We are actively researching lynching sites* and will be updating this map as we go forward with locations and material related to each confirmed lynching event. Most lynching site locations are only approximately known so the markers on the map are not exact and are meant for a general sense only. The exceptions are the People's Grocery Lynchings and the Ell Persons lynching.
*While not a perfect definition, the 1940 NAACP definition of lynching is the one that most activists used after 1940 and that most modern researchers use: “There must be legal evidence that a person has been killed, and that he met his death illegally at the hands of a group acting under the pretext of service to justice, race, or tradition.” (Group is generally taken to mean 3 or more people.) More about the definition of lynching.
| Name |
Date |
Research status |
|---|---|---|
Name Unknown, Downtown Memphis, 1851Downtown Memphis near Market and 2nd. Within about a block of 35.152427, -90.048603. |
Jan 1 1851 (all day) | Confirmed |
Names Unknown (2), Nonconnah Bottoms, 3/21/1862(location approximate) |
Mar 21 1862 (all day) | Need more documentation |
Jeremiah Hale(location approximate: Raleigh) |
Jun 25 1867 (all day) | Lightly documented |
Frank JonesLocation approximate: Hickory Wythe. |
Nov 18 1867 (all day) | Confirmed |
Names Unknown (4), Nonconnah Bottoms, 1/1868(location approximate: Nonconnah Bottoms) |
Jan 1 1868 (all day) | Need more documentation |
Christopher Bender and Bud WhitfieldLocation approximate: South of Raleigh. |
Jul 30 1868 (all day) | Confirmed |
Wash HenleyFletcher's Creek near Bartlett off of Raleigh LaGrange. Within about a mile of 35.177386, - 89.846090. |
Jan 18 1869 (all day) | Confirmed |
John W. Schofield(location approximate: Cuba) |
Jul 15 1870 (all day) | Confirmed |
John Brown(location approximate: Woods near Collierville) |
Aug 18 1872 (all day) | Need more documentation |
John West [White?]Location approximate: Road between Raleigh and Bartlett. |
Apr 27 1875 (all day) | Need more documentation |
Jesse Jones [James?]Near Collierville. |
Jan 22 1885 (all day) | Need more documentation |
Jim Eastman(location approximate: "Hatchie River near Brunswick") |
Aug 31 1887 (all day) | Confirmed |
The People's Grocery Lynchings (Thomas Moss, Will Stewart, Calvin McDowell)In March of 1892, in a mixed race neighborhood called the Curve, near Mississippi Blvd and Walker Avenue a white grocer named William Barrett found his business shrinking because of the success... |
Mar 9 1892 (all day) | Confirmed |
Richard NealRural area near Collierville (location approximate) |
Feb 1 1893 (all day) | Confirmed |
Lee WalkerOn July 23, 1893, Lee Walker, a black laborer from Memphis, was lynched for allegedly attempting to sexually assault two white women on the their way to town. He was hunted down and... |
Jul 23 1893 (all day) | Confirmed |
Kerrville / Big Creek Bottoms lynchings (6)Also known as the Millington Six. Their names were Warner Williams, Daniel Hawkins, Robert Haynes, Edward Hall, John Hayes, Graham White. (6 men, location approximate; "South of Kerrville")... |
Aug 31 1894 (all day) | Confirmed |
Luther Billings(location approximate, "Rural area near Brunswick") |
Oct 10 1905 (all day) | Confirmed |
Patrick Crump(location approximate, "outskirts of Memphis") |
Jun 2 1911 (all day) | Confirmed |
Ell PersonsA Brief Version of the Lynching of Ell Persons on May 22, 1917 In May, 1917 the decapitated body of a 16 year old white girl, named Antoinette Rappel, a student at... |
May 22 1917 (all day) | Confirmed |
Lawrence Sheppard(location approximate: "Intersection of Lyon and Life Streets") |
Sep 24 1917 (all day) | Need more documentation |
Tommie Williams(location approximate: "rural area near Barretville") |
Sep 28 1927 (all day) | Confirmed |
Harry RossRosemark (location approximate) |
Jan 2 1933 (all day) | Confirmed |
Jesse Lee BondJesse Lee Bond was lynched in Arlington,Tennessee on April 28, 1939 – in broad daylight, on the town square. The authorities lied about it, and the newspapers remained silent. It took more than... |
Apr 28 1939 (all day) | Confirmed |