Saturday, June 27, 2020

Black Lives History Timeline: 1891 - The Lynching of Joe Coe

1891: The Lynching of George Smith, aka Joe Coe
George Smith, also known as Joe Coe, was a laborer in Omaha, Nebraska. He had a small family at the time he was accused of assaulting a young girl. While his case was still being heard, rumors began to spread that he would be let off with a minor punishment, and that the girl had died. A mob of up to 1000 white men overwhelmed the police at the courthouse, took Smith to the girl's house for her parents to identify, then once they had, drove him back to the courthouse, where they were confronted by the state's governor and the county sheriff, who tried to get them to disperse. Instead, the mob grew to what some accounts say was as much as 10,000. They beat Smith and dragged him through the city streets. Smith was likely already dead when they hung him from a streetcar. Seven men were arrested for the lynching. After the coroner stated that Smith died of fright, the grand jury decided not to convict those men. Many years later, the girl admitted Smith had never assaulted her.

Sources:
I have nothing much more to say here except that once again, a white child's accusation meant more than anything else, and that the rumors were spread on purpose as an excuse to kill yet another Black man. My next post will be little different than the last few, though as you can see, each of these events, both the ones I've already covered, and the ones I am about to cover, really have their roots in white anger.

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