Lynching Legislation - 74th Congress (1935-1937) - Clippings, 1934-1935
Scope and Contents
Contains mainly documentation of bill number S. 24, also known as the Costigan Wagner bill, and clippings referring to the many bills introduced during the 74th congress.
Extent
2 folders
Dates
- Creation: 1934-1935
Document Types
Clippings
Legacy Description
H.R. 5501 introduced by Mr. Pettengill 7 February 1935; H.R. 5801 introduced by Mr. Fish 15 February 1935; H.R. 5810 introduced by Mr. Granfield 15 February 1935; H.R. 5841 introduced by Mr. Christianson 18 February 1935; H.R. 5848 introduced by Mr. Young 18 February 1935. Headline reads, "4 New Anti-Lynch Bills Bring Total to 15" (clipping from February 23, 1935). From clipping, "The twelfth anti-lynching bill was introduced by Representative Hamilton Fish, Jr., Republican, of New York, and the thirteenth by Representative William J. Granfield, Democrat, of Massachusetts. On Monday, the fourteenth was introduced by Representative Theodore Christianson (Rep., Minn.) and the fifteenth by Representative Stephen M. Young (Dem., Ohio). Both bills were referred to the Judiciary Committee." Headline reads, "10th Anti-Lynching Bill is Introduced" (clipping from February 16, 1935). From clipping, "Washington.--The tenth anti-lynching bill to be offered at this session of Congress was introduced in the House last Friday by Representative Samuel B. Pettengill, Democrat, of Indiana, and referred to the Judiciary Committee." H.R. 6864 introduced by Mr. Hess 20 March 1935, H.R. 6865 introduced by Mr. Lundeen 20 March 1935, H.R. 6866 introduced by Mr. Powers 20 March 1935, H.R. 6867 introduced by Mr. Sweeney 20 March 1935. H.R. 12833 introduced by Mr. Sutphin 22 May 1936, 32nd Anti-Lynching Bill introduced, William H. Sutphin. H.R. 4457 was introduced by Representative Mitchell of Illinois on January 22, 1935. From document, "74th Congress, 1st Session, H.R. 4457, A Bill To assure to persons within the jurisdiction of every State the equal protection of the laws, and to punish the crime of lynching. By Mr. Mitchell of Illinois, January 22, 1935 Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary and ordered to be printed." H.R. 6293 was introduced by Representative Robert L. Bacon on February 28, 1935. Headline reads, "22 Antilynching Bills in Congress." From clipping, "Washington.--Anti-lynching bills pending in this session of Congress reached a total of twenty-two last Thursday when Representative Robert L. Bacon, Republican, of New York, introduced a bill to curb lynching" (clipping from March 9, 1935). S24 introduced by Messrs Costigan and Wagner 4 January 1935. H.R. 6377 introduced by Mr. Maas 4 March 1935, H.R. 6778 introduced by Mr. Kinzer 15 March 1935, H.R. 7051 introduced by Mr. Fenerty 27 March 1935.
Arrangement
Most of the morgue material on lynching is arranged in two main categories, Lynching Cases, and Lynching Legislation. Files documenting Lynching Cases are arranged by state. Specific lynching cases with a large volume of documents are arranged in their own folders. The lynching legislation files for federal legislation are arranged chronologically by congressional term, and state legislation by state, following the original order of the series. Additional material documenting lynchings is found elsewhere in the morgue collection, filed under the names of victims and others involved in incidents, subsequent trials, or political activity.
Processing Information
Lynching files have been processed using detailed processing procedures. All the information in the finding aid has been verified against folder content, dates and document types have been added, and more detailed arrangement and description work has been performed.
In files on lynching cases, names of victims are listed in the scope and content note for that folder, along with the locality and year of the incident. Unnamed victims are listed with location and date, and victims of attempted lynchings are also listed when named. When many documents are found for a specific victim, they are arranged in a separate folder with the victim's name in the folder title. Content warnings have been added to folder records where photographs of lynching victims are filed, or clippings with particularly graphic headlines, and such items are encapsulated within the main folders to allow researchers to choose whether or not to engage with this content.
The lynching legislation files appear to have been originally compiled around 1941, when correspondence is found between an AFRO librarian and a Congressional Research Service librarian. A 1939 report created by the Congressional Research Service is found, which may serve as an index to the content of these files.
Original Location
TN0606, TUB 105; WY0706, GFM 017
Repository Details
Part of the AFRO American Newspapers Archives Repository