The Mahablog: How Many Times?

In today's Charlotte Observer, an editorial on the Senate apology for lynchings:

Historians have documented 4,743 lynchings between 1882 and 1968, most of them in the South. Some historians think there were many more. It's disheartening but not surprising that in less than 1 percent of those lynchings was there a serious attempt to find the perpetrators.

More than 200 anti-lynching bills were introduced in Congress in the first half of the 20th century. A federal law could have gone a long way in deterring lynching and saving lives. The House passed bills three times, but each time the Senate balked. With this apology, the Senate takes rightful responsibility for its predecessors' failure to act against this locally sanctioned homicide....