A 1998 Lynching in Texas
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June 7, 2012
From the African American Registry
On this date in 1998, a Black man was dragged to his death in Jasper, TX.
Three white men with suspected ties to the Ku Klux Klan chained James Byrd, Jr. (a Black hitchhiker), to the back of a pickup truck and dragged him to his death. His head, neck, and right arm were found about a mile from his mangled torso. A wrench with the name of one of the suspects on it was found near the body. Byrd had been dragged about two miles on a narrow, winding asphalt road.
Byrd’s murderers were convicted and later faced the death penalty.
Most people think of lynching as long in the past, but our lynching memorial shows how recently it has happened.
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