Lynching Legislation - 75th Congress (1937-1939) - H.R. 1507 - Draft articles, 1937
Dates
- Creation: 1937
Document Types
Draft article, Printing proof
Legacy Description
Wagner-Van Nuys-Gavagan anti-lynching bill. Anti-Lynching Bill 1937. Senator Robert F. Wagner, Democrat, of New York. From document, "The vote of the Senate on August 11 on the motion of Senator Alben W. Barkley, of Kentucky, the Majority Leader, to adjourn, thus seeking to sidetrack the Wagner-Van Nuys-Gavagan antilynching bill was as follows: Against Adjournment:35 (Democrats: 27, Republicans: 6, Progressive: 1, and Farm Laborite: 1); For Adjournment: 27 (Democrats: 24 and Republicans: 3); Paired (8 senators positions were not announced)."
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 018
Repository Details
Part of the AFRO American Newspapers Archives Repository