Lynching of Jim McMillan

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Jim McMillan
1950 District Maps - Alabama - Bibb County Lynching Coverage.jpg
Bibb County, Alabama Lynching Coverage
DiedJune 18, 1919
Body discovered Bibb County, Alabama
Known forLynched during America's Red Summer of 1919

Jim McMillan was lynched in Bibb County, Alabama on June 18, 1919.

Contents

Lynching

Racial tension in the Woodstock and Green Pond communities of Bibb County, Alabama, worsened over the summer of 1919. Individuals terrorized the black community in southern Bibb County, around Woodstock. [1] The events culminated in a white mob seizing Jim McMillan and taking him into the Alabama bush. He was forced onto a stump and the mob shot him to death. [2] [3] [4] [5]

Arrests

Sheriff R. H. Wood arrested four Bibb County farmers in response to the lynching: J. Blankenship, James D. Oglesby, Elisha Green and Tom Russell. They were charged with murder and held in jail in Centreville, Alabama. [2] A special grand jury was summoned by B. F. Miller. [2] on June 23, 1919. [6] [4] [5]

Aftermath

These lynchings were one of several incidents of civil unrest that are now known as the American Red Summer of 1919. Attacks on black communities and white oppression spread to more than three dozen cities and counties. In most cases, white mobs attacked African American neighborhoods. In some cases, black community groups resisted the attacks, especially in Chicago and Washington, D.C. Most deaths occurred in rural areas during events like the Elaine race riot in Arkansas, where an estimated 100 to 240 blacks and 5 whites were killed. Other major events of Red Summer were the Chicago race riot and Washington, D.C. race riot, which caused 38 and 39 deaths, respectively. Both riots had many more non-fatal injuries and extensive property damage reaching up into the millions of dollars. [7]

Lynchings in Alabama during 1919 [3]

DateNameCounty
June 6, 1919James E. LewisMobile
June 18, 1919Jim McMillanBibb
August 2, 1919Archie RobinsonClarke
August 2, 1919Unnamed manClarke
September 29, 1919 Miles Phifer Montgomery
September 29, 1919 Robert Croskey Montgomery
September 30, 1919 John Temple Montgomery

See also

Bibliography

Notes

  1. The Greeneville Daily Sun 1919, p. 1.
  2. 1 2 3 The Chattanooga News 1919, p. 1.
  3. 1 2 The Guardian 2018.
  4. 1 2 The Atlanta Constitution 1919, p. 3.
  5. 1 2 New Orleans Item 1919.
  6. Alexandria Gazette 1919, p. 6.
  7. The New York Times 1919.

References