Cornish) | May 6, 1922 | Kirvin, Texas | Burned | 1 |
| 22 | Mose Jones | May 6, 1922 | Kirvin, Texas | Burned | 1 |
| 23 | Tom Cornish | May 8, 1922 | Kirvin, Texas | Hanged | 1 |
| 24 | Thomas Early | May 17, 1922 | Conroe, Texas | Burned | 1 |
| 25 | Charles Atkins | May 18, 1922 | Davisboro, Georgia | Burned | 1 |
| 26 | Hullen Owens | May 19, 1922 | Texarkana, Texas | Hanged (body burned) | 1 |
| 27 | Joe Winters | May 20, 1922 | Conroe, Texas | Burned | 1 |
| 28 | Mose Bozier | May 20, 1922 | Alleyton, Texas | Hanged | 1 |
| 29 | Gilbert Wilson | May 23, 1922 | Bryan, Texas | Beaten to death | 1 |
| 30 | Jesse Thomas | May 26, 1922 | Waco, Texas | Shot (body burned) | 1 |
| 31 | William Byrd | May 28, 1922 | Brentwood, Georgia | Shot (body burned) | 1 |
| 32 | Robert Collins | June 20, 1922 | Summit, Mississippi | Hanged | 1 |
| 33 | Warren Lewis | June 23, 1922 | New Dacus, Texas | Hanged | 1 |
| 34 | James Harvey | July 1, 1922 | Lanes Bridge, Georgia | Hanged | 1 |
| 35 | Joe Jordan | July 1, 1922 | Lanes Bridge, Georgia | Hanged | 1 |
| 36 | Philip Tankard | July 5, 1922 | Belhaven, North Carolina | Shot | 1 |
| 37 | Joe Pemberton | July 7, 1922 | Benton, Louisiana | Hanged | 1 |
| 38 | Jake "Shake" Davis | July 14, 1922 | Miller County, Georgia | Hanged | 1 |
| 39 | Oscar Mack | July 18, 1922 | Orange County, Florida | Hanged (False report, Oscar Mack survived) | 1 |
| 40 | Will Anderson | July 24, 1922 | Allentown, Georgia | Shot | 1 |
| 41 | John West | July 28, 1922 | Guernsey, Arkansas | Shot | 1 |
| 42 | Gilbert Harris | August 1, 1922 | Hot Springs, Arkansas | Hanged | 1 |
| 43 | John Glover | August 1, 1922 | Holton, | Shot | 1 |
| 44 | Bayner Blackwell | August 6, 1922 | Swansboro, North Carolina | Shot | 1 |
| 45 | John Steelman | August 23, 1922 | Lambert, Mississippi | Burned | 1 |
| 46 | Thomas Rivers | August 30, 1922 | Bossier Parish, Louisiana | Hanged | 1 |
| 47 | F. Watt Daniels (White) | August 1922 | Mer Rouge, Louisiana | Ku-Klux Klan | 1 |
| 48 | Thomas F. Richards (White) | August 1922 | Mer Rouge, Louisiana | Ku-Klux Klan | 1 |
| 49 | Jim Reed Long | September 2, 1922 | Winder, Georgia | Ku-Klux Klan | 1 |
| 50 | O.J. Johnson | September 7, 1922 | Newton, Texas | Hanged | 1 |
| 51 | Jim Johnston | September 28, 1922 | Sandersville, Georgia | Hanged | 1 |
| 52 | Grover C. Everett | September 28, 1922 | Abilene, Texas | Shot | 1 |
| 53 | John Brown | October 3, 1922 | Montgomery, Alabama | Shot | 1 |
| 54 | Ed Hartley (white) | October 20, 1922 | Camden, Tennessee | Shot | 1 |
| 55 | George Hartley (white) | October 20, 1922 | Camden, Tennessee | Shot | 1 |
| 56 | Elias V. Zarate | November 11, 1922 | Weslaco, Texas | Shot | 1 |
| 57 | Cupid Dickson / Cubrit Dixon | December 5, 1922 | Madison, Florida | Shot | 1 |
| 58 | Charles Wright | December 8 ,1922 | Perry, Florida | Burned | 1 |
| 59 | Less Smith | December 9, 1922 | Morrilton, Arkansas | Burned | 1 |
| 60 | George Gay | December 11, 1922 | Streetman, Texas | Hanged | 1 |
| 61 | Arthur Young | December 11, 1922 | Perry, Florida | Hanged | 1 |
