There are several sources easily available on the web from PBS and  
other sources.

There is a good teaching document done by the Yale New Haven Teachers  
Institute which I quote below..

The complete article includes figures compiled by the Chicago Tribune  
and is available at:

http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1979/2/79.02.04.x.html



"There are three major sources of lynching statistics. None cover the  
complete history of lynching in America. Prior to 1882, no reliable  
statistics of lynchings were recorded. In that year, the Chicago  
Tribune first began to take systematic account of lynchings. Shortly  
thereafter, in 1892, Tuskegee Institute began to make a systematic  
collection and tabulation of lynching statistics. Beginning in 1912,  
the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People kept  
an independent record of lynchings.

These statistics were based primarily on newspaper reports. Because  
the South is so large and the rural districts had not always been in  
close contact with the city newspapers, it is certain that many  
lynchings escaped publicity in the press. Undoubtedly, therefore,  
there are errors and inaccuracies in the available lynching statistics.

The numbers of lynchings listed in each source varies slightly. The  
NAACP lynching statistics tend to be slightly higher than the  
Tuskegee Institute figures, which some historians consider  
“conservative.” For example, in 1914, Tuskegee Institute reported  
fifty-two lynchings for the year, the “Chicago Tribune” reported  
fifty-four, and The Crisis, the official organ of the NAACP,gave the  
number as seventy-four.2 The reason for the discrepancies in these  
figures is due in part to different conceptions of what actually  
constituted a lynching, and errors in the figures. According to the  
Tuskegee Institute figures, between the years 1882 and 1951, 4,730  
people were lynched in the United States: 3,437 Negro and 1,293 white. 
3 The largest number of lynchings occurred in 1892. Of the 230  
persons lynched that year, 161 were Negroes and sixty-nine whites."


Mary Moyars-Johnson  (MMJ)




On Jun 26, 2007, at 6:57 AM, [log in to unmask] wrote:

> So, are there no studies or stats on Black lynchings post Civil War?
>
> In other words, is this "thousands" hung number another of those  
> things  that
> "everyone knows", but no one has documented or can prove?
>
> At this point, I am not interested in knowing why there might not be a
> definitive number that is documented (rationales for a lack of  
> documentation), I
> just want to know if anyone is aware of any such a finding by a  
> credible
> historian or researcher.
>
> I know that the NAACP asserts that "From 1882 to 1968, there were  
> 4,742
> lynchings nationally", but I have been unable to ascertain where  
> that number  came
> from as well.
>
> J South
>
>
>
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