What is lynching?

Lynching is to illegally kill someone using hanging or other means by a mob. The victims of lynching are usually minority groups which have been prejudiced against. The term lynching probably derived from the name Charles Lynch (1736-96), a justice of the peace who administered rough justice in Virginia. Lynching was originally a punishment for African-American slaves, but Whites who protested against this were also punished. When the Ku Klux Klan was established, however, lynching of African-Americans dramatically increased. The Ku Klux Klan did this to maintain white supremacy in the South, which they felt was under threat after their defeat in the Civil War. It has been estimated that between 1880 and 1920, an average of two African Americans a week were lynched in the United States.