The lynching of Jesse Washington, a teenage African-American farmhand, in Waco, Texas, in 1916 became a well-known example of such attacks. After being accused of raping and murdering his employer's wife, he entered a guilty plea and was quickly sentenced to death. After his sentence was pronounced, he was dragged out of the court by observers and lynched in front of Waco's city hall. Over 10,000 spectators, including city officials and police, gathered to watch the attack. Members of the mob castrated Washington, cut off his fingers, and hung him over a bonfire. A professional photographer took pictures as the event unfolded, providing rare imagery of a lynching in progress. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People investigated the event and subsequently featured Washington's death in their anti- lynching campaign. Historians have noted that Washington's death helped alter the way that lynching was viewed; the publicity it received curbed public support for the practice, which became viewed as barbarism rather than an acceptable form of justice.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynching_of_Jesse_Washington
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
275:
After the assassination of Aurelian, Tacitus was chosen by the Senate to succeed him as Roman emperor. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Claudius_Tacitus
1775:
Ethan Allen and a small force of American and Quebec militia failed in their attempt to capture Montreal from British forces. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Longue-Pointe
1911:
An explosion of badly degraded propellant charges on board the French battleship Liberté detonated the forward ammunition magazines and destroyed the ship. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_battleship_Libert%C3%A9
1962:
The North Yemen Civil War began when Abdullah as-Sallal dethroned the newly crowned Imam al-Badr and declared Yemen a republic under his presidency. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Yemen_Civil_War
2008:
Shenzhou 7, the third spaceflight of the Chinese space program and their first to include a spacewalk, launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shenzhou_7
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
lampoon: To satirize or poke fun at. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lampoon
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
When the first Superman movie came out, I gave dozens of interviews to promote it. The most frequent question was: What is a hero? My answer was that a hero is someone who commits a courageous action without considering the consequences. Now my definition is completely different. I think a hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles. They are the real heroes, and so are the families and friends who have stood by them. --Christopher Reeve https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Christopher_Reeve
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