Lynching in America / The Lynching of George Bush

Lynching in America, also, The Lynching of George Bush. Community Remembrance Project. , Lynching in America, Between 1865 and 1950, at least 6,500 Black people were victims of mob violence and lynching across the United States. Following the Civil War, many white people remained committed to the ideology of white supremacy and resorted to fatal violence and racial terror to fiercely resist equal rights for Black people. Lynching emerged as the most public and notorious form of racial terrorism, and this violence was largely tolerated by local, state, and federal officials who routinely failed to hold white mobs accountable for their crimes of lynching. Many Black people were lynched for resisting exploitation, violating perceived social customs, engaging in interracial relationships, or being accused of crimes even when there was no evidence tying them to an offense. Denied equal protection under the law, Black lynching victims were regularly pulled from jails, prisons, or courtrooms or delivered over to mobs by law enforcement officers who were responsible for protecting them. The repeated failure of officials and police to intervene and prevent racial terror lynchings sent the clear message that Black people had no reliable protection from the threat of white mob violence. Although the names and stories of many victims many never be known, at least 68 racial terror lynchings have been documented in Missouri, with at least two known to have taken place in Boone County, between 1865 and 1950., The Lynching of George Bush, On September 7, 1889, a white mob abducted a Black teenager named George Bush from the county jail in Columbia and lynched him. He was only 17 or 18 years old when he was killed. On September 5, Mr. Bush was arrested and held in the county jail for having allegedly "mistreated" a white girl. The allegation infuriated the white community and "muttered threats of lynching" began to circulate. Despite their legal duty to protect Mr. Bush, law enforcement officers failed to take precautions. On the evening of September 6, a mob of about 25 armed white men surrounded the jail intent on lynching Mr. Bush. Around 1:30 a.m. on September 7, the mob broke into the jail, kidnapped Mr. Bush, and carried him to the courthouse next door. They tied a noose around his neck, gagged him with a large tick, and hanged him from a second-story window. A deputy sheriff who watched the mob lynch Mr. Bush did not attempt to intervene. The mob pinned a note to Mr. Bush's chest that read, "Don't cut this down till 7 a.m. This is what we intend to do with all who commit this crime" - disregarding the fact that Mr. Bush never had the opportunity to defend himself at trial. The mob further warned that anyone who exposed the mob members' identities would "be dealt with in the same manner." Despite the mob's lawlessness and continuing threats to menace the community with lynching, none of the mob participants were held accountable for lynching George Bush.