Black leaders around the country called for federal laws to ban lynching. They labeled lynching a tool of repression. Holly Springs native Ida B. Wells published numerous pamphlets documenting the injustice of lynching. In 1917, US Rep. Leonidas C. Dyer introduce a bill to outlaw lynching, but it was killed in the Senate by a filibuster. Similar bills failed to pass through the 1930s.
Pictured: A black and white photograph of Black anti-lynching demonstrators. The top of the image is framed by a brightly lit overhang. Two women facing away from the camera are on the left side of the image. The center of the images focuses on two women and two men. The woman holding a protest sign stands behind a woman in a black dress. To the right of the women are a man in light clothing and one man in a dark suit. The protest signs call for passage of the Anti-Lynching Bill and to stop lynching.
Credit: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ds-07834
