Talk:1886 in the United States

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What about the increase in the lynchings of African Americas, starting at about this time?[edit]

"During the five decades between the end of Reconstruction and the New Deal, there were three specific transformations in the character of American lynching: increased numbers over all; increased likelihood that African Americans would fall victim to lynch mobs; and a concentration of lynchings in the South, particularly after 1886."

"Lynching." Dictionary of American History. 2003. Retrieved December 26, 2015 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3401802465.html

"During the antebellum period, lynch mobs across the country preyed upon individuals and groups deemed dangerous because they were political, religious, or racial "others." Abolitionists, Catholics, Mormons, Asian, Mexican, and European immigrants and African Americans all were targets. "

"The Tuskegee Institute started recording statistics on lynchings in 1882 (later, the Chicago Tribune and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People [NAACP] also collected statistics). The first decade of those statistical findings best illustrates the transformation of lynching patterns. In 1882, 113 people were lynched, sixty-four whites and forty-nine African Americans. The year 1885 was the last during which more whites than African Americans were lynched, and 1892 witnessed the largest number of lynchings in U.S. history (230). From 1882 to 1903, there were approximately one to two hundred lynchings annually. Between 1882 and 1968, there were 4,742 recorded lynchings (3,445 of the victims were African American, or approximately seventy-five percent). During World War I

and the postwar red scare, race riots swept the country, wreaking havoc in Chicago, St. Louis, Tulsa, Omaha, Washington, D.C., and other cities. Lynchings decreased dramatically during the New Deal era, and the period between 1952 and 1954 was the longest during which no lynchings were recorded. But lynch mobs did not disappear completely. "

(From the Same source.) Clearly this constitutes an "ongoing" issue and while white Americans may have been experiencing a Gilded Age (was that only true for northerners?), African Americans, particularly in the South were not beneficiaries. Ileanadu (talk) 17:59, 26 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Further support that this was a significant an ongoing problem in 1886:

"The "nadir of American race relations" was the period in the history of the Southern United States from the end of Reconstruction in 1877 through the early 20th century, when racism in the country was worse than in any other period after the American Civil War. During this period, African Americans lost many civil rights gains made during Reconstruction. Anti-black violence, lynchings, segregation, legal racial discrimination, and expressions of white supremacy increased.

Historian Rayford Logan first used the term "nadir" to describe this period in his 1954 book The Negro in American Life and Thought: The Nadir, 1877–1901. The term continues to be used, most notably in the books of James Loewen, but also by other scholars." Ileanadu (talk) 18:08, 26 December 2015 (UTC)[reply]