Lynching in the United States: 1883-1941

Lynching in the United States: 1883-1941 is a website developed by Charles Seguin displaying a map of United States lynching's. The content of the website is brief, and features an interactive choropleth map of US lynching's by county created by David Rigby & Charles Seguin. When a county is clicked on, text appears detailing, if known, the name, date, and race of the individuals that were lynched in that county.

Something that stands out about this map is that it includes the entire US, rather than focusing on lynching's that occurred in the South. Because lynching's were so often racial in their purpose and the type of violence performed, literature tends to focus on the South because of its higher concentration of (formerly) enslaved people, and therefore more overt expressions of racism. By not focusing on the US, this source expands the subject of lynching's to include other minority groups in the US beyond black Americans, as well as white Americans.

This website would serve as an excellent jumping off point for students to learn about the prevalence of lynching's in various locations in the United States, as well as their purpose besides a tool of racial violence. The website itself does not include context for the lynching's that are described (such as how and why they were performed), or documentation that they occurred, but this may be an opportunity for students to utilize research skills and do further research based upon the information that is available on the website. A perfect starting place would be Charles Seguin’s personal website, which includes links to other projects that he’s done discussing lynching's, race, and culture.