A quick comment on this @HistoryLink piece. It's generally good but way too credulous in repeating the post-lynching story that the lynchers were from out of town, unidentifiable, and that they overwhelmed local law enforcement, which tried to prevent the lynching. 1/ https://twitter.com/HistoryLink/status/1291053862581870593

2/ Every town told that story after a lynching. "It wasn't us, it was a mob from the next town over, what could we do?" The story is rarely if ever true.

3/ Many "respectable" white middle-class 19th-century Americans had conflicted feelings about lynching. Officially, they were against "mob rule." Lynching reflected badly on a town, made it seen rowdy, and perhaps discouraged investment.

4/ On the other hand, extralegal violence was, to elites, a useful means of social and racial control. 19th-century white Americans were against lynching until they weren't. When lines were crossed, or thought to have been crossed, the violence could be swift and indiscriminate.

5/ When their fires were up, white Americans lynched with public enthusiasm. My God, they made postcards of lynchings. As is often noted, the white faces in these photographs often face the camera squarely, unashamed of what they had done.

6/ I am not going to post such images, but this website, made to accompany James Allen's brutal and necessary book Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America, has a short film of the photographs. https://withoutsanctuary.org/ 

7/ (I was just reminded that John Lewis wrote an essay in the book. RIP, Mr. Lewis.)

8/ Once the lynching was complete, however, communities usually wanted to disassociate from the event. There were two lies they told, morning after lies, that were almost universal: 1) It wasn't us that did it, and 2) Our law enforcement folks tried to stop it.

9/ A couple of examples. In 1901, three African Americans were lynched in Pierce City, Missouri. The entire black population of town was driven out and their homes burned. Twain wrote his famous "United States of Lyncherdom" in response. http://www.people.virginia.edu/~sfr/TWAIN/lyncherdom.html

10/ In the morning the usual story was told--a mob from out of town, farmers from the countryside, did the deed, which was to be regretted. Especially as they had lynched innocent men, the newspapers concluded. https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SFC19010821.2.3&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------1