African American Hangings And BurningsDuring the 1860's African Americans were liberated from slavery, but still by the 1930's some whites did not agree with slave liberation. One way of keeping the African Americans "in line" was to hang or burn the people who disobeyed the whites. The whites would team up and overtake the blacks and then hang them from trees or set them and their houses on fire. During burnings and hangings many African Americans died and many more were injured. When someone is hanged it is to execute by suspending by the neck and a burning is where whites set fire to African American's houses and sometimes to the person. Burnings were more destructive because they destroyed the Black's houses too. The main reasons whites did these gruesome acts were because the blacks allegedly broke the whites unsaid rules. They dealt with it in the way they did because at that point too few cared if someone killed one, two, or even three blacks or someone destroyed their houses. Another main reason the whites killed the blacks was to terrorize the rest into doing whatever the whites wanted. Lynching and burning struck fear into the entire black community because then everyone there asked themselves if they were next. Finally, many whites simply acted out of hatred. Lynchings were a problem. Between 1830 and 1930 more than 3,200 African Americans were lynched in the south. In 1892, lynching claimed the lives of 230 African Americans in a single year. Blacks were lynched by white mobs that accused blacks of crimes such as race prejudice, quarreling with whites, and making threats. Lynching were said to be held to keep blacks in their place. Hangings and burnings are related to the book because of what almost happend to T.J. and what almost happend to Mr. Morrison and what did happen to Mr. Berry.
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